History was made when Galway’s Aoife Raftery and co-driver Claire Williams from Wales competed in the European Rally Championship for the first time in May.

Not since the halcyon days of Rosemary Smith has an Irish woman contested the FIA European Rally Championship.

Aoife became the first female Irish driver the enter the European Championship since Smith’s exploits in the late 1960s and early 1970s. 

Raftery is a member of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy and was driving a Peugeot 208 Rally 4 in the Junior ERC element of the rally and championship and will be run by Irish team PCRS Rallysport. Aoife finished 7th in the ERC4(Junior) class and a very commendable 34^th position overall.

Raftery’s teammates was Josh McErlean and co-driver John Rowan. Driving the Rally Academy’s Hyundai i20 Rally2, they finished an outstanding 7th overall.