Australian rally driver Chris Atkinson finished fifth in Rally Germany on his first outing with WRC Team Mini Portugal. Atkinson replaced Armindo Araújo, who is suing the team over his termination and over what he says are his rights to the WRC Team Mini Portugal name (as reported here earlier this weekend).
It was the best finish so far this season for Team Mini Portugal, and the first time that the team finished ahead of Prodrive, the organization that it had replaced as the Mini factory rally team early this year. Prodrive’s Dani Sordo, who had been in the top five on eight of the rally’s fifteen stages, finished ninth after damaging his car on Saturday afternoon.
Eight-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb won the rally in his Citroen. It was Loeb’s fifth consecutive win and his seventh of the season.
Atkinson will run again in Rally Great Britain on September 13-16, while Sordo, whose Prodrive team is running only selected events, will run again in Rally France on October 4-7.—Brian S. Morgan
