Chris Atkinson

Last updated

Chris Atkinson
Chris Atkinson Hyundai i20 WRC Test 2013 002 (cropped).jpg
Chris Atkinson in 2013
Nationality Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australian
Born (1979-11-30) 30 November 1979 (age 43)
Bega, New South Wales, Australia
Global Rallycross career
Debut season 2016
Current team Subaru Rally Team USA
Car number55
Starts15
Wins0
Podiums2
Best finish7th in 2017
World Rally Championship record
Active years 20042009, 20122014
Teams Subaru World Rally Team, Citroën Junior Team, Monster World Rally Team, WRC Team Mini Portugal, Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT, Hyundai Shell World Rally Team
Rallies77
Championships 0
Rally wins 0
Podiums6
Stage wins41
Total points165
First rally 2004 Rally New Zealand
Last rally 2014 Rally Australia

Chris 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.

Contents

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. [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] 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 at the 2006 Rally Japan. Chris Atkinson - 2006 Rally Japan.jpg
Atkinson at the 2006 Rally Japan.

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.

Atkinson at the 2006 Rally Australia. AtkinsonAUS2006.JPG
Atkinson at the 2006 Rally 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 Deutschland Chris Atkinson - 2008 Rallye Deutschland.jpg
Atkinson at 2008 Rallye Deutschland

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 at 2012 Rallye Deutschland 2012 rallye deutschland by 2eight dsc4764.jpg
Atkinson at 2012 Rallye Deutschland

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.

Atkinson was snapped up by the Citroën team for 2013, however, the team only used him for Rally Mexico, where he finished 6th, 11 minutes off the winner (Sebastien Ogier). Hyundai hired him mid-year as a test driver for their i20 rally car, which led to a part-time deal for 2014. In 2014 he raced at the rallies of Mexico and his home event in Australia, finishing 7th and 10th respectively. In both events, Atkinson was the last of the Hyundai drivers.

Regional series

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.

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 teammate Alister McRae who competed in all rounds.

Atkinson competed in an Australian-run Skoda in the 2012 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, driving 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.

In 2014, Atkinson signed with FAW-VW Rally Team from China. He competed with a S2000 with two rallies. At the end of 2014, with the coming of FAW-FW Golf 7 SCRC, Atkinson restarted his prominence in CRC (China Rally Championship). In the debut of the Golf 7 SCRC, Atko won by 25 mins in the penultimate rally of 2014 CRC in Longyou. And in the Wuyi, the last one, he did not give the champion away. For 2015 and 2016, Atko won 9 of 11 in CRC, defeating the Subaru Rally Team China driver Mark Higgins. However, CRC does not count the points achieved by a foreign driver, or he would surely be the Driver's Champion of CRC in 2015 and 2016.

2015: Guiyang (1st), Zhangye (Ret, Mark Higgins won), Beijing (1st), Dengfeng (1st), Longyou (1st), Wuyi (1st), Jixi (3rd, Jari Ketomaa won)

2016: Dengfeng (1st), Zhangye (1st), Jinzhong (1st), Changchun (1st)

Other 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]

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

YearEntrantCar12345678910111213141516WDCPoints
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
16th4
Suzuki Ignis S1600 JPN
12
2005 Subaru World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRC2004 MON SWE
19
12th13
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
10th20
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
7th31
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
5th50
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 14th4
2012 Monster World Rally Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON SWE MEX
Ret
POR ARG GRE NZL 13th28
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 16th8
2014 Hyundai Shell World Rally Team Hyundai i20 WRC MON SWE MEX
7
POR ARG ITA POL FIN GER AUS
10
FRA ESP GBR 18th7

APRC results

YearEntrantCar1234567APRCPoints
2003 Suzuki Sport Suzuki Ignis S1600 AUS
4
NZL
Ret
JPN
3
THA
5
IND
6
5th18
2004 Monster Sport Australia Suzuki Ignis S1600 AUS
4
NCL
3
NZL
6
JPN
2
CHI
Ret
IND5th27
2010 Proton R3 Malaysia Proton Satria Neo S2000 MAL
4
JPN
Ret
NZL
Ret
AUS
Ret
NCLIDNCHN
2
5th48
2011 Proton Motorsport Proton Satria Neo S2000 MAL
1
AUS
Ret
NCL
1
NZL
1
JPN
Ret
CHN
2
2nd139
2012 MRF Tyres Škoda Fabia S2000 NZL
1
NCL
2
AUS
1
MYS
2
JPNCHN
2
1st154

Complete Global Rallycross Championship results

(key)

Supercar

YearEntrantCar123456789101112GRCPoints
2016 Subaru Rally Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STi PHO1
PHO2
DAL
DAY1
DAY2
MCAS1
MCAS2
C
DC
AC
11
SEA
6
LA1
7
LA2
7
11th88
2017 Subaru Rally Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STI MEM
9
LOU
THO1
7
THO2
3
OTT1
4
OTT2
9
INDY
8
AC1
9
AC2
4
SEA1
3
SEA2
5
LA
9
7th585

Complete Americas Rallycross Championship results

Supercar

YearEntrantCar123456RankPoints
2018 Subaru Rally Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STi GBR
8
COTA1
6
CAN
5
COTA2
7
5th66
2019 Subaru Rally Team USA Subaru Impreza WRX STi MO1
6
GTW1
1
GTW1
4
CAN
4
COTA
5
MO2
1
2nd131

Career highlights

Atkinson and co-driver Glenn MacNeall in their Subaru Impreza WRC2006 during the 2006 Cyprus Rally. Chris Atkinson - 2006 Cyprus Rally 2.jpg
Atkinson and co-driver Glenn MacNeall in their Subaru Impreza WRC2006 during the 2006 Cyprus Rally.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Asia-Pacific Rally Champion
2012
Succeeded by

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petter Solberg</span> Norwegian rally driver (born 1974)

Petter Solberg is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlos Sainz Sr.</span> Spanish rally driver (born 1962)

Carlos Sainz Cenamor is a Spanish rally driver. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title with Toyota in 1990 and 1992, and finished runner-up four times. Constructors' world champions to have benefited from Sainz are Subaru (1995), Toyota (1999) and Citroën. In the 2018 season he was one of the official drivers of the Team Peugeot Total. He received the Princess of Asturias Sports Award in 2020. Sainz founded the Acciona | Sainz XE Team to join Extreme E and has competed in the first two seasons alongside Laia Sanz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Eriksson</span> Swedish rally driver (born 1956)

Kenneth Eriksson is a now retired World Rally Championship rally driver. He drove for several manufacturer teams, including the Subaru World Rally Team, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Škoda. He was the 1986 Group A Champion in the competition's only year, his best performance, overshadowed by the fatalities that occurred in that season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rally Japan</span> Rally competition held in Japan

Rally Japan (ラリージャパン) is a rally competition held in Hokkaidō, Japan. The event made its debut in the FIA World Rally Championship during the 2004 season. From 2004 to 2007, the event was held on the twisty and narrow gravel roads of the Tokachi region near Obihiro. For the 2008 season, the event was moved to the region close to Sapporo, Hokkaidō's main city. Rally Japan was not held in 2009, but returned in 2010 for one year. Rally Japan was planned to return in 2020 to the new location of Nagoya, but was cancelled on August 19 due to COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. It was cancelled again in 2021, and returned as the last rally of the season in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">François Duval</span> Belgian rally driver (born 1980)

François Duval is a Belgian rally driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manfred Stohl</span> Austrian rally driver (born 1972)

Manfred Stohl is an Austrian rally driver who debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1991. Stohl's co-driver is fellow Austrian Ilka Minor.

Velappan Rajendran Naren Kumar is a seven-time Indian National Rally Championship Champion and two-time runner-up and Asia Zone Champion from Coimbatore, India.

The 1997 World Rally Championship was the 25th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season saw many changes in the championship. Most notably, Group A was partially replaced by the World Rally Car with manufacturers given the option which regulations to construct to. One inherent benefit to manufacturers by adopting WRC regulations was removing the need to mass-produce road-going versions of the cars that they competed with, under the previous rules for homologation. This meant that vehicles such as the Escort RS Cosworth and Subaru Impreza Turbo no longer had to be mass-produced for general sale in order to compete at World Championship level, and thus acting as a means of attracting increased competition and involvement by manufacturers. In the few years that follow, the Championship saw the added presence of WRC cars from companies such as Hyundai, Seat, Citroën, and Peugeot, who would all compete under WRC regulations without having to manufacture equivalent specialised road cars for public sale. Both Ford and Subaru switched to WRC in 1997, except Mitsubishi who stayed with Group A to maintain the links to their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution road cars. Subaru's transition was much more gradual for similar reasons with the early Subaru Impreza WRCs still largely Group A in nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subaru Impreza WRC</span> Subaru World Rally Car

The Subaru Impreza WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Subaru Impreza road car. It was used by Subaru World Rally Team, Subaru's factory team, and replaced Subaru Legacy RS in 1993. The car was debuted at 1993 Rally Finland and won a total of six world rally titles, including three consecutive manufacturers' titles and three drivers' titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subaru World Rally Team</span> 1980-2008 rallying team, three-time winner of the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers

The Subaru World Rally Team (SWRT) was Subaru's World Rally Championship (WRC) team. It used a distinctive blue with yellow colour scheme that is a throwback to the sponsorship deal with State Express 555, a BAT cigarette brand popular in Asia. 555 logos were found on Subaru cars from 1993 to 2003, although less prevalent since 1999 due to BAT's participation in Formula One with British American Racing. Subaru's WRC efforts date back to 1980, however, in 1989 British firm Prodrive took over its operations, and its base moved from Japan to Banbury, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mads Østberg</span> Norwegian rally driver (born 1987)

Mads Østberg is a Norwegian rally driver. His co-driver is Torstein Eriksen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Rally México</span>

The 2008 Rally México, officially 22º Corona Rally México, was the third round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season. The rally was held on February 29 — March 2 and began with a ceremonial start on Thursday, February 28. It was the first gravel event of the season and also the opening round of the Junior World Rally Championship this season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Wales Rally GB</span>

The 2008 Rally GB was the fifteenth and final round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season and was held between December 5–7, 2008. The event was again held in Wales, with Cardiff being the host of the ceremonial start and finish, and Swansea providing the service park. The special stages took place on gravel roads on private land, owned either by the Forestry Commission or the Army. The event saw a return to the mid Wales stages of Hafren, Sweet Lamb, and Myherin for the first time since 2000. The rally was won by Sébastien Loeb in a Citroën C4 WRC. This was his eleventh win of the season - breaking his own previous record set in 2005. Second place went to Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala who was just 12.7 seconds behind. The final podium position was filled by Loebs teammate Dani Sordo. With this result Citroën clinched the manufacturers championship. This was the final appearance of the Subaru and Suzuki in the World Rally Championship.

The Citroën Junior Team was a World Rally Championship team that competed in the 2009, 2010 and 2012 seasons. It was established as a second team for the Citroën brand and was presented as a vehicle to develop young talent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Cave</span> British rally driver

Thomas Cave is a British rally driver. He is the son of club rally driver Peter Cave and his ambition is to become the next British champion in the FIA World Rally Championship. He is the UK's first minor international rally driver and achieved his international rally licence, issued in Latvia, at the age of 16.

The 2010 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season is an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petter Solberg World Rally Team</span> 2009-2011 World Rally Championship manufacturer team

The Petter Solberg World Rally Team was a team that competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009 to 2011, owned by Norwegian driver Petter Solberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 Monte Carlo Rally</span>

The 2007 Monte Carlo Rally was a rallying autosports race held over four days between 18 January and 21 January 2007, and operated out of Valence, Drôme, France. It was the first race of the 2007 World Rally Championship (WRC) season. Contested over fifteen stages at a length of 328.54 kilometres, Sébastien Loeb won the race for the Citroën Total World Rally Team. Dani Sordo finished second in the other Citroën works car, with Marcus Grönholm finishing third in a Ford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esapekka Lappi</span> Finnish rally driver

Esapekka Lappi is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2012 Finnish Rally Champion, 2014 European Rally Champion and the 2016 WRC-2 Champion.He now drives for Hyundai Motorsport

The 2014 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was contested by a combination of regulations with Group N competing directly against Super 2000 cars for points.

References

  1. Crash.net – Atkinson wins APRC title Retrieved 29 October 2012
  2. 1 2 "Chris Atkinson secures factory MINI WRC drive". AUSmotive.com. 17 August 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  3. Archived 25 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Bond University – Community Newsletter, February 2006". Enews.bond.edu.au. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  5. "Atko joins Citroen". RallySportMag.com.au. 25 December 2008. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009. Retrieved 25 December 2008.
  6. "Atkinson secures Citroën drive for Rally Finland". AUSmotive.com. 16 August 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  7. "Motorsports | Subaru Global". Subaru-msm.com. 19 June 2006. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  8. www.natsoft.com.au https://web.archive.org/web/20120420032745/http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?12%2F07%2F2009.TVSC.R7. Archived from the original on 20 April 2012.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)