BMW M Award returns to spice up the Official MotoGP Test at Jerez

Monday, 23 March 2009

The opening laps of the world’s most exciting motorsport kicks off this weekend at Jerez in Spain with the BMW M Award as the curtain raiser to the 2009 MotoGP season being ushered in with the MotoGP Official Test and the best riders on the planet all battling for a chance to win a brand new BMW.

A televised 45 minute ‘qualifying’ session on Sunday afternoon will see the entire MotoGP entry vie for the fastest lap around the 4.4 km Jerez track that in May will host the third round in the seventeen race title chase.

As a MotoGP partner for the past 10 years, BMW is once more providing the ultimate prize with a limited edition BMW 135i ‘BMW Sauber F1 Team Edition’ ready to be driven away from the test by the fastest rider. Only 135 of these cars have been made in respect of the 135 points that BMW Sauber F1 Team scored last year in Formula 1.

The BMW Award is the ultimate springboard for all MotoGP riders and teams as they lock horns for the first time after the long winter of development back in their workshops and factories during their quest for every hundredth of a second in the racing season. The opening race of the year is once more under the stunning floodlights of the Losail circuit in Qatar where last year the very first night time Grand Prix took place, two weeks after the Jerez test.

On every Grand Prix grid this year will once more be a fleet of BMW Safety Cars, but a new addition will be at Jerez this weekend and on each MotoGP grid in the shape of BMW’s brand new S 1000 RR superbike; a truly staggering motorbike that has taken the world’s motorcycle shows by storm with it’s looks and technology.

Elsewhere at MotoGP events this year will be a further fleet of up to 25 other BMWs for the VIP Village and MotoGP Paddock guests for swift and serene movement around the circuit.

Keep an eye out this weekend and see who which MotoGP rider has got the jump on the other with the curtain raiser for the 2009 season. Will it be the reigning champion Valentino Rossi, or an outsider? In years past Loris Capirossi gave a BMW 330 CD to his mechanics, Casey Stoner took a Z4 M Roadster last year, while Rossi has taken two Z4s back to Italy too. Indeed, many wives and girlfriends of riders will bee cheering their man on in an effort to win what could be a new, and very fast, car!

As since 2003, there will be the BMW Best Qualifier Award that gives riders points for their qualifying position for each race. At the end of the season a BMW M3 Sedan is available for the winner – a mouthwatering car in even the eyes of some of the superstar 310kph riders!