![\"Dean-Raftery---Galway-Rally--item-copy\"](\"http:\/\/www.tyretrade.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Dean-Raftery-Galway-Rally-item-copy.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBilly Coleman Young Driver of the Year Dean Raftery will\u00a0take on the biggest challenge of his career as\u00a0he steps up to a\u00a0BMW\u00a0MINI World Rally Car on the Colm Quinn BMW Galway International\u00a0Rally next weekend.<\/p>\n
The young rally star, who is sponsored by Craughwell Tyres, will aim to\u00a0capitalise on his sensational performances in the MSA British\u00a0Rally\u00a0Championship and World Rally Championship finale Wales Rally GB.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0He\u00a0has been offered this opportunity thanks to his\u00a0victory in the\u00a0Young\u00a0Driver of the Year competition hosted by Motorsport Ireland and\u00a0the\u00a0Irish Sport Council which took place\u00a0back in December.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Keen\u00a0to develop his skills across a wide variety of competitive cars,\u00a0Raftery feels that the experience in a world car is \u2018key\u2019 to\u00a0his\u00a0progression in the sport and will help to boost his profile as\u00a0he\u00a0continues his career.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThis\u00a0is such a fantastic opportunity on my home event in front of my\u00a0home\u00a0crowd, it truly is a dream come true\u201d explains\u00a0Raftery. \u201cIt\u00a0really is an honour to drive at an event that my local motor\u00a0club\u00a0organises and what an incredible car to compete in.\u00a0Of course it\u00a0will\u00a0be a totally unique driving experience compared to the Fiesta\u00a0but\u00a0hopefully I can adapt to the power and grip\u00a0levels quite\u00a0quickly\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Raftery\u00a0will\u00a0compete in one of two MINI WRCs on the event, the sister car\u00a0piloted by five times Irish Tarmac Champion Eugene\u00a0Donnelly.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Having\u00a0a\u00a0five time Irish Champion as a team mate will undoubtedly help\u00a0the\u00a0Galway Motor Club member too. \u201cOf course\u00a0Eugene is a legend on\u00a0the\u00a0Irish roads and I\u2019m sure I can learn a lot from him both before\u00a0and\u00a0during the event\u201d he says. \u201cIt will\u00a0provide a great benchmark to\u00a0judge my stage times by too but I will certainly be driving my\u00a0own\u00a0event, at least for the first few\u00a0stages\u201d.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0three day event provides over 200km of competitive stages in the\u00a0Galway region and takes place on 6th, 7th and 8th\u00a0February.\u00a0After the\u00a0ceremonial start on Friday 6th, two full days of action lie\u00a0ahead for\u00a0the crews before returning to the finish\u00a0ramp at the Clayton\u00a0Hotel\u00a0late on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billy Coleman Young Driver of the Year Dean Raftery will\u00a0take on the biggest challenge of his career as\u00a0he steps up to a\u00a0BMW\u00a0MINI World Rally Car on the Colm Quinn BMW Galway International\u00a0Rally next weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[654,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n