MotoGP champ proves he's a quick learner (ANSA) - Valencia, February 1 - MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi ended his second day of Formula 1 tests here the same way he did the first, spinning out, but that is where any similarity ended. On Tuesday, Rossi spent most of the day hanging out in the pits watching the rain and when he Ferrari finally sent him out was he already off the track and in the grass after only 20 seconds, spinning out on turn 10, the third right-hand curve on the track .

Wednesday was a totally different story. After having to live down the embarrassment of his debut the day before, the seven-time motorcyling champion took it easy and gradually built up both his confidence and speed as the day went on .



He first took his Ferrari, a reduced-power version of last year's F2005 V10, out for two laps before being forced to stop after Jarno Trulli spun out with his Toyota and tests were suspended .

As chance would have it, Trulli lost control on the same curve as Rossi had the day before, but on a wet surface .

Rossi was soon back behind the wheel for another nine laps and, after a pit stop, he racked up seven more before lunch .

The MotoGP ace improved his times almost each lap and his best morning lap time was 1'19", a vast improvement over his first lap of 1'25" but still significantly slower than the other drivers on the track, who were using the peppy new V8 engines .

Rossi proved he was a fast learner in the afternoon when he quickly cut his lap time to 1'13"7, a relative tad below the 1'13" times being set by Juan Pablo Montoya in his McLaren and the Williams of Mark Webber .

By the end of the second of three days of tests, Rossi had completed 53 laps and had the eighth best time out of 15 drivers, 1'12"85 .

This placed him ahead of such veteran drivers as David Coulthard (Red Bull), Jacques Villeneuve (BMW) and Alexander Wurtz .

The best time of the day was set by reigning Formula 1 champion Ferando Alonso in his Renault (1'11"2), followed respectively by Jenson Button in a Honda (1'11"3) and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher (1'11"8) .

On hand for the tests was Rossi's father Graziano who said "This is his first real Formula 1 trial," adding that he had been anxious about how his offspring would perform .

In a related development, a spokesman for Rossi's MotoGP team Yamaha on Wednesday said that the rider's flirtation with Formula 1 was "just a hobby" .

"This year he is a Yamaha rider. Two wheels are his jobg, four wheels are just his hobby" .

Up until now the 26-year-old motorcycling ace has only tested with Ferari privately and his last outing was in November at the team's home track of Mugello. He reportedly lapped about two seconds behind the circuit record set by Schumacher .

Although he would be an unusually late starter to the sport, there has been persistent speculation that Rossi will some day race for Ferrari .

Some pundits say that Rossi, who has little left to prove in MotoGP, is attracted by the challenge of successfully making a switch which only one man, Britain's John Surtees, has ever done before .

Surtees won four world motorcycling titles before switching to cars in 1960. In 1964, at the age of 30, he won a world title driving a Ferrari .

Italian sports fans - along with sponsors and marketing people - are thrilled by the idea that Rossi might try to be the first Italian driver to win a title in a Ferrari since Alberto Ascari in 1953 .

Some fans see him racing for Ferrari as early as 2007, when many people expect Michael Schumacher to retire .