Rossi happy to reach the finish

The former MotoGP champion made a cautious start to the event and was only 36th quickest out of 42 competitors in the first stage of the rally.

But Rossi gradually picked up his pace as he acclimatised to the Subaru Impreza and the changeable weather conditions.

He was substantially faster in his second runs through repeated stages, and was seventh quickest in the Mystery Creek superspecial on Saturday afternoon - ahead of factory Subaru drivers Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson. A few small spins were the only blemishes on an otherwise trouble-free drive.

This one-off outing was Rossi's first WRC appearance since his ill-fated Rally GB attempt in 2002, when he crashed out in the opening stage.

With that disappointment in mind, Rossi was delighted to reach the finish of the rally.

"I am at the end without big problems and also with the car not damaged - that is very important," he said.

"It was a real experience in a real world championship rally. We tried to understand the road and the car, and just tried to improve. It was a hard job, but I enjoyed it a lot.

"My performance was becoming better. For sure I have work to do to be very fast but anyway we had great fun in the car so I'm happy."

Rossi was 20 minutes behind rally winner Marcus Gronholm at the end of the event, but only 18 seconds away from a top ten position, and eighth amongst the WRC cars.

Series boss David Richards suggested earlier this week that Rossi could choose to make a full-time switch to rallying when his motorcycling career comes to an end.