Valentino Rossi chose the eve of his expected MotoGP coronation to reveal that he will make another foray into four-wheel racing before the end of the year. The Italian, who will guarantee a sixth elite title if he finishes third in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, will drive in the Wales Rally GB in December.

“I don't know which car I'm driving yet,” the Fiat Yamaha rider said. “I've read I am driving for Ford but that is not decided yet. It will be Ford or Subaru.”

Motor rallying has long been Rossi's favoured sideline. Although courted by Ferrari and offered a job with the Formula One team in 2006, Rossi chose to stay in MotoGP, where he was coming under unprecedented pressure.

Rossi competed in the Rally of Great Britain in 2002 but crashed after only 17 kilometres of the first special stage. He did better in 2006, when he was eleventh in Rally New Zealand. He has regularly suggested that he would like to turn to rallying after hanging up his knee-sliders, because he feels it comes closer to matching MotoGP for excitement than Formula One. “The big difference is the role of the rider in MotoGP,” he said after turning down Ferrari. “To go fast you have to be absolutely a part of the bike. In the car you can't move. You are more like a robot.”

Life on two wheels may soon get harder for Rossi. With four races left, it would take injury or a Devon Loch-style collapse to deny him the title after two barren seasons, but the cast list for next year is taking shape. Sete Gibernau, of Spain, who was Rossi's closest challenger in 2003 and 2004 before losing his seat to Casey Stoner for 2007 and retiring, looks sure to be back with Ducati or Kawasaki.

Nicky Hayden, the 2006 champion, will partner Stoner, the defending one, at the works Ducati team. The American has long felt aggrieved at his treatment by Honda, who have favoured his team-mate, Dani Pedrosa. Hayden said: “People are waiting for me to start running my mouth about things that went on within the team but I ain't gonna be the crazy ex-girlfriend and talk a bunch of trash.” He then trashed Pedrosa's manager, Alberto Puig, saying that he ran the team.

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