Galway-based rally driver Aoife Raftery is set to make her long-awaited return to Irish gravel rallying at this weekend's Clare Forestry Rally as part of the Irish Forest Rally Championship.
The event marks exactly 12 months since Raftery last contested a domestic gravel event and the first time she worked with co-driver Hannah McKillop. One year on, they have formed a formidable partnership in the Junior FIA European Rally Championship. Their impressive performance in the series includes a fourth-place finish in Hungary, narrowly missing out on becoming the first female crew to finish on the podium of a Junior European Championship event.
The Clare Forest Rally will provide Raftery with an opportunity to showcase her skills against a competitive field of Irish drivers. She will be competing against five other Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy members, with some of these drivers in contention for championship titles in either Ireland or Britain.
“It will be great to apply what we have learned on international events and see how good our pace is against the guys here, especially as they will be fighting for major championships,” said the Peugeot 208 Rally4 driver. “It is a new event for everyone which makes it even more exciting. I am going to enjoy it all. It is going to be a lot of fun and the plan is to push and see where we are.”
This season, Raftery has also been a force to be reckoned with on tarmac too, despite her preference for gravel surfaces. Her victory in Class 4 at the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship Ulster Rally was another 2024 season highlight.
