Raftery secures podium position on his inaugural World Rally Championship event 23 year old Galway rally star Dean Raftery secured a fantastic second in class RC4 on his maiden outing in a World Rally Championship event last weekend as he contested the final round of the series, Wales Rally GB. After tackling over 300 stage kilometres throughout three long days of competition, Raftery and co-driver Karl Atkinson crossed the finish podium in the North Wales town of Llandudno a very happy duo, finishing well inside the top 45 crews and harbouring a gap of around two minutes to his nearest rival. The 2014 Billy Coleman Award nominee from Craughwell in Co Galway has had a successful year in the MSA British Rally Championship, securing many titles throughout the year and now Raftery can add a World Championship class podium to his already impressive list of results. Competing against some of the best drivers in the business, Raftery had a tough task ahead if he was to even finish the event, often classed as the toughest in the 13 round calendar. But a sensible and mature approach from the youngster led to a fault free drive throughout the event and a dream result for the Ford Fiesta R2 pilot. “We had a clear goal at the beginning of the event which was to get to the end” he commented at the finish podium. “Ultimately we have achieved that but I am really pleased with my performance throughout the whole event. We had a good set of notes from the recce earlier in the week which helped, but it was important to know where we could attack and where we could back off. We had really consistent stage times and aside from a few battle scars, the car emerged unscathed. It’s been an extremely tough event and to come away with a second in class is a dream end to a dream year.” With the conditions on the Welsh forest stages some of the worst in recent history thanks to the heavy rain before the event; the road surface became a mixture of slippery mud with large ruts, rocks and holes. But Raftery took them all in his stride and he put his successful negation of the challenge which often caught out some of the world’s best drivers, down to his mind-set ahead of the event. “We knew we could not attack each and every stage on this event like we have been doing all year in the British Championship” he said. “Karl has had lots of world championship experience so it was good to learn from him and play the long game really. We knew we had to find a comfortable pace and stick with it, take no risks and keep it in the middle of the road. That worked really well and I’ve learned so much about myself this weekend, it’s been an amazing experience. I’d like to thank all my sponsors, Bluebird Care, Craughwell Tyre Centre, Black Hawk Fuels and King Car Parts for enabling us to compete against the world’s best. Also a huge thanks to my team for all their hard work this week ensuring the car was perfect throughout the event”. But Raftery has no time to sit back and relax after his confidence boosting result. His attentions will now turn to the Billy Coleman Award selection process which takes place later this week, where he is in the running for the best prize in Irish rallying. He will face a panel of judges from Motorsport Ireland and the Award committee, where he will vie for a chance to win €50,000 worth of support to contest events nationally & internationally in 2015 along with the support of Billy Coleman co-ordinator, Tom Walsh. Whilst his plans for 2015 are still under development, Raftery will certainly look to expand on the success he has gained from this year and continue to climb the rallying ladder of progression towards top flight motorsport.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 21:53:42 +0000
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