MotoGP championship leader Valentino Rossi has no plans to leave Yamaha but said that one day he might quit the sport to take up rallying.

"I don't have any intention to change bike at the end of the season. If I absolutely have to, I'll change sport," Rossi told Panorama First in quotes given to the Italian media yesterday ahead of publication tomorrow.

"I hope to have a few more years in MotoGP and then I'd like to devote myself to another passion of mine, cars. Maybe in rallying, maybe in something else. I'm not yet ready to stop racing."

Rossi is back at the top of the championship after his run of five straight premier class world titles was halted by American Nicky Hayden in 2006 and Australia's Casey Stoner last season.

"This year my rivals are very young and very fast," said the 29-year-old, who has already competed in a number of rallies in recent years.

"I certainly can't have the dominance I had in some seasons. But if I concentrate and commit myself, they are no faster than me.

"The times are over when I could win 10 races a year, but I can challenge for the title.

"When I realise I don't have the potential to do that any more, I'll choose to do something else."

He also said he had mixed emotions about ruling out a move to Formula One in 2006 after several successful tests for Ferrari.

"It was a very hard decision. Regret is not the right word, but I'm a little sorry because I'm still curious to know what I would have done," he said.

"I was fast in the tests and it was always a dream of mine to race with Ferrari, but I wasn't ready to make the leap at that time and I stayed in motorcycling."