Toni Elías · Biography

Toni Elías was born on 26 March 1983 in Manresa, near Barcelona. He came through minibike and scooter racing in Catalonia and the Spanish 125cc championship. From 1999 he raced in the Grand Prix world championship in the 125cc, 250cc, MotoGP and Moto2 classes. In 2010 he won the first Moto2 world title, and in 2017 he was crowned MotoAmerica Superbike champion in the United States.

Early years in Catalonia

His first results came in the Catalan Minibike Championship, where he finished third in 1993 and second in 1994. He then spent several seasons racing scooters. In 1997 he contested the RACC 50cc Open on a Yamaha TZR 50, and in 1998 he moved up to the Spanish 125cc championship, finishing 23rd. The following year he was third in the same series. In 1999 he made his world championship debut as a wildcard at the Spanish Grand Prix, riding a Honda RS125 for the RACC team.

125cc and 250cc

His first full 125cc season came in 2000 with Chupa Chups Matteoni, and he finished 20th. In 2001 he joined the Telefónica MoviStar Junior Team and took his first win at the Dutch TT in Assen. A second win followed in the Czech Republic, and he ended the year third in the standings with nine podiums and 217 points.

In 2002 he stepped up to 250cc on an Aprilia run by Jorge Martínez «Aspar». He won the Pacific Grand Prix and finished fourth. In 2003 he took five wins, in Spain, France, Portugal, the Pacific and Malaysia, and finished third with 226 points. In 2004 he rode the Fortuna team's Honda, won in Portugal and was fourth again.

MotoGP and the Estoril win

He made his MotoGP debut in 2005 on the Fortuna Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1 and finished 12th. In 2006 he switched to Fausto Gresini's Honda RC211V. That year he won the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril, beating Valentino Rossi by two thousandths of a second. It was his only win in the premier class, and he ended the year ninth with 116 points.

He stayed with Gresini in 2007, took two podiums and finished 12th. In 2008 he rode a Ducati for the Alice Team, again scored two podiums and was again 12th. In 2009 he returned to San Carlo Honda Gresini and finished seventh with 115 points, his best MotoGP result.

Moto2 world champion in 2010

In 2010 he moved to Moto2, the new class that replaced 250cc, on a Moriwaki MD600 entered by Gresini Racing. He won seven races: Spain, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Indianapolis, San Marino and Japan. He dedicated the seventh, at Motegi, to Shoya Tomizawa, the Japanese rider who had died earlier that season. A week later, fourth place at Sepang was enough to wrap up the title with three races to go. He finished on 271 points as the first Moto2 world champion.

Final Grand Prix years and World Superbike

He returned to MotoGP with LCR Honda in 2011 and finished 15th. In 2012 he raced in Moto2 for Mapfre Aspar and also made three MotoGP starts on the Pramac Ducati. He began 2013 in Moto2 and moved mid-season to World Superbike on the Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4, finishing 16th. In 2014 he did a full season with the same team and was ninth with 171 points. His last Grand Prix races came in 2015 with AB Motoracing and Forward Racing. His Grand Prix record stands at 229 starts, 17 wins, 43 podiums and 12 pole positions.

MotoAmerica

He joined MotoAmerica in 2016 with Yoshimura Suzuki. He won both races at the opening round at the Circuit of the Americas and finished third. In 2017 he won the MotoAmerica Superbike title on the Suzuki GSX-R1000. He was runner-up in 2018 and 2019, finishing the second of those seasons five points behind Cameron Beaubier. Yoshimura withdrew from racing at the end of 2019, so in 2020 he rode for M4 ECSTAR Suzuki and finished fourth. In 2021 he made one-off appearances on a Ducati and a Yamaha. He came back with Team Hammer, racing as Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki, in 2023, and announced his retirement at Road America in June 2023 after finishing fifth in the second Superbike race.