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Atkinson: Pressure was just huge |
Subaru's Chris Atkinson managed to hold off Francois Duval and secure the final place on the rostrum on the Rallye Monte Carlo on Sunday, the opening round in the 2008 FIA World Rally Championship.
Chris started the day with a solid 20.1 second lead however he soon came under big pressure from Duval, who slashed 12.1 seconds off it in the opening test of the day.
Duval then proceeded to cut the gap to 4 seconds in SS16 and by the time the competitors headed back to Monaco for the Grand Prix circuit super special the gap was down to just 1.1 seconds.
In the end though Atkinson did exactly what was needed on the 2.70 kilometre final test and both he and Duval posted exactly the same time, which was also the fastest of the field.
As such Chris kept third and notched up his second WRC rostrum finish, to add to the one he achieved back in 2006 on the Rally Japan.
"To finish third is fantastic for me and the team. The pressure today was huge, we just had to drive flat out and do everything we could to stay ahead," he reflected.
"Duval is such a fast guy, and I always knew today would be really tough going up against him. I lost a few seconds in SS18 with a half spin, and after that I was just going for it. The same thing happened last year when I was fighting for position going into the final stage [and battling with Mikko Hirvonen for P4], but this year is so much more important as I was fighting for a podium.
"I'm so happy for the team – all the guys have done such a great job and we deserved this. It's a fantastic start to the year for us and we'll celebrate tonight for sure!"
