Raftery gains Young Rally Driver of the Year nomination
Dean Raftery has been nominated for this year’s Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver Award for his performances in July and August.
The 23 year-old from Craughwell, Co Galway, drove his Ford Fiesta R2 to a class victory in the Sligo Rally, finishing eleventh overall. He also took second place in the R2 class of the Ulster International Rally, a round of the British Rally Championship, and was fourth overall.
Despite problems on Rally Isle of Man two weeks ago when they retired during the opening leg, the Galwayman and his co-driver Aileen Kelly scored third place points on the final day, which was the last round of the British series, to clinch the BRC Rally Two title, the BRC2 class, the Ford FiestaSport Trophy and the Ravenol Oils Newcomers Award, as well as third place overall in the British Championship.
Dean started his motorsport career at the age of eight in Kart Racing, progressing to Junior Rallycross events before taking up rally driving in 2011. In 2012, he drove a Honda Civic to take the Junior title in the Valvoline National Forestry Championship and was chosen as a wild card selection to the final stage of the Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year Award, going on to take one of the runner up positions for the Award.
Last year, Dean was one of the bi-monthly nominees for the Coleman Award for his performances in the Valvoline Forestry series and he also contested some British Championship rallies to gain experience of the stages used, which obviously paid off this year.
For 2015, the Galway native hopes to contest the new European Rally Championship Junior section in his current Fiesta. Dean works as an accountant in the Dublin office of Deloitte and Touche. His principal sponsors are Bluebird Care, King Car Parts (Galway), Craughwell Tyre Centre, Blackhawk Fuels and Connacht 4×4 Spares. He very much appreciates the excellent car preparation carried out on his car by Broderick Motorsport.
The winner of the Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year Award receives €50,000 worth of support to contest stage rallies nationally & internationally in 2015 along with the support of Billy Coleman co-ordinator, Tom Walsh, while the two runners-up will receive free entries into a number of MI permitted events in 2015, along with co-ordinator support.
Five bi-monthly winners are selected from January/February, through to September/October, joined by the winner of the Junior Championship in the Dunlop National series, the winner of the Junior class in the Valvoline National Forestry Championship, and a wildcard selection, as the award finalists.