Rossi takes second on Monza Rally

MotoGP title winner Valentino Rossi enjoyed a successful outing on the annual Rally de Monza after the Yamaha rider ended the end of season event in second place.

Driving a Ford Focus WRC, the Yamaha rider won four of the nine stages which made up the event to finish 17.8 seconds behind sportscar ace Dindo Capello, who took victory at the wheel of a Citroen C4 WRC.

Rossi's performance was made all the more impressive by the fact that he beat former World Rally Champion Marcus Gronholm in the event, with the Finn taking fourth place in his Subaru Impreza.

Loris Capirossi was 15th, while 2010 MotoGP rookie Marco Simoncelli joined Rossi in the top ten with a seventh place finish.

Rossi also impressed in the Master's Show knock-out event, posting the quickest time of all while beating Simoncelli in his quarter-final before losing at the semi-final stage to eventual winner Capello.

"I finished the rally by winning the last super special test in the rain and I am satisfied to have taken the fastest time in the Master's event," Rossi told the official MotoGP website. "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 to just be fast - you also need to make few mistakes. In any case, the last 20 days have been very entertaining for me, with the Motocross in Cavellara, then with a GT car at Vallelunga and now with the rally."

Rossi will now head for the Bettega Memorial event at the Bologna Motorshow next weekend.