Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver Aoife Raftery and co-driver Hannah McKillop exceeded pre-event expectations on the BAUHAUS Royal Rally of Scandinavia. In doing so, they have retained their top-five championship position in the Junior FIA European Rally Championship.

Driving a PCRS Rallysport-prepared Peugeot 208 Rally4, she and McKillop finished seventh in the category, two places better than their Canary Islands result last month. Raftery, aware that many of her rivals had pre-event experience of the Swedish rally, drove a solid and trouble-free rally to ensure more valuable points are collected ahead of the fourth round in Estonia in July. The crew significantly improved their gravel pace compared with their speed on the previous ERC gravel rally in Hungary in April and also improved stage by stage throughout the event.

“These are the best roads I have ever driven on,” she said. “The stages are just class. This is the most fun I have ever had in a rally car, the roads, the stages, the feeling in the car, it is the best gravel rally I have ever done.”

 She also praised her team for their support over the three-day event. “Hannah did an incredible job on the notes, massive thanks to her, the support from the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy has been brilliant before and during the rally, thanks to my sponsors who made it all happen, the crew of mechanics at PCRS and Hankook Tyres.”