After exclusively confirming his potential move into the world of Global Rallycross with CarAdvice back in late 2014, it's now official, with Subaru of America announcing that former World Rally Championship (WRC) driver Chris Atkinson will join its ranks to compete in the 2016 Red Bull Global Rallycross (GRC) series.

Confirmed to make his GRC debut at this weekend’s event in Atlantic City in New Jersey, the 36-year-old Australian – a former Subaru World Rally Team (2005-2008), Subaru Rally Team Australia (2004), and Hyundai World Rally Team (2014) driver – will race alongside Subaru Rally Team USA drivers Sverre Isachsen and Bucky Lasek in a freshly-built GRC-spec 2017 Subaru WRX STI wearing the number #55. Despite a long-standing friendship with Gymkhana star and GRC competitor Ken Block, the US event - a one-off for Atkinson at this stage - will be the Australian rally ace's first-ever in competitive rallycross, with recent testing in the Subaru Rally Team USA WRX STI being his only taste of what a 447kW (600hp), four-wheel-drive, GRC car able to hit 100km/h in less than 2.0 seconds feels like. Speaking directly to CarAdvice ahead of his debut GRC weekend, ‘Atko’ said while he’s been looking at rallycross for the last couple of years, a real opportunity hadn’t come up until now.