Galway rally driver Aoife Raftery will fly the flag for Irish motorsport once again this weekend at a rally in the province of Córdoba in southern Spain.
The Craughwell native is keen to expand her international experience and will do so at Rally Ciudad de Pozoblanco in northern Andalucía on Saturday.
The first and only female driver to be selected for the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy will drive the same Peugeot 208 Rally 4 that she used on five rounds of the FIA Junior European Rally Championship this year.
The car is prepared by Irish rally team PCRS Rallysport which is headquartered at Aragón racing circuit near Alcañiz in Spain and an opportunity arose to enter Raftery in the 93-kilometre gravel rally.
“One of the first international opportunities I got with the Academy was to complete the recce for the Spanish round of the World Rally Championship in October last year,” Aoife said.
“I really like the country; they are motorsports mad out there and with the car based in Spain it is a great opportunity to get seat time during the Irish off-season in an international setting.”
The eight-stage rally in Pozoblanco, Córdoba gets underway at 8am on Saturday morning.
Raftery is the only Irish competitor on the entry list that includes drivers from Andora, Finland and a host of Spanish drivers like Spanish Super Championship leader and champion elect José Antonio Suárez.
