FEBRUARY 13, 2006

Maserati & Rossi - a new cocktail

Valentino Rossi has been testing for Ferrari in recent weeks but said recently that now he is going back to bikes to try win the MotoGP Championship for Yamaha. But a few days after those remarks he was spotted in action at the wheel of a Maserati MC12 sports car at the Misano circuit in Italy.

Valentino Rossi has been testing for Ferrari in recent weeks but said recently that now he is going back to bikes to try win the MotoGP Championship for Yamaha. But a few days after those remarks he was spotted in action at the wheel of a Maserati MC12 sports car at the Misano circuit in Italy, driving for the Novara-based Racing Box team which is compaining the car in selected races of the FIA GT, ALMS and Italian GT championships. It will be interesting to see whether or not Rossi will start to appear in GT races between his MotoGP commitments as he increases his experience in four-wheeled competition. There are 16 MotoGP races this year but with FIA GT races at Silverstone, Magny Cours and Imola (tracks which MotoGP does not visit) this will be useful experience for the biker. If one believes the theory that Rossi is being prepared to switch from bikes into a Ferrari F1 car in 2007, you would say that this is the kind of preparation that would be very useful and that Ferrari's sister company Maserati would be able to ease Rossi's way into a decent car.