MotoGP star Valentino Rossi has confirmed that he will be taking part in the final round of the World Rally Championship, the upcoming Rally GB which is scheduled to run over the weekend of December 1st to 3rd.

According to a report on Autosport.com, Rossi is seriously considering a full time swith to rally cars after his motor-cycle career winds down. The multiple World Champion is quoted as saying

“Yes, [rallying] could be my future after the bikes, Formula One, as well, could have been within my reach, but I had my chance [a testing program with Ferrari] and I made a different choice. Rallying could be a good solution. Rallies have always been one of my great passions and I want to do at least one every year. Then, when I’ll quit with bikes, if there is the chance I’ll happily [have a career in rallying].”

In other Rally GB news it has been confirmed that current World Champion Sebastian Loeb won’t contest the event through the forests of Wales as his recent cycling injuries haven’t healed sufficiently.

Happy Birthday today to former Grand Prix star Jacques Laffite (born 11/21/43)

The season ending NASCAR race had a lot going for it both in terms of spectacle and excitment. At one point it seemed like crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr was going to run away with it but he faded after the mid point, as once again Greg Biffle proved he knows his way around the Florida track with his third consecutive victory at the venue (below).

Behind him points leader Jimmy Johnson once more proved his mettle by battling adversity, in this case a debris punctured front valence and a messy pit stop, to finish just where he needed to in order to lift his first Nextel Cup (below). At the start of The Chase it seemed that Johnson would once more miss out on the title, but he stepped up when it counted and grasped the championship and made it his own.

Further down the field Juan Pablo Montoya’s much anticipated NASCAR Nextel Cup debut became a literal baptism by fire following a nudge from Ryan Newman that left JPM’s ride a smoking wreck in the infield.

Happy Birthday to Indy500 veteran Garry Bettenhausen (born 11/18/41),

ex Formula One and Champ Car racer Eliseo Salazar (born 11/18/55),

and sprint car champion Tony Hunt (born 11/18/72)

While Sebastian Loeb and his Citroen may mave dominated (yet again) the World Rally Drivers championship, its the Ford team that have shown the greatest strength in depth. A fact that was underlined by this weekend’s Rally New Zealand where Marcus Gronholm dominated and clinched the  World Rally manufacturer’s title for Ford.

With Gronholm’s teammate Mikko Hirvonen taking a dutiful second, 56 seconds behind, the team enjoyed a perfect weekend, having run one-two for the entire duration of the event.

MotoGP ace Valentino Rossi eventually finished 11th, having got quicker and quicker throughout the event and enjoying every second of it. A few small spins apart, he drove a flawless rally. Seventh-fastest time in Saturday’s superspecial, quicker than the factory Subarus was perhaps the highlight of Rossi’s performance.