All eyes were on Valentino Rossi yesterday as he made his four wheel racing debut at the wheel of a Ferrari in the 6 Ore di Vallelunga where he impressed before finishing third after late race problems cost him a near-certain class win.

The 430 Scuderia, entered by Swiss team Kessel Racing which built the GT3 car, was painted in a special livery for the occasion and carried Rossi's famous racing number 46. The Italian superstar who has just clinched his ninth two-wheel world championship title was joined in the cockpit of the Maranello sports car for yesterday's race by his friend Alessio 'Uccio' Salucci, and another fellow Italian, sports car racer Andrea Ceccato.

The nineteenth edition of the 6 Ore di Vallelunga drew 10,000 fans and this race is set to go down in the history books for the Rossi's four-wheel track debut in a Ferrari. All eyes were on the rider, who collected his seventh MotoGP World Championship title in Malaysia last month, as he lined up in the menacing flat-black finished Ferrari 430 Scuderia which is built to FIA GT3 regulations. The race posed Rossi with a steep learning curve as it started at 9:30 AM behind the safety car due to fog; however this lifted to allow the racing to commence.

With only 40 minutes to go to the chequered flag Rossi, Salucci and Ceccato were seemingly on course for a stunning win but starter problems and a small fire slowed progress. However the trio admirably held onto third place to impressively make the final GT3 podium. GT3 class victory eventually went to the Corvette shared by former F1 driver Emanuele Pirro, Carlo Graziani and Elio Marchetti, with Pirro quick to praise Rossi as a "true champion who has the desire to run in other categories without complaining and engaging himself fully." The Ferrari 430 GT3 of Forgione, Carugati and La Mazza took second place in the GT3  class to make it two Prancing Horse cars in the top-three. Rossi meanwhile was delighted with his race performance. "We were a little ill-fated at the end and for this reason I want us to try again next year," said the Italian national hero, "if it is possible to return I will gladly."

At the front the Gold Cup was won by the Lola-Judd of Thomas Biagi, Filippo Francioni and Edoardo Piscopo, they comfortably romped away with the race in the sports-prototype class. Even Biagi, who was competing in this race for the first time, was infected by the Rossi fervour that swept Vallelunga yesterday. "I made the most of the seven lap lead to track Valentino Rossi for a lap before overtaking him," said the race winner. "I wanted to see how he got on on four wheels and was surprised how good he was; he really is a class apart. I would also like to thank him for drawing more attention to the splendid world of Italian motor-racing." The sister Lola-Judd shared by team owner Fernando Geri and the 'racing brothers', Giacomo and Andrea Piccini, finished second overall. Honours in the Silver Cup after six hours of hard racing meanwhile fell to the BMW M3 E92 entered by Düller Motorsport and driven by veterans Cappellari, Calderari and Mulacchié.