Rossi targets M3 Sedan prize in BMW M Award

It promises to be a real showdown during Saturday’s final qualifying hour of the 2009 season when Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi go head-to-head to decide who pockets the keys of a brand new BMW M3 Sedan.

World Champion Valentino Rossi has 330 points in the BMW M Award standings, 12 more than his arch rival and team mate Lorenzo. For Lorenzo, he has to get pole position, while for Rossi he just has to be fourth or better to take home the 420hp dream BMW.

Lorenzo has been on the front row at every race but one since the season opener under the floodlights of Qatar, while his Italian colleague has fought back - being on the front row at every race since Barcelona in mid June, including beating the 990cc pole record last time out in Malaysia.

Casey Stoner, the winner of the BMW Best Qualifier Award in 2007 and 2008 has taken took two poles throughout his illness-affected year, while Dani Pedrosa has also registered two. However, Pedrosa was only 0.05 seconds off pole behind Stoner at Valencia in 2008 so there is a score to settle for the Honda rider come Saturday.

For Lorenzo this is his first chance to take a BMW home from the race track after Rossi has won four BMWs previous to this weekend in Valencia - a BMW Z4 Roadster, Z4 2.2i, 645 Ci and a Z4 M Coupé making his garage back home in Italy more than desirable with BMW’s finest cars.

BMW and MotoGP have now been in partnership for 11 years, a synergy that will continue for a further four seasons with BMW M Power Safety Cars, Official Cars and VIP Shuttle Cars supporting the world’s most exciting Grand Prix racing. Indeed, a glimpse into the future of BMW will be present at Valencia with a special exhibition of BMW M Power models on show, plus the brand new BMW X1 and BMW 5 Series Gran Tourismo models at the track.

BMW M Award press release