planetearth
There Can Be Only One
Number of posts : 3271
Registration date : 2007-02-03
 |  Subject: Elias: You can feel the heat from the fans.  Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:23 am | |
| - Quote :
- Toni Elias may have dropped steadily backwards, from fourth to 14th, during the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix - but the Gresini Honda rider is fired-up for revenge in his home race this weekend.
Elias is one of the hardest riders to predict - his form yo-yoing from the front to the back of the grid with almost every session, let along race - but, as the Spaniard proved with his dream debut victory last year at Estoril, when all the mysterious ingredients are in place not even Valentino Rossi can stop him. Will that happen again this weekend?
"I can't wait to ride in front of my home fans," said Toni, who took out Rossi at turn one of last year's grand prix. "Racing [at Jerez] is always an incredible emotion, especially when you enter the stadium section through the Nieto- Peluqui - Senna corners. You can feel the heat from the fans, it's really amazing.
"We took a major step forward at the [pre-season] test here with the Bridgestone tyres and in Qatar we made more progress, qualifying fourth fastest, although we need to work on the durability of the tyres. I'm confident - together with the guys in the team and the Bridgestone technicians we are working well so I'm hoping for another improvement in the second race.
"We are working to find a good base set-up, which is particularly important for Jerez, which combines fast and slow corners. There are some hard braking areas too and this is important for the set-up because you have to deal with that without losing any time through the corners," he concluded.
Team-mate Marco Melandri's fortunes went in the opposition direction to Elias at Qatar; the Italian qualifying just tenth but then finishing fifth. Nevertheless, the triple 2006 race winner expects to be battling for victory and hopes that the twisty nature of Jerez will help his cause as he awaits more Honda horsepower.
"There is a lot of expectation for this first race in Europe and it's sure to be a great show. Jerez is a circuit I like a lot because it is so technical and complete. To ride fast there you need to have a well balanced bike. The track is characterised by long corners that require a stable front end set-up that gives you plenty of confidence. There isn't a long straight like in Qatar, so that is an advantage for us at this moment," said the Italian. "Personally I feel good and can't wait to get back on track. We prepared well for this race during testing in terms of setting up the cycle part of the bike and choosing the tyres." Crash.net | |
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