World champion Rossi tries luck on four wheels

Few sportsmen are as familiar with risk as motorcyclists but the new world champion Valentino Rossi will take one of the biggest professional, if not personal, chances of his career when he contests the Rally of Great Britain next month.

The 23-year-old Italian is master of all he surveys on two wheels - he won this year's motorcycling title with four of the 16 races in hand - but this is his first rally and he will be very much the apprentice when he ventures into the Welsh forests.

Some motorcyclists, notably John Surtees and Mike Hailwood, have transferred to four wheels with outstanding results. But they stuck firmly to Tarmac.

Rossi is not only driving a Peugeot 206, thereby inviting direct comparison with the new world rally champion Marcus Gronholm and with his predecessor, Britain's Richard Burns, though his car will be in a marginally lower state of tune than theirs. He is also chancing his arm on dirt roads.

However, motorcycling can make good training for rallying. Gronholm and the McRae brothers, Colin and Alister, enjoyed their first successes in motocross and Rossi has shown some potential driving in rallysprints, which consist of one special stage, often on a circuit. Indeed he has hinted he might switch to rallying full time in due course.

"I am very keen and very serious about this and I want to get as much experience as I can. I know how difficult this British rally is but it would be great for me to get to the finish," he said.