Valentino Rossi had the honour of beating eight-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb on two of the nine Monza Rally stages as he cl🌃aim▨ed second position at the 2011 running of the annual event.

The former MotoGP champion returned to four-wheels for this year's event, held over nine asphalt stages marked out over the legendary Italian circuit, driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, emblazoned with p🐻ersonal sponsors and, poignantly, decals in honour of the late Marco Simoncelli.

Despite some acc🌳omplished opposition, including rallying legend Loeb, Rossi showed impressive form over the event, twice beating the Frenchman on the longest stage.

Eventually, Loeb would end up the winner overall by 24.2secs over Rossi, who nonetheless had the pleasure of beating Le Mans racer and Monza Rally regular Dindo Capello and even factory MINI driver Dani Sordo, a WRC podium winner i♑n 2011.

Elsewhere, new Tech 3 Yamaha rider Andrea Dovizioso finished 54th overall and 23rd in class driving a Peugeot 20෴7 S2000, with Moto2 riders Andrea Iannone (Peugeot) and Claudio Corti (Renault) finishing 58th and 60th.