Following the short summer break, the Citroën Racing team returns to action for round eight of the World RallyChampionship at one of the quickest events in world rallying. The team will joined by a new crew as ChrisAtkinson and his co-driver Stéphane Prévot have chosen to tackle the untamed roads of Finland in a CitroënDS3 WRC. They will be able to enjoy the expertise and support of Citroën Racing Technologies as they competefor the Qatar World Rally Team.

A major absentee from Rally New Zealand, unfortunately Nasser Al Attiyah will also be unable to take part in RallyFinland. Due to his Olympic Games’ commitments, the Qatari will miss out on driving on the 303 kilometres of timedstages that make up the most prestigious event in world rallying.

“Ever since Chris Atkinson took part in the 2009 Rally Ireland in a C4 WRC, we have kept in touch and maintainedgood relations with him”, revealed Benoit Nogier, Head of Citroën Racing Technologies. “As Nasser’s Citroën DS3WRC was available for this rally, we offered Chris the chance to lease the car and compete for the Qatar World RallyTeam. We are therefore very pleased to have him back with us in one of our Customer Racing teams for one of thechampionship’s flagship events.”

After twice winning the Asia Pacific Championship (Super 1600 class), in 2003 and 2004, the Australian driver thenwent on to compete as a works driver in the WRC. He achieved some strong results throughout the four years he tookpart in the championship. An experienced and very quick driver on gravel, Chris will be a formidable rival for the rest ofthe WRC field in Finland.

“We are really looking forward to racing with the Qatar World Rally Team”, enthused Chris Atkinson. “Competing inthe best rally in the Championship in the best WRC is a superb opportunity and I can’t wait to test the car to share myfeeling for it with the team and give them my initial feedback. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but we havegot everything it takes to go after a good result here.”