Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy member Aoife Raftery has been named as Galway Motor Club’s champion driver at the club’s annual awards presentation on Saturday night.
Members of the club gathered at Maggie May’s Bar and Restaurant in Loughrea to celebrate the year’s successes and achievements.
Craughwell’s Raftery was presented with the JJ Fleming Perpetual Cup in recognition of her results in Europe, Ireland and Britain this season.
The cup is named in honour of the late club member JJ Fleming, one of the club’s most successful rally drivers and a well-known motor and haulage trade operator in the Galway region.
It is presented annually to a Galway Motor Club member who accumulates the most points while competing at home and abroad and is one of the most prestigious and sought after trophies in the club.
Raftery earned the award based on her performances during the 2023 season when she made her debut in the Hankook Tires Junior FIA European Rally Championship alongside a busy programme of events in Ireland and Britain.
“It was fantastic to be presented with the JJ Fleming Perpetual Cup at the Galway Motor Club awards night,” she said.
”Thanks to everyone at Galway Motor Club for their great support all year and their hard work, especially Gary Leonard [Galway International Rally Clerk of the Course] for his dedication and hard work to the club.”
Raftery’s year began by being named the Women in Motorsport Ambassador for the Corrib Oil Galway International Rally in February ahead of her second season in the Hankook Tires Junior FIA European Rally Championship.
Highlights for the Peugeot 208 Rally4 driver included a class win in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship-counting Ulster Rally and a third-place finish in the Cambrian Rally – the final round of the Junior British Rally Championship.
Off track, Raftery was selected as one of 15 talented young drivers to take part in the World Rally Championship’s Beyond Rally initiative that was designed to unearth female rally talent worldwide.
Des Lyons, one of Raftery’s loyal sponsors through his Lyons Plant Hire business was named as Galway Motor Club’s Driver of the Year after strong performances in the Irish National, Border and West Coast Rally Championships events in his Honda Civic.
