Motorsport: Obscure Atkinson is in the money

Among the steely looks of the hardened rally drivers lining up for this week's Rally of New Zealand will be a fresh-faced Aussie who has already caused something of a stir in his short career.

In a sport dominated by Europeans, and Scandinavians in particular, Atkinson is the only elite driver to call a country outside of Europe his home and the first Australian to secure a drive with one of the top teams.

Even more remarkably, the 25-year-old was plucked out of the relative obscurity of the Australian championships to join one of the biggest names in the sport in 2003 world champion Petter Solberg - and this after strapping up behind the wheel of a rally car for the first time only four years ago.

While many were asking, 'Chris who?' when he was announced to join Solberg for the 2005 season, Atkinson has a record of making things happen and, appropriately enough in rallying, fast.

He blitzed the field in the Australian rally champs last year and also caught the eye with impressive results in WRC events against more experienced drivers.

Atkinson attributes a lot of his success to the fact he entered the sport at a relatively late age after completing a finance degree with a view to becoming a stockbroker ("It seemed like a good idea at the time," he said). He's approached his driving in a systematic and sometimes mathematical way.

"It's quite a strategic sport," Atkinson explains while taking a week off at his home on Australia's Gold Coast. "It's not just about driving fast, it's about the pace notes and a lot of thought has to go into the set-up and how you attack each bit of road."

Atkinson has probably been guilty of attacking too much this season, finishing 19th in Sweden after crashing on one stage, before failing to finish in Mexico.

Far from being disheartened, Atkinson was buoyant this week, considering he was as high as third in Mexico and was comfortably in the top five before crashing.

"The overall result hasn't been as high as we'd have liked but that's masked the real picture," Atkinson said. "In terms of my speed, the team is really happy and that's the main thing they're after in a young driver. You can slow a fast driver down to get them to the finish but you can't make a slow driver go any faster.

"Subaru's goal this year is for Petter to win the world championships and for me to get as much experience as I can so I can be contesting the following year."

So far, that plan is going well with Solberg leading the points after wins in both Sweden and Mexico and Subaru, thanks to Solberg, sitting fourth in the manufacturer's standings.

Atkinson's task of being up with the leaders in this week's Rally of New Zealand is a difficult one. "It takes a few years to get to the top of your game on these roads," he said citing his three previous drives in events in this country. "It's not easy to go fast because you've basically got one racing line - it's easy to make a big mistake."

Despite this, Atkinson has something of a laissez-faire attitude about running off the road. "If I wasn't making mistakes I wouldn't find the limit and the idea is to go to the limit and stay there," he said. It means co-driver Glenn Macneall puts a great deal of trust in his fellow Australian, but, as he said, "when we crash, we crash together".

- HERALD ON SUNDAY