Rossi finished ahead of six fellow WRC cars, while four drivers in the WRC class failed to finish. Rossi's Stobart Ford team-mates François Duval, Malcolm Wilson and Barry Clark finished sixth, ninth and tenth respectively. Clark (and a top ten finish) was two and a half minutes in front of Rossi, while the fourth Stobart car of Henning Solberg retired.
Speaking after finishing the final stage, Rossi couldn't hide his delight at conquering the event.
"I am so happy! I'm thrilled to be here at the end. That was great," smiled Rossi. "It has been a great weekend and we put in some good times on the last stages. It is a step by step process. I tried to understand the notes and the conditions and make no big mistakes and keep on learning. It's great to finish without any big mistakes in these conditions."
Aside from the satisfaction of reaching the finish of such a gruelling event, Rossi was also given the 'Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally Award'. The award is presented to 'any individual who exhibits the values for which the emirate is famous: respect, innovation, integrity and teamwork' and is also designed to recognise 'contribution to the sport'. The recipient of the award at each rally gets a trophy and an invitation to visit Abu Dhabi.
"I'm very proud to receive the Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally award," said Rossi. "I think it is a great idea for Abu Dhabi to provide this and it helps to show the effort that people put into motorsport."
The 2008 Wales Rally GB was Rossi's third WRC event; he crashed a Peugeot 206 during the very first forest stage of his WRC debut, at Rally GB in 2002, before guiding a Subaru Impreza to his first WRC finish four years later in NZ.
Since the end of his latest title-winning MotoGP season, Rossi has finished second in the asphalt-based Monza Rally, set a creditable pace in a Ferrari F1 car, been fastest of all in the final MotoGP test session of 2008 and now finished twelfth in the final round of this year's World Rally Championship.
Rossi will be back on two wheels during the first official MotoGP test of 2009, to be held at Sepang in Malaysia from February 5-7.
Valentino Rossi - 2008 Rally GB:
Friday:
Stage 1: 3.67km
Hafren 1 Cancelled due to amount of ice.
Stage 2: 4.28km
Sweet Lamb 1 45th (+34.5sec),
45th overall (+34.5sec).
Stage 3: 18.28km
Myherin 1 33rd (+1min 23.8sec),
34th overall (+1min 51.1sec).
Stage 4:3.67km
Hafren 2 Cancelled due to amount of ice.
Stage 5: 4.28km
Sweet Lamb 2 24th (+16.8sec),
30th overall (+2min 3.9sec).
Stage 6: 18.28km
Myherin 2 15th (+1min 4.9sec),
26th overall (+3min 4.6sec).
Stage 7: 2.29km
Walters Arena 1 25th (+12.9sec),
24th overall (+3min 17.5sec).
Stage 8: 2.29km
Walters Arena 2 30th (+11.4sec),
24th overall (+3min 28.0sec).
Saturday:
Stage 9: 30.68km
Resolfen 1 20th (+1min 40.8sec),
19th overall (+4min 37.4sec).
Stage 10: 18.57km
Halfway 1 17th (+59.0sec),
17th overall (+5min 36.4sec).
Stage 11: 14.86km
Crychan 1 16th (+36.7sec),
16th overall (+6min 8.9sec).
Stage 12: 30.68km
Resolfen 2 18th (+1min 37.3sec),
16th overall (+7min 30.2sec).
Stage 13:18.57km
Halfway 2 20th (+1min 13.3sec),
17th overall (+8min 37.5sec).
Stage 14: 14.86km
Crychan 2 17th (+1min 00.5sec),
16th overall (+9min 38.0sec).
Stage 15: 0.99km
Cardiff 1 12th (+3.1sec),
15th overall (+9min 37.6sec).
Sunday:
Stage 16: 27.96km
Rheola 1 13th (+1min 24.4sec),
15th overall (+10min 56.9sec).
Stage 17: 20.09km
Port Talbot 1 11th (+48.9sec),
14th overall (+11min 45.0sec).
Stage 18: 27.96km
Rheola 2 12th (+54.3sec),
13th overall (+12min 30.1sec).
Stage 19: 20.09km
Port Talbot 2 11th (+42.5sec),
12th overall (+13min 10.4sec).
