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Glenn Macneall
Date of Birth : 04/08/72
Place of Birth : Albany, Western Australia
Lives : Oxfordshire, UK
Marital Single
Role : Co-driver for Chris Atkinson
Hobbies : Most sports, jet-skiing, mountain biking
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HISTORY
First Rally : 1992
WRC Debut : 1993 New Zealand
Career highlights :
2004 - Partners Chris Atkinson on Rally Australia - 5th o/a
2003 - ARC with Dean Herridge & Subaru RT Australia
2002 - ARC with Dean Herridge & Subaru RT Australia
2001 - WRC programme with Toshi Arai & SWRT
1998 - Winner, Asia-Pacific F2 class
1997 - Winner, Asia-Pacific F2 class
1995 - Second place, Asia-Pacific F2 class
As co-driver to Chris Atkinson, Glenn Macneall brings a wealth of international rallying experience to one of the most exciting driver pairings in the WRC. Having rallied in the FIA Asia Pacific, Australian and World Rally Championships, Glenn is a seasoned professional and the man who guided Chris to his career best finish on the last round of the 2004 season in Australia.
Early starter
Glenn attended his first rally when he was just two months old. His father, Peter, was a successful co-driver in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s and involved his son in the sport right from the start. After spending so much of his childhood following his father's exploits in the Australian Rally Championship, it was almost inevitable that he would want to compete himself. Aged 16, Glenn was too young to get a driving licence but he was still able to compete as a co-driver and take part in a number of Western Australian rallies. Two seasons later he co-drove for Leigh Hynes in the 1992 Daihatsu one-make championship and their performances in a Charade GT earned a works drive with Daihatsu for the following two seasons in the Asia Pacific Championship and the Australian and New Zealand rounds of the World Championship.
Broadening experience
In 1995 the Macneall/Hynes partnership looked beyond Australia for experience and travelled to Britain to drive a Group N Ford Sierra on three rounds of the British Championship. They didn't abandon their Asia Pacific efforts though and a successful season in an F2 Honda Civic netted them second overall. Glenn landed a works seat in the Hyundai Australia team and contested the 1996 Asia Pacific Championship, this time co-driving for five-times Australian champion Greg Carr in an F2 Hyundai Excel.
Glenn made his Subaru debut in 1997, co-driving in the Australian Championship for Greg Graham in a Group N Impreza supported by Subaru Australia. After a close fought battle the pair came within four seconds of winning the series on their first attempt. The pair also took part in the Rally of New Zealand driving a Possum Bourne-prepared Group A Impreza. That same year Glenn co-drove Japanese driver Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima in a Suzuki Baleno to the first of two Asia Pacific Championship F2 class victories.
After another season in the Australian Rally Championship, this time with Dean Herridge in a Hyundai Coupe, Glenn moved in 1999 to partner Shigeuki Konishi in a Group N Subaru Impreza in the New Zealand, Australia and China World Championship events. He contested two rounds of the Australian Championship with Stumpy Holmes and Dean Herridge and also travelled to England with Dean to take part in the Rally of Wales and the Pirelli Rally with the F2 Hyundai Coupe. By now Glenn was constantly in demand as a navigator and for the 2000 season partnered three drivers; Shigeuki Konishi in the Safari Rally in Kenya, Stumpy Holmes in New Zealand and Dean Herridge in the Australian Championship.
And so to Subaru
For the 2001 season Glenn began working with Subaru, a relationship that turned out to be long-term. Initially, he joined forces with Japan's Toshi Arai for a factory-supported WRC programme with the Subaru World Rally Team, but for 2002 his talents were in demand back in Australia and for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 seasons he partnered Dean Herridge as a member of Subaru Rally Team Australia.
The final round of the 2004 season brought a change for Macneall, who partnered rising star Chris Atkinson on their home WRC event in Australia. The pair delivered an astonishing performance and Glenn was the natural choice to partner Chris at the Subaru World Rally Team in 2005.
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