Elias capture gives Gresini hope
Added on Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Elias rejoins Gresini after just one season away.
Fausto Gresini has been talking up his team’s chances ahead of the new season, believing that Toni Elias could prove to be a major coup for the privateer team in 2009.
Spaniard Elias rejoins Gresini in 2009 after a difficult season with the Alice Ducati team last year and the team boss feels that recapturing the 25-year-old will help to change the fortunes of the Honda-backed satellite team and secure the podium finish that proved so elusive last season.
“After a difficult 2008, our objective is to fight with the best. Only one rider can win, but this season we are riding for the top step of the podium,” Gresini told MotoGP.com.
Gresini have always enjoyed a strong relationship with HRC and, after securing two factory RC212V’s for the coming season, work is set to start on finding the ideal setup for Elias in Sepang next month.
“Work will start on Toni´s bike this week and we will definitely have it ready for Sepang,” added the team principal. “It´s going to be a very similar machine to that used by the factory riders, a competitive bike that leaves me calm and positive about what 2009 will bring.
The decision to take on Elias as replacement to Shinya Nakano also saw Gresini turn down the opportunity to resign another former rider in Marco Melandri and he gave his thoughts on the recent withdrawal of the Kawasaki team.
“It would be a sin if two riders of the calibre of Melandri and John Hopkins (Melandri’s Kawasaki teammate) were to sit out the year,” he said.
