You have to feel sorry for Chris Atkinson. He worked so hard to earn a drive with Hyundai Motorsport and his debut rally has been nothing short of a nightmare so far.
His i20 stopped briefly in last night’s Guanajuato street stage and then struggled through this morning’s opening Los Mexicanos test with reduced power after a switch on the car’s anti-lag system fell off.
Brake problems haunted the Australian through the 44.03km El Chocolate and now broken right rear suspension in the 15.59km Las Minas (SS4) left the wheel sticking out at a strange angle
“It happened a long left corner,” he said. “I felt something strange and I thought I had a puncture. I didn’t hit anything but I guess an arm is broken.”
Atkinson dropped nearly a minute in comparison to team-mate Thierry Neuville and he’s already more than four minutes behind leader Mads Ostberg.