MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi was back behind the wheel of a Ferrari Formula 1 car on Thursday test driving the F2008 car which won this year's constructors' title.
On had to watch the eight-time Grand Prix motorcycling champ at the Mugello circuit in Tuscany were the team manager of his Yamaha MotoGP team, Davide Brivio, his father Graziano Rossi and Ferrari's Formula 1 team principal Stefano Domenicali.
Rossi will continue testing on Friday and his fans can watch him by paying a five-euro track entrance fee.
The tests are not like the ones three years ago, when Rossi was contemplating a switch to Formula 1, but were simply a present Ferrari wanted to give Rossi for having won the MotoGP title this year.
Sources at Ferrari said the tests were ''a chance to celebrate the success of a friend and a team''.
Ferrari's parent company Fiat is also the leading sponsor for Rossi's Yamaha factory team.
The 29-year-old Yamaha rider flirted with the idea of moving to Formula 1 after he won his fifth MotoGP championship in a row in 2005.
He tested a modified F2004 car in Valencia and even shared the track with 'real' Formula 1 drivers but in the end decided to stick to two-wheeled racing.
Although he did better than many had expected, Rossi said at the time that ''it's like being on another planet. It's like a soccer player switching to basketball''.
''The sensations are all different. Braking is different, the lines are different, the acceleration is different,'' he added.
Many fans and observers believe that Rossi's earlier Rossi's infatuation with Formula 1 distracted him and were in part responsible for him failing to win the 2006 and 2007 MotoGP championships.
Rossi is not new to racing four-wheel vehicles and he often successfully competes in professional rally races during the MotoGP off-season.
