Schumacher has won seven F1 titles and Rossi five MotoGP crowns. Ferrari will test MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi alongside Michael Schumacher in Valencia next week.

The five-time MotoGP title-winner has tested three times for the Formula One team but is set to share the track with other drivers for the first time.

Rossi, 26, is under contract with the Yamaha MotoGP team but is tipped for a switch to Formula One in 2007.

The Italian has agreed to test regularly for Ferrari this season to discover if he is up to the task.

Rossi will drive the F2004 car in Valencia and will share the circuit with Honda, McLaren, Williams, BMW and Toyota.

Schumacher’s Ferrari contract runs out at the end of 2006 and the 37-year-old has still to decide whether to continue or retire.

Ferrari hired Felipe Massa to replace Rubens Barrichello as their second driver for next season but his contract also expires at the end of 2006.

Rossi is Italy’s highest-paid sportsman and a link-up with Ferrari would be a match made in marketing heaven.

Britain’s John Surtees is the only man to have won world championships on two wheels and four, taking the Formula One crown with Ferrari in 1964.

(this article was taken from CruiseMidlandsNews)

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