Chris Atkinson

Christopher James Atkinson (born 30 November 1979 in Bega, New South Wales, Australia) is a professional rally driver. In the World Rally Championship (WRC), Atkinson drove for the Subaru World Rally Team between 2004 and 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 drives for Team MRF, and competed in the 2012 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and made a guest appearance in the World Rally Championship. Atkinson won the 2012 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.

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.

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. Atkinson's 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.

WRC career

Atkinson's first world rally was in 2004 at the 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.

Atkinson at 2008 Rallye DeutschlandAt 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. 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. 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. 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.

Atkinson competed in the final four rounds of the 2016 Global RallyCross Championship, finishing the championship in 11th in a campaign that included a finals appearance in Seattle. He is likely to stay in rallycross for 2017, whether it be in the GRC or the World Rallycross Championship.

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 NZLRet CYP GRE TUR ARG FIN33 GER GBR ITA FRA ESP AUS5 16th 4 Suzuki Ignis S1600 JPN12 2005 Subaru World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRC2004 MON SWE19 12th 13 Subaru Impreza WRC2005 MEXRet NZL7 ITA18 CYP10 TUR24 GRERet ARG9 FINRet GER11 GBR38 JPN3 FRARet ESP9 AUS4 2006 Subaru Rally Team Australia Subaru Impreza WRC2005 MON6 ESP11 FRA13 GER8 10th 20 Subaru World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRC2006 SWE11 MEX7 ARG6 ITA10 GRE11 FIN13 JPN4 CYP9 TUR6 AUS9 NZLRet GBR6 2007 Subaru World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRC2006 MON4 SWE8 NOR19 7th 31 Subaru Impreza WRC2007 MEX5 PORRet ARG7 ITA10 GRE6 FIN4 GER15 NZL4 ESP8 FRA6 JPNRet IRE42 GBR7 2008 Subaru World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRC2007 MON3 SWE21 MEX2 ARG2 JOR3 ITA6 5th 50 Subaru Impreza WRC2008 GRERet TUR13 FIN3 GER6 NZLRet ESP7 FRA6 JPN4 GBRRet 2009 Citroën Junior Team Citroën C4 WRC IRE5 NOR CYP POR ARG ITA GRE POL FIN AUS ESP GBR 14th 4 2012 Monster World Rally Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE MEXRet POR ARG GRE NZL 13th 28 Qatar World Rally Team Citroën DS3 WRC FIN39 WRC Team Mini Portugal Mini John Cooper Works WRC GER5 GBR11 FRA8 ITA6 ESP7 2013 Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT Citroën DS3 WRC MON SWE MEX6 POR ARG GRE ITA FIN GER AUS FRA ESP GBR 16th 8 2014 Hyundai Shell World Rally Team Hyundai i20 WRC MON SWE MEX7 POR ARG ITA POL FIN GER AUS10 FRA ESP GBR 18th 7

APRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 APRC Points 2003 Suzuki Sport Suzuki Ignis S1600 AUS4 NZLRet JPN3 THA5 IND6 5th 18 2004 Monster Sport Australia Suzuki Ignis S1600 AUS4 NCL3 NZL6 JPN2 CHIRet IND 5th 27 2010 Proton R3 Malaysia Proton Satria Neo S2000 MAL4 JPNRet NZLRet AUSRet NCL IDN CHN2 5th 48 2011 Proton Motorsport Proton Satria Neo S2000 MAL1 AUSRet NCL1 NZL1 JPNRet CHN2 2nd 139 2012 MRF Tyres Škoda Fabia S2000 NZL1 NCL2 AUS1 MYS2 JPN CHN2 1st 154

Complete Global Rallycross Championship results (key)

Supercar

Complete Americas Rallycross Championship results

Supercar Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points 2018 Subaru Rally Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STi GBR 8 COTA1 6 CAN 5 COTA2 7 5th 66 2019 Subaru Rally Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STi MO1 6 GTW1 1 GTW1 4 CAN 4 COTA 5 MO2 1 2nd 131

Career highlights Atkinson and co-driver Glenn MacNeall in their Subaru Impreza WRC2006 during the 2006 Cyprus Rally. 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