Elias confident for Jerez and looking to make bike more stable

Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP) returns to the track where he took the first of the seven wins that carried him to the inaugural Moto2 World Championship in 2010. One of four Spanish MotoGP riders, Elias is looking forward to his homecoming, especially for the atmosphere and enthusiasm of the knowledgeable Spanish race fans. The race will give Elias a chance to re-start his championship season, which began with a crash in the opening race in Qatar. The crash was the result of Elias trying to override a motorcycle which hadn’t been fully developed, but that provided a valuable lesson which has already been applied and Elias expects the Honda RC212V to be much better when practice opens on Friday in Jerez.

Jerez, which joined the World Championship calendar in 1987, has maintained such a high standard of excellence that it was voted by team owners as the best grand of the year in 2009. The race celebrates its silver anniversary this year as the most popular on the calendar, and with good reason. It’s not only a favorite of the fans, who enjoy the Andalucian setting, but also the riders, who enjoy knowing that riding talent can overcome deficiencies in machine performance.

The track spreads 13 corners, five lefts and eight rights, over its 4.423k length. The longest straight is only 607m, which means that most of the time is spent on various aspects of cornering-braking, turn-in, mid-corner speed, and exit-which levels the playing field. The track is faithful to the Spanish greats, with four turns named for motorcycling world champions. The two fastest corners are the double rights, Criville and Ferrari, which lead to the final hairpin left where more than one race has been decided.

Toni Elias: “Obviously, I am very happy to be back at the Jerez race track. In my opinion it is one of the best rounds of the season thanks to the atmosphere and the warmth of the Spanish fans. The Qatar GP was a very tough weekend for us and I absolutely want to restart from Jerez. We are still struggling a lot with the bike set-up, although we have worked very hard. Our main issue remains the chassis set-up and suspension regulations to make the bike more stable in the rear. However, I feel confident ahead this race because I am very stubborn and the crew will help me to adjust the bike for the Jerez layout.”

Source: Honda Racing