Craughwell’s Aoife Raftery to contest this weekend’s Rali Bae Ceredigion in Wales

Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver Aoife Raftery is contesting this weekend’s Rali Bae Ceredigion in Wales with one eye on the 2024 season.

The Aberystwyth-based rally is the fifth round of the British Rally Championship.

However, the rally is mooted as being a potential round of next season’s FIA European Rally Championship.

The Craughwell woman is contesting this year’s FIA Junior European Rally Championship in a PCRS Rallysport run Peugeot 208 Rally 4.

She entered the Welsh event in a Ford Fiesta Rally 1600.

While her plans for 2024 have yet to be confirmed, she has entered this weekend’s rally to gain experience of the event and prepare for next season should she decide to return to the international series and the rally gains European status.

“This weekend we are heading for a one-off event over in Wales, we are going over to get some experience and see the style of stages there, first time rallying on tarmac in Wales so it looks like it is going to be a  great few days’ of rallying,” she said.

Raftery is returning to the same country where she made her rally debut back in 2021. Her first rally was the Nicky Grist Rally in mid-Wales, and that all-gravel event was, at the time, a counting round of the British Rally Championship.

Since then, she has competed in ten different countries. Her most recent international success was finishing top female driver in a two-wheel drive car at the Barum Rally Zlín in the Czech Republic.

Rali Bae Ceredigion kicks off on Friday night with a ceremonial start on Aberystwyth’s seafront.

The stage action starts on Saturday morning with a loop of three challenging closed road stages, followed by a lunchtime service halt in Aberystwyth, and then a repeat of the three stages in the afternoon. 

On Saturday evening, there will be two runs through the Aberystwyth town centre stage.

Sunday brings more closed road stages, a loop of three in the morning, followed by a lunchtime service halt, then the same three stages repeated in the afternoon, after which the ceremonial finish will take place on the promenade in Aberystwyth.

Aoife Raftery Rallying is supported by O’Neill O’Malley Architects and Project Managers / Loughrea Auto Parts Ltd / Craughwell Tyre Centre / Sean Fleming Motors / Aertec Vacuum and Ventilation / Des Lyons Plant / Quinn’s Hardware.