MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi turned his back on Formula One on Wednesday and pledged his immediate future to racing on two wheels.

“No Formula One, at least for the moment. I’m staying with bikes,” the charismatic 27-year-old told the Italian news agency ANSA in a statement. “I will carry on racing in MotoGP for a while yet.”

Rossi had been courted by Ferrari and has impressed in several increasingly serious tests with the Formula One glamour team over the last year.

Ferrari are waiting to hear whether seven times world champion Michael Schumacher, now 37, wants to continue next year and have also been strongly linked to McLaren’s Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen for 2007.

Rossi thanked Ferrari for their interest and for giving him the opportunity to test.

“It was a beautiful experience from a technical, and above all human, point of view,” he said. “I thank (president) Luca di Montezemolo, team boss (Jean Todt) and the whole team for giving me such a great opportunity.

“I believe my work in motorcycling is not yet finished: I still have so much to do and will carry on in MotoGP for a while,” added the Yamaha rider, whose contract is up for renewal.

“I hope Ferrari achieve their target and that it coincides with mine — to win the world championship.”

Reuters via Yahoo

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