BMW prize highlight of weekend test

From motogp.com

The BMW M Award will play a featured role in this weekend's final test of the MotoGP preseason at Jerez, Spain.

A televised 45-minute ‘qualifying’ session on Sunday afternoon will see the entire MotoGP entry vie for the fastest lap around the 4.4km Jerez track that in May will host the third round in the 17-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 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 April 12.

On every Grand Prix grid this year will once more be a fleet of BMW Safety Cars, spearheaded by the brand new X6 M and M6 with their V8 twin turbo and V10 engines respectively.

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 this season 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.