Atkinson impressed with Citroen

The Australian has spent his whole World Rally Championship career to date with Subaru, but with the Prodrive-run squad pulling out of the sport, Atkinson will contest the season-opening Rally Ireland with Citroen's revamped junior team.

Atkinson covered 180 kilometres in the C4 in France earlier this week, gaining mileage in frozen, wet and dry conditions, as well as running in darkness.

"The C4 is a car you can really get a lot more out of the harder you drive it," he said. "It's amazing how aggressively you can attack corners, yet it all stays very balanced and straight."

He added that he was pleased to have a chance to get to grips with the car before the Irish event at the end of January.

"The C4 really is a fantastic car to drive and I'm thankful to the team we were able to get a full day's testing in ahead of Ireland," said Atkinson.

"This was our first time back in a rally car since the big accident in Wales but it all went very well and we got progressively faster as the day went on which was encouraging.

"I was able to work with team to find a suitable set-up for Ireland so now the focus is on training and preparing for the event to put ourselves in the best possible position to perform."

Atkinson has presently only been confirmed for Ireland with Citroen Junior, but the deal is expected to be extended.

Returnee Conrad Rautenbach, Junior series champion Sebastien Ogier and 18-year-old Russian Evgeny Novikov will also drive for the PH Sport-run team this year.