Elias ends Sepang test on a high

On his first ride with the factory spec Honda RC212V at Sepang last week, Toni Elias went some way towards justifying the Japanese factory’s decision to provide him with the full-power 2009 prototype by recording the fastest time of any Honda rider.

The Spaniard finished the three-day visit to Malaysia with a quickest lap of 2’01.560, just over half a second slower than timesheet topper Casey Stoner and four-tenths of a second speedier than Repsol Honda man Andrea Dovizioso –the only man on equal machinery to Elias after the early departure of Dani Pedrosa.

The returning San Carlo Honda Gresini man was fifth fastest over the course of the test, and was delighted with the result.

”I’m very happy as we improved day-by-day. We started work on a completely new machine and the feeling was good since the very first day,” he commented. “We still have to do lot of runs on track, but the direction we are working in is good. It’s also a nice atmosphere in the garage; we’re really a great team”.

It wasn’t only Elias who left Asia pleased with the first encounter with the new machine; Team Manager Fausto Gresini had also been eager to see how his charge would get on with the arrival of the prototype.

“I'm definitively happy. It has been a very positive test, thanks to the hard work of the team and the good material prepared by HRC,” said Gresini, whose teams have traditionally received some of the strongest Honda backing on the premier class grid.

“I couldn't wait to see the new RC212V on track and at the end I was very excited to see that day by day our lap time was faster and faster and the gap from the first riders always smaller.”

Riding the 2009 satellite machine, second San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Alex de Angelis clocked the eleventh quickest lap of the Malaysian test.

Sepang test results can be found here.