WRC – Chris Atkinson is banking heavily on Mexico

Chris Atkinson is preparing to return to competition by competing next week in the Rally from Mexico behind the wheel of the DS3 WRC by Khalid Al Qassimi. After being present in several events at the end of last season, the former Subaru driver took part in a day of testing last week in Portugal alongside Mikko Hirvonen to find his bearings before taking on the contested Mexican specials. on the ground. “Unfortunately the weather was not very good, showers were coming one after another, and these were not great preparations for the dust and heat that we are expecting.”, commented the Australian on the official WRC website. “Luckily I already drove the car a bit at Rally Finland last year and it was more about familiarizing myself with the car by doing more kilometers and fine-tuning the settings. It's basically a fantastic car and there's not really a lot of work to be done. Mikko rode in the dry and validated the set-up choices and so I didn't stray too far from it. »

As he looks to establish a program in rallying's premier discipline, Chris Atkinson is hoping to achieve a good result while aiming for a top-five finish. The Australian is betting a lot on this event for his future. “I think this rally suits my driving style. I have often had good results in Mexico and we even won a special stage last year. I hope we can do a good job and pick up some points for Team Abu Dhabi. We don't go there with the intention of being in full attack but we clearly do our best. Top five is a good goal, I think we would be satisfied with such a result. I would love to come back full time and the chance to be able to drive a factory Citroën is very important to me. I don’t know where this will take us but I would really like to compete in more WRC events this year. »