Subaru delighted with podium finish

Atkinson held off Stobart Ford's Francois Duval by just 1.1 seconds to take third on the 2008 World Rally Championship season-opener.

The result was Subaru's first podium finish since Petter Solberg took third at the Acropolis Rally last June.

Having not won a rally for two seasons, Subaru have taken a deliberately low-key approach to the opening rounds of the 2008 series while they prepare for the debut of the long-awaited new-shape Impreza WRC2008 later in the year.

Subaru's manufacturer principal Ichiro Kudoh was delighted that the team had started this critical season so successfully.

"This weekend has been a great result for us," he said. "It's exactly what we expected from the team.

"Petter and Chris both drove extremely well on what is a very difficult rally, and we will use this great start to give us a boost for the rest of season. It's very important not only for us but for the Subaru fans all over the world."

Atkinson's third place was only the second podium of his WRC career.

"To finish third is fantastic for me and the team," he said. "The pressure today was huge, we just had to drive flat out and do everything we could to stay ahead.

"Duval is such a fast guy, and I always knew today would be really tough going up against him.

"I lost a few seconds in SS18 with a half spin, and after that I was just going for it. The same thing happened last year when I was fighting for position going into the final stage, but this year is so much more important as I was fighting for a podium.

"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."

Solberg finished fifth, putting Subaru second in the current manufacturers' table, one point behind rally winners Citroen.

"Today has been good for us and the team for sure" he said. "Fifth is good, and it's my highest finish on this rally. We have some good points which are important to us and we have a lot of fastest splits today, which is very good.

"I'm happy for Chris in third, and that as well is of course good for the team. We've made a good start to the season and we must keep pushing for more good results."