Throughout his short rallying career 26-year-old Chris Atkinson has set records. In 2004, at the wheel of a Group N car, he finished fifth overall in his first attempt at Rally Australia. It was the highest finish by a Group N entrant in the 17-year history of the event. When he signed with the Subaru World Rally Team for the 2005 World Rally Championship season, he became the first Australian to secure a full-time WRC seat. By the end of the year, he had become the most successful Australian WRC driver ever, with one podium and 14 fastest stage times. In 2006 he finished sixth in Monte Carlo, the best-placed Monte novice that year. Not bad considering Chris only took up professional rally driving in 2002.

Chris' first attempts at motorsport were actually with a motocross bike on the dirt tracks of Bega, New South Wales. "I got my first bike at 12," remembers Chris. "At first I only did it for fun, but I started racing the following year.

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I did it for around two years, but I broke too many bones and, in the end, it was interfering with my schooling, so I had to give up and concentrate on school."

For the next five years Chris focussed on his education and achieved considerable success. In 1997 he was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Bond University on Queensland's Gold Coast to study towards a degree in commerce, finance and accounting. Unlike some students who spend their university years indulging in beer and daytime television, Chris spent his rekindling his interest in motorsport. It came as little surprise that Chris caught the rally bug; his father, John, had competed in the New South Wales Rally Championship, claiming two New South Wales crowns, while elder brother Ben had just started rally driving.

Leaving [some] of the beer drinking behind, Chris' spare time at university was instead taken up with watching Ben compete in rounds of the Queensland Rally Championship. Ultimately watching from the sidelines proved frustrating and Chris jumped at the chance to get into a rally car in his last year at Bond. "Unfortunately I didn't drive through school or uni," Chris says, "but in my final year I co-drove for my friend Steve Orlando in his 1973 Toyota Corolla at the Beerburnum Classic. It was a real buzz."

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It was then Chris' promising career as a stockbroker fell by the wayside. Chris was gripped by the rally fever and left a job as a private client adviser at a firm in Brisbane to co-drive for his brother. "I don't regret any of my choices, first to get a degree and then to give up a job. It was exciting when it was going well, but then there was a financial crash and it wasn't the best time to be in the business. It was very interesting, but I'm glad I switched to rallying full-time."

A family partnership naturally seemed to form; Ben in the driver's seat, Chris reading the notes and John coaching from the sidelines. The trio's first car was a 1971 Toyota Corolla, which Ben drove on regional championship events in Australia. But after only a couple of rallies Chris decided he wanted a shot behind the wheel himself, so the pair swapped seats for the final round of the 2000 Queensland Rally Championship. Although it was only meant to be a one-off experiment, Chris proved to be rather handy as a driver and the brothers stuck with their new disciplines.

It's relatively uncommon for rally drivers to get their first taste of racing at such a late stage. For Chris, an accelerated programme would be crucial to his development if he was to compete at a high level and he signed up for the Rick Bates rally school at the end of the year. Chris recalls one episode that convinced him he needed to go, "I really loved rallying, but I had no idea about how to control a car. In my first rally I thought I had a puncture and stopped by the side of the road to check and change the wheel. In fact I didn't have a puncture at all! We still ended up third overall, god knows how when I was doing things like that�c"

The school, Chris recalls, taught him the basics of rallying, "the things Petter, Seb and Marcus would have learnt in their early years." With the intensive rally programme and a few more club level events under his belt, Chris was confident enough to start his first major rally in 2001, the opening round of the Queensland Rally Championship, the Caloola Classic. John Atkinson remembers Chris demonstrated remarkable talent at that rally despite his limited experience, "Chris had a fair amount of speed, even from the start. I used to sit with him on the shakedown and in testing to try and give him some help, but he picked it up very quickly anyway. I thought he'd be a good driver, even when he'd only done a couple of events." John was quickly proved right ? with less than 80km of competitive driving under his belt, Chris was first in his class and third overall at the Caloola.

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Unfortunately the success meant Ben never got to drive the car he part-owned. "When we first bought the car we were each going to drive it, but then it started going alright for me and Ben never got to drive!" Chris remembers, "I think he was quite happy. He was a very good co-driver. He still co-drives in Australia with Cody Crocker in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship."

In 2001 Chris won four rounds in his class in the Queensland series and was crowned Queensland Class N4 Champion. Onwards and upwards, Chris entered the Australian Rally Championship the next year with a privately-entered Group N Mitsubishi Lancer. He impressed in his first full season of competition, finishing inside the top ten in Group N and well inside the overall top 20 on every round he contested. In one of the most competitive Australian Rally Championships ever, the Atkinson boys finished ninth outright and were crowned Privateer Champions. "I think it's taken a while to get somewhere in rallying, but when you look back, actually it's been really quick," Chris observes. "Winning in ourt second year was a good start, but more importantly it was a chance to be seen."

It was actually a great chance to be seen. Suzuki had come to the Opening round in Canberra and invited Chris to test their new car. On the back of the test and his outstanding results Chris was signed for a 2003 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship campaign. "The Asia-Pacific was a very good opportunity for us," Chris recalls. "We had the chance to do some testing, which we'd never really done before, learn about factory teams and try out some different events. We'd done a lot of the rounds of the Australian championship, but suddenly we were doing rallies in Japan, New Zealand and all over India. There were lots of difficult, challenging conditions and we learnt very quickly about what it takes to be fast."

He was indeed very, very fast and secured a class win in the opening round in Canberra, second in New Zealand and two further wins in Thailand and India and, in only his third year of competition, was crowned Super 1600 champion. Perhaps of more significance however was his position of fifth overall, across all classes, ahead of many more powerful, four-wheel-drive, turbo-charged cars.

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At the end of that year Chris signed a deal that would set the path for the rest of his career; he teamed up with Subaru for a return to the Australian championship and selected rounds of the World Rally Championship. He dominated the Australian Championship, winning an amazing three rounds from the six events and setting fastest stage times on nearly double the number of occasions to his nearest rival. His success wasn't limited to the Australian shores though as he successfully defended his Asia-Pacific Super 1600 title. Significantly, he caught the attention of the WRC bosses when he showed exceptional pace on rounds of the World Rally Championship in New Zealand, Finland and Japan.

"The chance with Subaru was a good one. The combination of the rallies meant we could drive different types of cars, it all just fitted together," recalls Chris, "Obviously we wanted to get as good results as we could and I was trying to get better and faster in each of the rounds."

It was also the first year Chris teamed up with co-driver Glenn Macneall. The first rally Chris and Glenn entered was not exactly a glittering start to their now strong partnership. "We first drove together in China but I was really really ill. I was sick and crashed," Chris smiles. Not an auspicious start but, thankfully, Glenn persisted and the duo have remained good friends and team-mates. They even shared a house in 2005 when both moved to the UK.

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At the end of 2004, Chris was turning heads, particularly Subaru's operations director, Paul Howarth. "We had watched young drivers for the whole 2005 season," he recalls. "Chris was giving PG Andersson a good run for his money in the Asia-Pacific series. He was getting some good results and was totally committed to taking his career to the next level. When I saw his drive in Japan I was really impressed."

"There were two simple factors that made Chris stand out," Howarth continues, "Raw speed and talent. His progression to that speed in such a short time was phenomenal. In a very short career he'd delivered an incredible amount and had made huge strides forward." For Howarth, a man who has seen the likes of Petter Solberg, Richard Burns and Colin McRae as young drivers, such comments are high praise indeed. "There are two sorts of drivers, those who progress at a medium pace but never develop, or those that just get on with it and show great skill. Chris was obviously the latter."

The deal was done and Chris made his Subaru World Rally Team debut at the Swedish Rally in 2005. The commitment required to make that first factory WRC start was huge as Chris left his family and friends behind in Australia and headed for a new life in the UK. "I'd been to Europe a few times," remembers Chris, "I'd done a few European rallies, but I was committed to come over and just do it. That was the way it had to be. It didn't really bother me; that was just the way it had to be if I wanted to do the WRC."

It proved to be a steady move, as Chris says, "It's good to be close to the team so you can learn. That's really important. You've got to be as ready to compete as possible, talk to the engineers and learn about the car." It worked ? in his debut rally with the team, and also his first drive on snow, Chris climbed up to ninth overall. "He showed unbelievable speed in Sweden," Howarth comments, "driving in those conditions when he'd rarely seen snow was masterful."

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Several fastest stage times followed and by the end of the year, only Petter, Loeb and Gronholm had recorded more stage wins. Chris also notched up his first podium in Rally Japan and led his home event, Rally Australia. "Japan was one of his finest moments," adds Howarth. "It was a very measured drive despite the huge pressure of competing in Subaru's home event. He was there to take advantage when others went off and didn't crack under the pressure. He deserved the result he got."

At the end of the year, Chris results had made him the most successful Australian driver ever. Ross Dunkerton was previously the most successful Australian to enter the championship, with a best result of third in New Zealand in 1992 and a tally of 46 points in five years. In just one and a half seasons, Chris has already notched up 21 points.

Chris' season was however characterised by as many off-road excursions as remarkable results. Even at the start Howarth accepted this was a part of any young driver development. "Developing young drivers is painful. You have to let them find their own benchmark. You can give them advice on how to corner, or get the braking right, but with raw talented drivers they don't need telling. They will find their own limits. What they do need help with is how to make a correct tyre choice, how to tackle the second pass of stages and how to work with an engineer." Howarth knows the promise Chris has is worth the input, "He's highly intelligent, he understands technical feedback very quickly and he has a raw speed we want to nurture. When it comes together he'll be very, very good."

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Chris tries to improve his performance as much as possible. "I've always tried to put in as much as I can," Chris says. "I try to think of ways to be faster and neater. I watch videos to see where other drivers are fast and try and understand how and why they are. Petter helps too. We spend time working together, if we can help each other the team's results will ultimately be better. I work hard on my fitness too ? you need to know you're doing as much as you can."

This year Chris' results have been steady as he tries to achieve his goal of finishing consistently and learning the events inside out. Howarth comments, "If he can do it on the tricky roads in Japan and set top six times on his Monte Carlo debut, there's no reason why he can't go all the way."