Rossi against Suninen for Monza glory

Valentino Rossi will chase a seventh Monza Rally Show victory at the Italian circuit this weekend – but he will face strong competition from M-sport Ford World Rally Team driver Teemu Suninen.

The Finn is competing at Monza for the first time and will take time to acquaint himself with the stages, using every possible iteration of the track close to Milan. Motogp star Rossi is, however, a Monza expert. Nobody has more wins at the end-of-season spectacle and the Italian took his first success aboard a Ford Focus RS WRC 12 years ago.

He and Suninen will drive Fiesta WRCS this weekend.

The event starts on Friday afternoon and finishes after nine stages (including two runs – one in the dark on Saturday evening – at a 27-mile Grand Prix stage) and close to 100 stage miles around the circuit and its link roads at lunchtime on Sunday.

Prior to the start of the Monza Rally Show, all four WRC manufacturers will display their current World Rally Cars in Piazza del Duomo, in the centre of Milan in an effort to widen mainland Italian appreciation of the WRC.