Chris Atkinson's SWRT engineer, Richard Thompson reckons that the Aussie will be unstoppable once everything clicks into place and he has gained the necessary experience in the
FIA World Rally Championship.
Atkinson is currently in his second full season in the WRC after joining the Banbury-based squad in 2005. To date his best WRC finish is a third place, notched up in Japan last year. Thus far this season he has scored 8 drivers' points and is currently 12th in the drivers' championship.
"There's no doubt that Chris is very fast, he is at a stage in his own career where you've just got to say 'do your best and try not to crash', that's as much as you can hope for," Thompson told the team's official website –
www.swrt.com.
"At times he's been unlucky, but all top drivers including
Colin McRae,
Petter Solberg and Marcus Gronholm have made exactly the same mistakes at some point in their career.
"Sardinia Leg three was a classic example for Chris – he was driving really well, setting top four stage times, but got distracted and went off. Marcus made exactly the same mistake waving to someone in the crowd in Rally GB 2001. There's no shortcut for this experience, everyone has done it. It takes time to become a champion, but when everything clicks into place he'll be unstoppable."
