Tight at the top in BMW M Award

Jorge Lorenzo announced himself as a threat in MotoGP with pole position at his first premier class Grand Prix in Qatar last year and the brilliant young Spaniard has continued his excellent QP record in 2009 with four poles to date. Indeed, the Fiat Yamaha youngster is yet to start a race off the front row this season.

Having made a smooth transition to qualifying on Bridgestone tyres, his excellent results thus far in ’09 have put Lorenzo at the head of the BMW M Award standings for best qualifier in the premier class – though as ever his illustrious team-mate Valentino Rossi is hot on his heels!

Rossi leads the general MotoGP World Championship classification by 25 points from Lorenzo after ten rounds and the Italian trails the Spaniard by just five points in the BMW M Award table, having also achieved four pole positions – two of those in the last two rounds at Sachsenring and Donington.

A further 28 points behind Rossi sits 2008 BMW M Award winner Casey Stoner who has achieved just one pole position so far in 2009 (in Qatar) but has only missed the front row on two occasions. With seven rounds to go the Ducati star certainly still has a chance of repeating his ’08 triumph and adding to his car collection.

Dani Pedrosa also has one pole position to his name this season, but starting the championship injured hindered his chances of winning himself a new BMW M as he qualified down in 14th and 11th at the opening two rounds in Qatar and Japan. The Repsol Honda star has been on the front row four times in 2009 but trails Lorenzo in the qualifying standings by 75 points.

Reflecting the World Championship standings the BMW M Award classification also sees satellite Yamaha rider Colin Edwards and factory Honda representative Andrea Dovizioso sitting fifth and sixth respectively, though neither rider has featured on the front row at a Grand Prix thus far this year.