Chris Atkinson wins International Rally of Queensland
Australian Chris Atkinson cruised to his first major victory on home soil and extended his lead in the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship by winning the Brakes Direct International Rally of Queensland at Sunshine Coast last weekend. Coming right behind him was Scotsman Alister McRae of Proton who overcame a misfiring engine to finish second.
Carrying a lead of almost two minutes from the first day, Atkinson, who drives for the Indian MRF team in a Skoda Fabia S2000 these days, drove conservatively in the last eight special stages, but was still able to increase his margin of victory to 3 minutes 57.9 seconds ahead of former teammate McRae at the rally’s conclusion. In third place was veteran New Zealand driver Brian Green in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
Having won the first round in New Zealand and then finishing second in New Caledonia, Atkinson and his co-driver Stefan Prevot leads the championship with a haul of 101 points with races still to come in Malaysia, Japan, and China. Second in the standings is fellow MRF driver Guarav Gill on 63 points. Gill had actually won seven of the eight stages on the second day.
Between the two of them, Atkinson and Gill had claimed 16 of the 19 special stages that spanned over 236km. Defending champions Proton had mechanical problems, but both its drivers fought valiantly, with McRae winning two stages and closely matching the Skodas times on others. Proton’s second driver PG Andersson won the opening stage, but had to fight his way up from seventh place to eventually finish fourth.
The 2WD category gave the Proton team more reasons to smile, with reigning APRC Junior Champion Akira Bamba taking top honours in the Satria Neo 1.6 ahead of another Proton privateer Sanjay Takle. The junior category was won by yet another Proton, a Satria Neo driven by local Mike Young.
Pictures: Official Rally of Queensland and Proton release.
