Atkinson earns podium finish

Australian rally driver Chris Atkinson has taken his Subaru Impreza to third position in the Monte Carlo rally.

The podium finish is the second of his World Rally Championship career, the first was in Rally Japan in 2005, his debut year in the series.

Atkinson held onto to claim third position ahead of Belgian driver Francois Duval by just 1.1 seconds.

Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb claimed a record fifth win in the rally beating home Finnish rival Mikko Hirvonen by over two and a half minutes.

It is just the third time that an Australian has finished in the top three at a World Rally Championship event. Besides Atkinson, the only other man to do it was Ross Dunkerton at Rally New Zealand in 1992.

The Queenslander said the third placing was just reward for the hard work put in by his team.

"To finish third is fantastic for me and the team," Atkinson said.

"The pressure today was huge, we just had to drive flat out and do everything we could to stay ahead."

"I’m so happy for the team – all the guys have done such a great job and we deserved this. It’s a fantastic start to the year and we’ll celebrate tonight for sure!"