1st win on 4 wheels

Valentino Rossi scored his first win on four wheels at the weekend in the Monza Rally.

The MotoGP star built up a comfortable lead on the first day of the event by winning all five stages on Saturday, and he then consolidated his position on day two to win the event by nearly 25 seconds from sportscar racer Dindo Capello.

"It was about time I won this event since I've tried for the past 10 years," Rossi told Gazzetta Dello Sport. The Italian believes that the victory is evidence of the experience he has gained gradually in rallying, which included competing in Rally New Zealand earlier this month.

"In this sport, even if it is not a world championship event, you can't just use a magic wand," he said. "I gained my experience in the lower ranks and now I'm reaping the rewards."

Rossi still has ambitions to further his rally experience, and he is targeting an event on snow in the near future. "After the rallies on asphalt at Monza and gravel in New Zealand, I would like to try a rally on snow now," he said.

"Next year there will be Rally Norway in February. It's a bit too close to the start of the MotoGP season to prepare properly, but I'd like to be there."

Not so bad

Italian motorcycle star Valentino Rossi rarely makes the same mistake twice, so he wasn't about to make a hasty exit from his second world rally championship (WRC) drive.

The seven times world motorcyling champion may have failed to win his sixth straight MotoGP title in Spain last month but his return to rally driving after a four-year hiatus went smoothly in the Rally of New Zealand yesterday.

Anxious to see out the first of three days, Rossi, known as The Doctor, prescribed himself a cautious, safety first approach – mindful that in his first WRC experience in Wales in 2002, he crashed early on the first day.

Rossi, driving an all black Subaru, was seeded 11th, if only to follow the big names over the graduated start line in Pirongia. And at the end of the first stage he was 24th overall, 10 minutes 55.1 seconds behind the leading Ford Focus of Finland's Marcus Gronholm.

Rossi spun out briefly during the first stage but that was his only scare as he opted to drive within his limited four-wheeled capabilities. He was neat and tidy, generally sticking to the middle of the road, and clearly not as committed as the experts ahead of him. "I had a little bit of a spin, it was more slippery than I thought, I was very cautious," Rossi said after a morning session complicated by steady overnight rain.

Rossi was severely tested by the 43.88km second stage: "It's very difficult, very long and takes a lot of concentration, it's like going to the airport in Bologna." However, he completed the circuit more assuredly second time round in the afternoon phase before closing with a trouble-free special stage sprint at Mystery Creek.

Rossi stuck to his game plan as the crowds gathered at rally headquarters in Mystery Creek and hardly set the pulses racing with a 3:07.7 run. Gronholm raced around in 2:59.8. Rossi said his goal was simply to have fun and make the finish line on Sunday, 12 more stages away. "We have arrived at the end (yesterday), so it is not so bad."

Rain and Rossi headline New Zealand rally

With injured champion Sebastian Loeb a non-starter, heavy rain and Valentino Rossi have become the big talking points of the New Zealand round of the World Rally Championship this weekend.

Rain is forecast from early Friday when the rally begins, and is unlikely to let up before the finish on Sunday.

Loeb, who hasn't started a rally since breaking his arm in a mountain bike accident in September, was guaranteed the world crown when his nearest rival Marcus Gronholm crashed out in Australia two weeks ago.

But still at stake is the manufacturers championship where Ford are close to denying Citroen the drivers-manufacturers double. Mikko Hirvonen's maiden win in Australia earned Ford 10 points and with Marcus Gronholm also in the money in Perth, Ford only needs three points to secure the title.

With Loeb sidelined Citroen has again nominated Xevi Pons and Dani Sordo as points scorers for the event. Meanwhile, the Subaru team, spearheaded by Petter Solberg and Australian Chris Atkinson are hoping to break their 14-race duck and salvage something from a wretched season which showed signs of an upswing in Perth before both crashed out.

The sideshow to the rally will be the appearance of Italian motorcycling hero Rossi who has entered as a privateer in a borrowed Subaru Impreza and admits he is in it for fun. "I want to understand how the car works and my potential in rallying and make the finish,"he told reporters on arrival. "But I want to have fun and enjoy myself."

It will be the 27-year-old Yamaha rider's second appearance in the World Rally Championship - he competed in Britain in 2002 in a Peugeot 205 but failed to progress beyond the first day.

Rossi arrives for Rally of NZ

Motorcycling champion Valentino Rossi was whisked away in a helicopter to prepare for his tilt at the Rally of New Zealand after landing at Auckland.

The Italian seven-time world motorcycling champion will drive a Subaru Impreza in a change of codes when the New Zealand leg of the World Rally Championship (WRC) starts in Waikato on Thursday. He was to spend Tuesday on reconnaissance at the first special stage south of Pirongia.

Rossi, who flew in from Hong Kong and has flirted with rallying in the past, said he was here to have fun on what was considered one of the better (WRC) circuits. "I have done a little bit before with Subaru in Italy last year and decided to try here because I know it is one of the best rallies in the championship," he said.

Rossi, one of the highest-paid people in motorsport, said he was pleased to escape the constant media attention he gets in the northern hemisphere. "This is far away from all the journalists and hype," he said. The New Zealand rally will be Rossi's second attempt at a WRC event, after a start in Britain in 2002. That time he was driving a Peugeot 205 prepared by the Italian Grifone team and did not make it through the first day of competition.

He has also competed in non-championship rallies in Italy and considered the sport his second passion behind motorcycle racing. Rossi said he was not aiming too high for the New Zealand event. "I want to understand how the car works and my potential in rallying and make the finish. But I want to have fun and enjoy myself." Rossi's car is being run by the Subaru World Rally Team.

Rossi doubtful over four-wheeled future

Moto GP superstar Valentino Rossi doubts he will race cars competitively, despite an impressive maiden run in a DTM car at Hockenheim.

The 27-year-old Italian, who came second in this year’s Moto GP world championship after winning five straight titles between 2001 and 2005, drove a Mercedes-Benz C-Class run by the German manufacturer’s works AMG squad.

"The test was truly big fun," said Rossi afterwards. "The AMG-Mercedes C-Class is an impressive racing car and handles nearly as a single-seater. Still, I don't yet know if I'm ever going to contest races on four wheels. But it's good to know that I wouldn't look too bad if I did so and I'd like to than Mercedes-Benz for this opportunity."

Mercedes-Benz motorsport chief Norbert Haug was impressed with Rossi's run in the car that Mika Hakkinen has raced this seasonHaug said: "Valentino is a true motor racing icon. He got on well with the AMG-Mercedes C-Class right from the start and he also succeeded in proving his skills at the wheel of the racing car."

This test with a driver as renowned as Valentino Rossi represents an accolade for the race series DTM, even if this doesn't mean that Valentino is going to move now from bike riding to tin-top racing."

Rossi has been linked with a switch to four wheels for over two years. He tested on numerous occasions for Ferrari's Formula One squad, fuelling rumours of a code-switch, and will drive a Subaru WRC car in Rally New Zealand next weekend. Should he race in the DTM in the future, he would follow the example of Johnny Cecotto. The Venezeulan, who won the 350cc world title in 1975, raced in the tin-top series in 1988.

Rossi keeps his favoured #46 for Rally NZ

Former five-times MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi will be able to sport his famous #46 during an upcoming drive in Rally New Zealand, the penultimate round of the 2006 FIA World Rally Championship.

The FIA has agreed to let Rossi run with the number in his privately entered Subaru Impreza, despite the fact it has been used this season by Nigel Heath in the Production Car WRC category, of which New Zealand is the final round. Heath, also a Subaru driver, will compete in car #44 instead.

Rossi has always used the #46 in grand prix motorcycle racing, despite being entitled to run the #1 plate for the past five seasons. Rossi, who lost out on a sixth consecutive MotoGP crown when he fell in last Sunday's Valencian title decider, is scheduled to conduct a short test in the UK before Rally New Zealand, which runs from November 17-19. No details have been released on the test, as the Italian is trying to keep his participation very low key.

Rossi test Subaru for Rally

Subaru has told Crash.net that MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi will be testing his Impreza in the UK, prior to his appearance in next month's Rally New Zealand.

Rossi's MotoGP season will conclude at Valencia next Sunday (October 29), where he will be battling Nicky Hayden for his sixth consecutive MotoGP crown. The Italian will then turn his attention to Rally New Zealand, the penultimate round of the 2006 World Rally Championship, taking place from November 17-19, as well as developing Yamaha's new-for-2007 800cc racer.

Although Rossi is treating his rally outing as a hobby - running as an unpaid private entry, separate from the official Subaru World Rally Team - the test, which will take place a couple of weeks before the car is shipped to New Zealand, underlines that the Camel Yamaha star is taking his second ever WRC appearance seriously.

Rossi's first WRC outing, in the 2002 Rally of Great Britain, embarrassingly ended after just 17 kilometres when he beached his Michelin-backed Peugeot 206 in the Welsh forests. However, Rossi has performed admirably during off-season outings in a Subaru, most notably beating former world champion Colin McRae in the asphalt based Monza Rally.

"We are delighted that Valentino is going to compete in Rally New Zealand and of course we're very pleased that he has chosen to do it in a Subaru," a Subaru spokesman told Crash.net. "The car is a 2005 spec (active front and rear diff) Impreza WRC, previously used by Chris Atkinson in Germany. All the arrangements to supply and service his car have been made by Prodrive - not the Subaru World Rally Team."

Rossi, who turned down a Formula One switch earlier this season, takes an eight-point lead over Hayden into next weekend's Valencia title showdown.