Valentino Rossi finished second in the Rally de Monza, which he competed in this weekend. Driving a Ford Focus WRC, the Italian rider was very fast throughout the race, taking four out of nine stage wins, but two errors on special stages 4 and 5 handed victory to Dindo Capello, driving a Citröen C4.
Valentino also took part in the Master’s Show, a competition involving all the participants of the rally in an elimination round special stage. Despite having the best overall time, Rossi reached the semi-finals where he lost to Capello, after beating Marco Simoncelli in the quarter final round.
After the race Rossi said “I finished the rally by winning the last super special “Grand Prix” test in the rain and I am satisfied to have taken the fastest time as well in the Master’s, where I was hoping to take revenge on Capello but I was not able to do so. In recent years the level of the Rally de Monza has risen a lot and in order to win it is not enough just to be fast, it is also necessary to make few mistakes. In any case, the last twenty days have been very entertaining for me, firstly with the motocross in Cavellara, then with a Ferrari GT in Vallelunga and now with the rally.”
The sports activities of Valentino Rossi outside the world of two wheels will continue next weekend with the “Bettega Memorial”, a rally show which is celebrated each year as part of the Bologna Motorshow.