TISSOT POLE OF POLES AWARD NIGHT OF CELEBRATION

The MotoGP™ World Champion Jorge Lorenzo completed a night of celebration collecting the prestigious Tissot Pole of Poles Award at the FIM Awards Ceremony in Valencia on Sunday evening. The Spanish Yamaha rider received the Tissot T-Touch Expert Pole of Poles watch after taking seven pole positions in his championship winning season which was two more than his great rivals Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner.

Those three riders have dominated the 18 round championship this season which was reflected in their qualifying performances. The only rider to break that domination was Spaniard Alvaro Bautista who took full advantage of the difficult Silverstone conditions to grab his first ever MotoGP pole at the British Grand Prix.

The two Spanish riders Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro have fought a ferocious battle for the Moto2™ World Championship. Marquez came out on top before replacing Stoner in MotoGP next year but Espargaro won the battle of the Poles. He received his Tissot T-Touch II watch after taking eight poles which was one more than his great rival. Tissot Ambassador Tom Luthi grabbed the first pole of the season under the floodlights in Qatar with Italian Simone Corsi the pole setter in Aragon.

It was a lot more spread out in the new Moto3™ Championship which provided some superb qualifying and racing. World Champion Sandro Cortese was the recipient of the Tissot Racing-Touch watch after seven pole positions which was two more than Spanish teenager Maverick Vinales. German Jonas Folger had a strong finish to the season with the first two pole positions of his career. Three riders Danny Kent, Alex Rins and Zulfahmi Khairuddin took their very first pole positions.

2012 POLE OF POLES AFTER 18 ROUNDS

MotoGP™ Poles
Jorge Lorenzo 7
Dani Pedrosa 5
Casey Stoner 5
Alvaro Bautista 1

Moto2™ Poles
Pol Espargaro 8
Marc Marquez 7
Tom Luthi 1
Simone Corsi 1

Moto3™ Poles
Sandro Cortese 7
Maverick Vinales 5
Jonas Folger 2
Alex Rins 1
Danny Kent 1
Zulfahmi Khairuddin 1