he wasn't paid at all...

if i remember correctly the funds for his drive were from Subaru Oz...i think if he was paid it would be from personal sponsors and i doubt it would be enough.

Could it have something to do with that he drove four full seasons and more than 60 rallys for Subaru and was faster than his teammate in only an handfull of them??

If you guys keep this up i have to put him on the "overrated" list http://www.motorsportforums.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I do not think Atkinson is underated or overated as far as ability goes...he was unlucky because when he started to be consistently faster than Solberg the Subaru team pulled out...

3.5 seasons part of his 2006 run was done with Subaru OZ not the SWRT.

I wondered that about good ol Colin Mc who had famously said "I'd do this for nothing" and who it was repeatedly reported that he was "The highest paid driver in the WRC" and yet when no contracts arrived, seemingly shugged and didn't spend a penny --as far as we know---to continue in WRC.
Guess it wasn't so important to him.

+1. Chris comes from a wealthy Australian family. They could have put some money up for him to do something OR After Ireland 2009 Chris could have put some money forward and done a few events as he is a multi-millionaire himself and waited until something better came along. I wonder if he is as fast now as he was way back when...

The late Mikael Sundström. As fast as his teammate Juha Kankkunen on his good days.

Most spectacular asphalt rally driver I've ever seen.

Follow Asia Pacific to find out.

My pick would be Markko Martin, a definite world champion if it wasn't for the tragic accident. Unfortunately at the time he didn't get to be in the best cars, Ford 03 - 04 and Peugeot 307 which were not good enough for even 2nd in championship. It's not hard to understand why teams wants him for testing and feedback.

Ford 03-04 was a rocket mate.

has anyone mentioned Nasser yet? He does a very good job, would be a decent no.2 for any team

looooooooooooooooooooooooool

Didn't seem to manage to beat the Impreza and Xsara, even in the hands of Duval and Markko.

Agree. Nassir had some terrible luck this season otherwise he'd been fighting for the S-WRC lead.

Focus 03 had reliability issues but was by far the quickest car around at that time. In 2003 Märtin had more SS wins than anyone else, but lost the title cause the car broke down in too many occasions. I don't think he was underrated at any point in his career.

About Chris Atkinsson. Yes, he did often good times, but left the road in every rally one or more times. Play hard to do fast times with so many disembarkation. I definitely think he is one of the overrated.

He was very good with the Ford. But beside Grönholm in Peugeot 307..kind of overrated.

+1

For me Markko Martin and my favourite has to Mark Higgins what a pitty he never got a shot at a full works car