KEY POINTS:
Valentino Rossi insists he is driving in Rally New Zealand for fun, but the seven-time world motorcycle champion is unlikely to park his competitive spirit when he starts the world championship event this morning in the Waikato.
The Italian, who will drive a Subaru in only his second
world championship rally, admitted yesterday he would miss the wheel-to-wheel contests of track racing.
"The relationship between all the drivers here is a lot better because you don't have the touching, you don't have the real battle in rally," he said yesterday. "It's completely different.
"I like a lot the battle on the track. You don't have to fight just with the time but also you have to understand the other riders and where is a good point or a bad point to arrive in front.
"But to drive this kind of car at 200km/h on the normal road you have a lot to do, a lot of work."
Rossi showed in a press conference why he is a superstar of motorsport. He shared a platform with world champion Sebastien Loeb, former champion Petter Solberg and Mikko Hirvonen, winner of the last round.
Solberg has a Hollywood smile, Loeb is charmingly French and Hirvonen dispelled memories of Scandinavian dourness by wearing a red fright wig. But it was Rossi's bubbling personality that stole the show.
He explained that he had raced at Monza in a Subaru last year and had a test in Wales last week. "The real test is tomorrow," he said. "The first target for me is to have fun and to arrive at the end. To me the car is very fast but I don't have the experience to know whether it is faster than the old car.
"The recce was hard work, two long days, but I am happy. I think we have taken good notes. I must start slow and get better."
Undaunted by the presence of some of the great names of modern rallying, Rossi jokingly suggested that he was aiming high.
"I fight for the podium, for sure," he quipped. "No really, I don't know if it is possible to maybe finish ahead of someone from WRC. I start 11th and maybe that is my place. But if I can go faster it is better. I must not make mistake early and understand my speed and position."
The 27-year-old Rossi has been at the top of world motorcycling for 10 years and there has been speculation whether he might soon opt for Formula One or rallying. He has driven a Ferrari Formula One car and had one world rally outing in Wales in 2002 - crashing on the first stage.
Asked how long he would compete on two wheels, he suggested two or three years. His enthusiasm has been rekindled by losing his MotoGP title when he crashed during the final race last month. So will it be race cars or rallying when he quits?
"Rally is my great passion after motorbikes because my father also did a lot of rallying after he finished with bikes. I have a passion for this sport. The rally is the hardest way in cars. I am a lot faster on the track but for now I don't know which."
So why did he choose New Zealand? "It's a great experience for me to be here. The people say this rally is one of the best. Next year maybe I will try another one. It is very difficult for a rider or driver to come from the track to the rally."
How does he compare driving a Subaru rally car with a Formula One Ferrari? "The Formula One Ferrari is a strange car. It is very different from the normal car because of the aerodynamics and the G-forces are unbelievable. For me it is easier to go fast in Formula One because the braking points, the lines make it much easier for me to drive on the limit on the track. The way to drive in a rally is completely different and another world."
