Prior to motorsport, Atkinson had a career as a stockbroker. He graduated from Bond University in commerce, majoring in finance and accounting in 1999 after receiving an academic scholarship. He was initially a co-driver for his brother Ben, but after attending a rally school together, the pair swapped positions, scoring a class win and third overall. His brother Ben Atkinson later became a co-driver for Cody Crocker in the APRC.
For his first full season of competition, Atkinson contested the Australian Rally Championship in a privately entered Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, finishing inside the top ten in Group N and in the overall top 20 on every round he contested, also setting two second-fastest stage times. The Atkinsons finished ninth outright to become Privateer Champions. This brought Atkinson to the attention of Suzuki, who offered him a drive in one of its Super 1600 Ignis models with the Suzuki Sport team in the 2003 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.
Atkinson's first world rally was in 2004 at the Rally New Zealand in a Subaru Impreza WRX STI. For 2005, he was signed by Subaru World Rally Team to drive alongside 2003 world champion Petter Solberg, finishing 12th overall in the drivers' championship with 13 points. His best results that year were third in Japan and fourth in Australia.
After finishing the 2006 season tenth overall with 20 points, Subaru warned Atkinson that his position was at risk if he could not balance speed with safety and deliver quality results.
At the 2007 Rally Monte Carlo, Atkinson was 0.8 seconds behind fourth-placed Mikko Hirvonen going into the super special stage — a 2.4 km run through Monaco using part of the Formula One circuit. Hirvonen set 1:50.9; Atkinson responded with 1:49.9 to take the stage win and fourth place overall. At the 2007 Rally Finland, Atkinson posted the fastest time on the opening super special stage at a horse-racing course at Killeri, briefly leading the rally. He finished the 2007 season seventh in the championship.
At the 2008 Corona Rally Mexico, Atkinson finished second, 30 seconds ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala. He closed the season fifth in the drivers' standings, for the first time outscoring team leader Solberg.
Following Subaru's announcement of withdrawal from the WRC, Atkinson signed for the new Citroën Junior Team for 2009. In his only rally for that team, in Ireland, he finished fifth despite colliding with a telegraph pole on the first day and suffering a spin on SS18.
After signing with Monster World Rally Team in 2012, Atkinson raced alongside Ken Block in Mexico, winning stage SS12 – Leon Super Special before retiring with a mechanical failure. He also drove a Citroën DS3 WRC for the Qatar World Rally Team at Rally Finland.
He then replaced Armindo Araujo as lead driver for the factory-backed WRC Team MINI Portugal for the last five rallies of the 2012 season, run by Motorsport Italia. His best result in the MINI John Cooper Works WRC was fifth at Rallye Deutschland. He finished the year 13th in the championship.
In 2013, Citroën used him for Rally Mexico, where he finished sixth, eleven minutes behind winner Sébastien Ogier. Hyundai hired him mid-year as a test driver for their i20 rally car, leading to a part-time deal for 2014. He raced at the rallies of Mexico and Australia in 2014, finishing seventh and tenth respectively.
In April 2010, Atkinson began a partnership with the Proton R3 Rally Team, competing in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in a Proton Satria Neo Super 2000, with co-driver Stephane Prevot. In 2011 he won the Malaysian Rally, Rallye de Nouvelle Caledonia, and the International Rally of Whangarei, but missed two rounds and finished second overall to teammate Alister McRae.
In 2012, Atkinson drove a Skoda Fabia S2000 for the MRF team with Prevot as co-driver, and the pair were crowned 2012 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Champions.
From 2014, Atkinson signed with FAW-VW Rally Team from China, initially with an S2000. When the FAW-VW Golf 7 SCRC was introduced, Atkinson won by 25 minutes at the penultimate 2014 CRC round in Longyou and took the final round at Wuyi. In 2015 and 2016, he won nine of eleven CRC rounds, defeating Subaru Rally Team China driver Mark Higgins. CRC regulations, however, do not count points earned by foreign drivers, so he was not officially recognised as champion.
At the 2006 24 Hours Nürburgring, Atkinson made his circuit racing debut in a Subaru Impreza for Autosportif Racing UK, finishing second in class. At the 2007 Bathurst 12 Hour, he finished first in class and second outright, again in a Subaru Impreza. In 2009 he co-drove with two-time Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series champion Steve Owen in the Australian Mini Challenge, finishing second in a 30-minute endurance race.
Atkinson competed in the final four rounds of the 2016 Global RallyCross Championship, finishing eleventh including a finals appearance in Seattle.
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