The 9th annunal Monza Rally Show was also roaring success and the overall winner was World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb and co-driver and wife Severine Loeb, but Valentino Rossi and his co-driver Carlo Cassina gave the Rally champion a tough time over the three day event.

Rossi and Cassina drove the Monster Energy Ford Fiesta RS to two stage wins and to second place overall and obviously the former MotoGP champion was head over heels about the fact that he was able to get the best of Loeb in two stages, “Beating his majesty Sebastien Loeb in the Rally of Monza Grand Prix is a cool thing… to do it two times is priceless!” tweeted Rossi.

On Sunday, Loeb showed why he’s a eight-time champion by winning the “Marco Simoncelli Trophy” (Master Show) in honor of the late MotoGP star by 24.3 seconds. While Rossi was second and long time rival in the past editions of the rally show two-time Le Mans winner Dindo Capello finished third overall.

Andrea Dovizioso finished 54th overall and 23rd in the S20 class driving his Peugeot S2000. Moto2 rider Andrea Iannone finished four spots behind Dovi on the S20 class, also driving a Peugeot S20. Claudio Corti was 60th driving a Renault Clio. While Rossi’s father, Graziano, drove his usual Corvette to eighth in the GT class.

Monza Rally show stage nine results here:

More videos after the jump.

Continue reading: Valentino Rossi vs Sebastien Loeb at Monza Rally Show (w/video)

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We’ve already mentioned that this upcoming weekend’s Monza Rally Show will be dedicated to late Marco Simoncelli and friend Valentino Rossi will also be taking part as he usually does every year (last year he missed it, as he was recovering from shoulder surgery).

Since Rossi has taken to Twitter like a duck to water, he posted the pics of the Ford Fiesta WRC car he’ll be racing with. The graphic design is pimped by Aldo Drudi and has Rossi’s trademark sun and moon motif and the usual array of bright colours that distinguish his helmet’s and also has a large tribute to friend Marco Simoncelli.

Also taking part in the rally show will be Andrea Dovizioso, Moto2 riders Andrea Iannone and Claudio Corti.

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The Automobile Club of Milano and the Autodromo of Monza circuit have decided together with Marco Simoncelli’s family to dedicate the upcoming Monza Masters Rally Show to the late Italian rider.

Simoncelli was also passionate about rally racing and had taken part in several editions of the Monza show and just last September he had tried out the official Ford Fiesta WRC car with Mikko Hirovonen.

The event that takes place from November 25 – 27 - and the Master Show takes place on Sunday afternoon -will see the presence of MotoGP riders Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso, rally champions like Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo and 24 Hours of Le Mans driver Dindo Capello and Max Papis who will be driving a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota Camry.

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While Valentino Rossi was having fun and competing in the Monza Rally Show, about a hundred Yamaha workers from Gerno di Lesmo showed up at the event armed with whistles, bells and banners trying to gain more visibility from the media and have Valentino Rossi support their cause.

Yamaha has decided to move production lines to Spain, and will lay off 68 employees and despite the noisy protest at Monza, Rossi did not mention in any of his post race interviews what he thought about the situation at the Yamaha factory and avoided, by personal choice or under company orders, voicing any public support.

In the end even the most stoic protestor gave gave up and left the reserved grandstand (left without covering by the Monza organizers) at the end of the pitlane. A spokesperson for the protestors said: “He didn’t even glance at us, we made noises with the whistles and we had banners, but maybe we were drowned out by noise of the cars. Valentino has to help us because he’s thirty years old and he works for Yamaha just like us.”

Negotiations have broke down and the company perfers not to ask for redundancy funds for the layed off workers despite having the requirements. On Monday picketing was resumed in front of the Yamaha gates and a peaceful sit in is programmed in the lobby of the building and on the stairs leading to the offices until the workers receive some sort of answers.

Photos by: Fabrizio Radaelli
Source | ilcittadinomb

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Trying to follow the 9 times World Champion Valentino Rossi during his off season R&R is turning us into a fourwheel blog.

The always eclectic Rossi, after organizing the Motocross dei Campioni charity event two weeks ago and then taking part in last week’s 6 Ore di Vallelunga endurance race, got behind the wheel of a car again to take part in Monza Rally Show.

Driving a Ford Focus WRC with his usual rally co-driver Carlo Cassina, Rossi finished second again behind last year’s champion, Rinaldo “Dindo” Capello and Luigi Pirollo driving a Citroen C4 WRC. Third place went to Fabio Babini and Giovanni Bernacchini on Subaru Impreza WRC.

Marco Simoncelli, Loris Capirossi and Mattia Pasini also raced in the event; Simoncelli placed seventh, while Capirossi managed a 15th place and Pasini a lowly 31st.

Continue reading: Valentino Rossi takes 2nd in Monza Rally Show

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The other day you saw Elena DiCiocco of the Ienas fall in love with Jorge Lorenzo at the Estoril GP, now you can see her in action again at the Monza Rally Show.

With the help of 250cc World Champion Marco Simoncelli she gets to meet her true love, decides to dump a heartbroken Jorge Lorenzo and marry Valentino Rossi.

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The Great Britain rally has kicked off with some difficult weather conditions for both drivers and the public. Valentino Rossi has started his rally adventure after having warmed up in the Monza Rally Show in November.

In the Thursday Shakedown, the fastest on the track was Mikko Hirvonen, driver for BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team, preceding the other specialists, Petter Solberg for Subaru and Loeb for Citroen.

Valentino is at the wheel of his Ford Focus WRC Stobart in 17th position, clocking a time of 2.41.7 on the 3.9 km circuit in the Penllergaer forest.

Continue reading: Great Britain rally for Valentino Rossi

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It’s now the off season for all the mainstream motorsport championships with the exception of the World Rally Championship, this often means drivers and riders enter other series as guest drivers. The Monza Rally Show took place at the Monza race circuit took place this weekend in a rallysprint format using portions of the track and access roads.

Valentino Rossi entered this event as well as sportscar driver Dindo Capello in another sponsored Ford Focus WRC. Rossi’s team mate at Yahama, Jorge Lorenzo and Alex de Angelis also partecipated with a four wheel drive Fiat Punto and a Subaru Impreza. Also driving were Marco Simoncelli and Ducati test rider Vittoriano Guareschi. Valentino’s father Graziano also competed in the event with Valentino’s friend Uccio also making an appearance.

Rossi finished runner-up, taking second place with navigator Carlo Cassina, the Italian lost out to the combination Capello and Pirollo in the star-studded car contest. Rossi and Cassina also took the second spot in the`Master Show´special stage, losing to Piero Longhi and Luca Cassol in the head-to-head final.

Continue reading: Rossi takes 2nd in Monza Rally Show

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