KEY POINTS:
Driving a Formula One Ferrari is easier than a Subaru world rally car, according to Valentino Rossi, the seven times world motorcycling champion who was the big name in the Rally of New Zealand.
Rossi finished 11th in the event, 20 minutes behind the winner, Finland's Marcus Gronholm, who was driving a Ford Focus.
Rossi has driven both a Ferrari and Subaru in recent months as he thinks about a competitive life after motorcycling.
"The Ferrari is strange," he said. "It's a very different car because of the aerodynamics and the G forces are incredible."
But driving a Formula One single-seater on a racetrack was similar to his Moto GP Yamaha, he said.
"The braking points and lines through the corners aren't too different. But a rally car is completely different on stones. You need a lot of experience to go faster.
"It is the hardest way to change to a car for motorsport. It's very difficult to come from the track to a rally."
Rossi admitted his lack of experience showed at the shakedown stage last Thursday morning.
"It was very bad. The car is very fast and I don't have enough experience," said Rossi.
He came to New Zealand to have some fun and understand how a car behaves on gravel.
"I want to start slow and come better towards the end," he said before the event.
Rally watchers said Rossi did a good job. He was seeded 11th and finished 11th, and kept the Subaru in one piece on the unfamiliar gravel surface.
His one previous experience of a WRC event was in Wales in 2002 when he crashed on the first stage. "I didn't want to make a mistake at the beginning this time."
Rossi said he wanted to see if he had any future as a rally driver when he stops motorcycle racing in another two or three years.
"I want to make some good kilometres, understand my speed in the car and understand the rhythm of rally driving."
Before the rally, Rossi had done just 80km of testing in a forest in Wales. Most of his rally experience has been in stadium events in Italy which were more akin to a racetrack, he said.
He hopes to gain more experience of rallying next year. "So maybe when I finish with the bike I can do it."
That won't be sweet music to the fanatical Italian fans, most of whom would like him to make the step to Formula One.
"Rallying's my passion after motorcycling," said Rossi. "The relationships with the other competitors are a lot better than motorcycling, where we are always battling one another. For rally we only race the clock."
Gronholm's win and his team-mate Mikko Hirvonen's second placing secured the world manufacturer's title for Ford.
The WRC driver's title for 2006 had already been sewn up before the NZ leg by Citroen's Sebastian Loeb.
