Toni Elias ends his season with LCR Honda at tenth place in Valencia Grand Prix – MotoGP news
LCR Honda rider Toni Elias ended his last season with the team at tenth place in Valencia Grand Prix.
Spanish race marked season’s final event as well as his last race in the premier class. He is expected to race at the World Superbike Championship in 2012.
The Spanish rider endured a tough season that merely gave him decent results through the year. He was also depressed with missing Marco Simoncelli (Honda Gresini) from the grid.
Elias said, “First it was very tough to line up without Marco (Simoncelli) today and we will always remember him. I took an incredible start from 13th spot and I could have gone for fifth place but Nicky (Hayden) got in my way and he was involved in the
crash in the first corner.”
The Spaniard added on that he had a good pace since the start off till the mid of the race. He was riding about 1.5 seconds slower than the race leader Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda).
As the rain started during the last part of the race, all Hondas suffered from rear grip issue. Elias was also victimised by loss of rear grip.
He tended to avoid crashing in his final race, as he already escaped a four-rider crash in the first lap. During the first lap, the Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) got in contact with Andrea Dovizioso (Honda).
It triggered a series of riders crippling when Bautista hit Valentino Rossi (Ducati). Nicky Hayden (Ducati) was hit by teammate Rossi.
The Ducati duo was rear ended by Randy de Puniet of Pramac Racing. It caused all four riders to retire with ‘did not finish’ status.
However, the rain in last few laps drooped Elias’s pace and he still managed to finish in tenth position.
Team Manager, Lucio Cecchinello said, “First this season will be remembered for the tragic loss of Marco who will remain in our hearts forever because he was a pure talent and a charismatic guy. This season was tougher than what we expected but we learnt
a lot from the difficulties and we will keep on working at 100% as always.”
The team manager thanked team’s sole rider, Elias for a strong effort through the season.
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