Subaru's number two driver,
Chris Atkinson returns to the scene of his highest-ever WRC finish in Japan this coming weekend, when he tackles the eleventh round in the 2006
FIA World Rally Championship.
Atkinson notched up his first and only podium finish in Japan last year and while he reckons it won't be easy to repeat that, he is pleased with the progress made by the team with the Impreza WRC.
"Rally Japan is Subaru's home event so it's a big rally for the team," said Atkinson. "We did well there last year, and I enjoy the narrow, fast, tricky roads, but it could be difficult to get that result again.
"We've made some steps forward with the car, now it's all about getting to the stage where we're consistently on the pace. We shouldn't underestimate the task we've got in front of us but, all the same, we'll be doing our best to get a good result for the Subaru supporters."
Atkinson first contested the Rally Japan in 2003 when it formed part of the
FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. Furthermore he has an excellent record on it, and in addition to his third place finish last year, the first time an Aussie has finished on a WRC podium since 1992, he also won the Super 1600 class in 2004.
Subaru WRT managing director, Richard Taylor meanwhile reckons that Atkinson,
Petter Solberg and Toshi Arai should all be in contention to get a good result, with rain likely to be something that should aid their cause: "The weather forecast suggests there will be increasing rainfall throughout the rally week in the Obihiro region, which means tyre choice and tyre performance will be critical to success. The last two years have demonstrated that the Subaru Pirelli package is the best over the difficult Japanese stages and the team is confident of once again mounting a strong challenge in 2006," he added.
