Ducati support “disappeared” for Elias
Added on Monday, November 24th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Ducati support “disappeared” for Elias
Toni Elias has claimed that Ducati offered no support to its factory team in 2008 and claimed that the manufacturer virtually withdrew support when he announced his decision to leave.
Pramac D’Antin, who ran with the World Championship winning Desmosedici throughout 2008, struggled to make any impression on the championship – something which most onlookers put down to the difficulty that Elias, teammate Sylvain Guintoli and factory rider Marco Melandri were having in controlling a notoriously difficult to ride machine.
But the Spaniard, who finished twelfth in the rider’s standings, claimed that much of the problems faced by the team were exasperated by the late delivery of parts and a “disappearance” of technical support after round 15 in Motegi.
“We’d asked for new parts in Le Mans this year, and they didn’t arrive until the race at Sachsenring,” Elias told MotoGP.com. “Until then we were just fighting not to finish last.”
“When we finally received them we made a leap in performance, and we got back in the top ten, so for me Germany is when the second part of the season began.”
After the German Grand Prix, Elias’ results picked up substantially, with a seventh place finish at Laguna Seca followed by a second at Brno and a third in San Marino.
But the 25-year-old announced that he had signed a deal with Gresini for the 2009 season – a point at which he claims Ducati effectively gave up on the Alice team.
“I told Ducati what my plans were for 2009 in Motegi, and from that moment on the parts disappeared,” he said. “From then on it was back to the lower half of the standings.”
Elias finished 16th, 11th, 15th and 18th in the four races after Japan.
Elias will enjoy the benefits of a factory Honda in 2009 and, although his model is likely to differ slightly from the versions run in the Repsol team, there is genuine optimism for the new season.
“San Carlo Honda Gresini is a satellite team, but I have been told by the bosses that we will have same support as Gibernau in his day; a near-factory bike,” he added.
“We will see how things go, but I think that they will be a lot more straightforward than last year.”
