Chris Atkinson

Chris Atkinson

Atkinson at the Telstra Rally Australia 2006
Personal information
Nationality	Australian
Born	(1979-11-30) 30 November 1979 Bega, New South Wales, Australia
World Rally Championship record
Active years	2001 – 2009 , 2012 – 2014
Teams	Subaru World Rally Team, Citroën Junior Team, Monster World Rally Team, WRC Team Mini Portugal, Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT
Rallies	68
Championships	0
Rally wins	0
Podiums	6
Stage wins	41
Total points	122
First rally	2004 Rally New Zealand

Chris Atkinson (born 30 November 1979) in Bega, New South Wales, Australia) is a professional rally driver. In the WRC (World Rally Championship), he drove for the Subaru World Rally Team from 2004 to 2008. His best finish on an individual WRC event is second, which he achieved at the 2008 Rally México and Rally Argentina. Other podium placings include third place finishes at the 2005 Rally Japan and the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally.

Atkinson is currently driving for Team MRF, and will compete in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in 2012 as well as making a guest appearance in the World Rally Championship. Atkinson won the 2012 Asia Pacific Rally Championship.^[1]

On 16 August 2012 it was announced that Atkinson would be the number one driver for the WRC Team Mini Portugal outfit for the last five races of the 2012 WRC season.^[2]

Early career

Prior to his motorsport career, Atkinson had a career as a stockbroker. He graduated at Bond University in commerce, majoring in finance and accounting in 1999 after receiving an academic scholarship for studies. Atkinson was a co-driver for his brother Ben, but after attending a rally school with his brother, the pair swapped positions, scoring a class win and third overall.^[3][4] Currently, his brother Ben Atkinson is a co-driver for Cody Crocker in APRC.

For his first full season of competition, Atkinson contested the Australian Rally Championship aboard a privately entered Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, finishing inside the top ten in Group N and in the overall top 20 on every round he contested, as well as setting two second-fastest stage times. The Atkinsons finished ninth outright to become Privateer Champions. This performance brought Atkinson to the attention of Suzuki, who offered him the opportunity to drive one of its Super 1600 Ignis models with the Suzuki Sport team in the 2003 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.

Atkinson rewarded the team with a class win in the opening round of the championship in Canberra. Next came a second place in New Zealand, a second in Japan and two wins in Thailand and India, culminating in Atkinson winning the Super 1600 title. He finished fifth in the overall championship, ahead of many more powerful, four-wheel-drive, turbo-charged cars.

WRC career

Atkinson's first world rally was the 2004 Rally New Zealand in a Subaru Impreza WRX STI. For 2005, he was signed by Subaru World Rally Team to drive the Subaru Impreza WRC alongside 2003 world champion Petter Solberg. He finished 12th overall in the drivers' world championship with 13 points. His best results were third in Japan and fourth in Australia.

After finishing the 2006 season tenth overall in the drivers championship with 20 points and a fourth place as his best finish, Subaru told Atkinson that his job was on the line, and if he could not balance his speed with safety and achieve quality results he would be replaced by another driver.

At the start of the 2007 season Atkinson finished fourth at the 2007 Rally Monte Carlo, recording three stage wins. On the final day of the rally, Atkinson was 0.8 seconds behind fourth place man Mikko Hirvonen and had to beat him in the super special stage, a 2.4 km run through Monaco which uses part of the world famous Formula One course. Hirvonen set a time of 1:50.9 meaning that Atkinson had to at least set a time of 1:50.1 to beat him, but Atkinson did better and took the stage win with a time of 1:49.9. Hirvonen was the first person over to Atkinson to congratulate him.

At the 2007 Rally Finland, Atkinson posted the fastest time on the short opening super special stage on a horse-racing course at Killeri, to lead the rally for a short time. Atkinson finished the 2007 season seventh overall in the drivers' world championship.

At the beginning of the 2008 season, Atkinson took third place in Monte Carlo; while at the 2008 Corona Rally Mexico, Atkinson managed second, 30 seconds ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala. He finished the season fifth in the drivers' standings, and for the first time, outscored hitherto team leader Solberg.

After Subaru's season-ending announcement of its withdrawal from the WRC, Atkinson signed for the new Citroën Junior Team for the 2009 season.^[5] In his only rally for the season with the team in Ireland, he produced a strong showing to finish fifth, despite colliding with a telegraph pole during the first day, and suffering a spin on SS18.

Re-entry into WRC (2012)

After signing with Monster World Rally Team in 2012, Atkinson raced alongside Ken Block in Mexico. Atkinson won a stage, SS12 - Leon Super Special but finished with a DNF due to mechanical failure.

Atkinson also signed up for a one-off drive in a Citroën DS3 WRC for the Qatar World Rally Team for Rally Finland.^[6] However, his medium term WRC future was granted when it was announced he would replace Armindo Araujo as the lead driver for the factory-backed WRC Team MINI Portugal in the last five rallies of the 2012 season.^[2]

Atkinson contested the last five rounds of the 2012 WRC season with the Motorsport Italia-run MINI squad to finish the year 13th in the Championship. His best result for the year was achieved at Rallye Deutschland (Rally Germany) where he secured 5th behind the wheel of the MINI John Cooper Works WRC.

Proton R3 Rally Team

In April 2010, Chris Atkinson began a partnership with the Proton R3 Rally Team. Competing in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), Atkinson drove a Proton Satria Neo Super 2000, alongside co-driver Stephane Prevot. Also driving for the Proton R3 Rally Team was former WRC driver Alister McRae.

After making a guest appearance at the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) Monte Carlo Rally, Atkinson has dominated the 2011 APRC, winning the Malaysian Rally, Rallye de Nouvelle Caledonia and the International Rally of Whangarei. However missing round two in Queensland and the final round in Hokkaido saw him finish second to his team mate Alister McRae who competed in all rounds.

MRF Skoda Rally Team

Chris Atkinson compete in an Australian-run Skoda in the 2012 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship. Atkinson drove for the MRF team in a Skoda Fabia S2000, co-driven by regular wingman Stephane Prevot and the pair were crowned 2012 FIA Asia PAcific Rally Champions. This becomes the Gold Coaster's first, and biggest, international motorsport crown, captured amongst a raft of extremely competitive rallying talent from across the globe.

"It's an awesome feeling to take the APRC title after a great year with the MRF Skoda team," said Atkinson. "There's a great lineup of drivers from around the world competing in the championship this season so I'm extremely proud to be flying the Aussie flag high for everyone back home."

Atkinson’s Belgian co-driver Stephane Prevot picked up the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship for Co-Drivers with Skoda winning the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Cup for Manufacturers and Team MRF the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship - Teams Trophy. The year was a solid one for Atkinson with two wins from five events including victory at his home event, the Brakes Direct Rally Queensland, in May. It was a busy year for Atkinson with dual rallying commitments having him compete in the APRC and WRC, which this year forced the 32-year-old to miss APRC Rally Japan in September. Despite the absence from Japan, Atkinson's performances on the remaining five rallies were strong enough to secure Skoda's first ever Asia Pacific Rallying title since the Championship’s inception back in 1988.

"It's been a busy last half of the season but thanks to a great team at Race Torque and huge support from Skoda Australia and Brakes Direct we were able to bring our A game all year and produce the ultimate result." Atko added. "I also have to thank my family, friends and of course my fans who have shown massive support all year for both the APRC and WRC programs."^{[citation needed]}

Atkinson joins an illustrious list of former APRC champions including the likes of Carlos Sainz, Possum Bourne and Rod Millen amongst others.

Circuit Racing

At the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 2006, Chris made his circuit racing debut driving a Subaru Impreza for the Autosportif Racing UK placing second in class.^[7] From that lead a drive in the 2007 Bathurst 12 Hour again in a Subaru Impreza where he finished first in class and second outright. In 2009 he competed in the third round of the Australian Mini Challenge co-driving with two-time Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Champion Steve Owen finishing second in the 30-minute endurance race.^[8]

Complete WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
2004	Chris Atkinson	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	MON	SWE	MEX	NZL Ret	CYP	GRE	TUR	ARG	FIN 33	GER		GBR	ITA	FRA	ESP	AUS 5	16th	4
		Suzuki Ignis S1600											JPN 12
2005	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRC2004	MON	SWE 19															12th	13
		Subaru Impreza WRC2005			MEX Ret	NZL 7	ITA 18	CYP 10	TUR 24	GRE Ret	ARG 9	FIN Ret	GER 11	GBR 38	JPN 3	FRA Ret	ESP 9	AUS 4
2006	Subaru Rally Team Australia	Subaru Impreza WRC2005	MON 6			ESP 11	FRA 13				GER 8								10th	20
	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRC2006		SWE 11	MEX 7			ARG 6	ITA 10	GRE 11		FIN 13	JPN 4	CYP 9	TUR 6	AUS 9	NZL Ret	GBR 6
2007	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRC2006	MON 4	SWE 8	NOR 19														7th	31
		Subaru Impreza WRC2007				MEX 5	POR Ret	ARG 7	ITA 10	GRE 6	FIN 4	GER 15	NZL 4	ESP 8	FRA 6	JPN Ret	IRE 42	GBR 7
2008	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRC2007	MON 3	SWE 21	MEX 2	ARG 2	JOR 3	ITA 6											5th	50
		Subaru Impreza WRC2008							GRE Ret	TUR 13	FIN 3	GER 6	NZL Ret	ESP 7	FRA 6	JPN 4	GBR Ret
2009	Citroën Junior Team	Citroën C4 WRC	IRE 5	NOR	CYP	POR	ARG	ITA	GRE	POL	FIN	AUS	ESP	GBR					14th	4
2012	Monster World Rally Team	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	MON	SWE	MEX Ret	POR	ARG	GRE	NZL										13th	28
	Qatar World Rally Team	Citroën DS3 WRC								FIN 39
	WRC Team Mini Portugal	Mini John Cooper Works WRC									GER 5	GBR 11	FRA 8	ITA 6	ESP 7
2013	Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT	Citroën DS3 WRC	MON	SWE	MEX 6	POR	ARG	GRE	ITA	FIN	GER	AUS	FRA	ESP	GBR				12th*	8*

* Season in progress.

APRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	APRC	Points
2003	Suzuki Sport	Suzuki Ignis S1600	AUS 4	NZL Ret	JPN 3	THA 5	IND 6			5th	18
2004	Monster Sport Australia	Suzuki Ignis S1600	AUS 4	NCL 3	NZL 6	JPN 2	CHI Ret	IND		5th	27
2010	Proton R3 Malaysia	Proton Satria Neo S2000	MAL 4	JPN Ret	NZL	AUS Ret	NCL	IDN	CHN 2	5th	48
2011	Proton Motorsport	Proton Satria Neo S2000	MAL 1	AUS	NCL 1	NZL 1	JPN	CHN 2		2nd	139
2012	MRF Tyres	Škoda Fabia S2000	NZL 1	NCL 2	AUS 1	MYS 2	JPN	CHN 2		1st	154

Career highlights

• 2012 - Winner, Asia-Pacific Rally Championship
• 2011 - 2nd, Asia-Pacific Rally Championship
• 2010 - 5th, Asia-Pacific Rally Championship
• 2009 - 14th, World Rally Championship
• 2008 - 5th, World Rally Championship
• 2007 - 7th, World Rally Championship
• 2006 - 10th, World Rally Championship
• 2005 - 12th, World Rally Championship
• 2004 - Winner, Asia Pacific Super 1600 Championship
• 2004 - Second, Australian Rally Championship
• 2003 - Winner, Asia Pacific Super 1600 Championship
• 2002 - Winner, Australian Privateers Cup

Sporting positions
Preceded by Alister McRae	Asia-Pacific Rally Champion 2012	Succeeded by Gaurav Gill

References

1. ↑ Crash.net - Atkinson wins APRC title Retrieved 29th of October 2012
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Chris Atkinson secures factory MINI WRC drive". AUSmotive.com. 2012-08-17. Retrieved 17 August 2012. 
3. ↑
4. ↑ "Bond University - Community Newsletter, February 2006". Enews.bond.edu.au. Retrieved 2012-12-07. 
5. ↑ "Atko joins Citroen". RallySportMag.com.au. 2008-12-25. Retrieved 25 December 2008. 
6. ↑ "Atkinson secures Citroën drive for Rally Finland". AUSmotive.com. 2012-08-16. Retrieved 16 August 2012. 
7. ↑ "Motorsports | Subaru Global". Subaru-msm.com. 2006-06-19. Retrieved 2012-12-07. 
8. ↑ http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?12/07/2009.TVSC.R7

• Subaru World Rally Team Official Site
• Plenty of Rallies for Chris Atkinson in 2011

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chris Atkinson.

• Chris' official website
• SWRT Profile on Chris Atkinson
• Driver Database stats

Persondata
Name	Atkinson, Chris
Alternative names
Short description	Australian rally driver
Date of birth	30 November 1979
Place of birth	Bega, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death
Place of death