Aoife Raftery has a golden chance to take the lead of the American Rally Association’s Limited 4WD class at this weekend’s Ojibwe Forests Rally.
The DirtFish Women in Motorsport driver starts the August 28-29 event just two points behind Subaru Motorsports USA star Travis Pastrana, buoyed by recent class success in the British Rally Championship.
Raftery has never started the Ojibwe Forests Rally before, but she’s proven very competitive despite her limited experience of other ARA event – winning June’s Southern Ohio Forest Rally on her first try alongside co-driver Hannah McKillop.
Campaigning her Ford Fiesta Rally3 run by Element Rally Sport, the Irishwoman knows how important round five could be for her championship, as rival Pastrana withdrew his entry due to a motocross-related injury.
“I’m looking forward to it, another new event for us,” Aoife told DirtFish. “The stages and roads look quite fast and over crests so I think that will suit us.
“If we can get a clean result, we have a good chance of jumping into the lead of the Limited 4WD class so hopefully we can make that happen. We should be able to climb some places in the overall championship as well, which would be a really good weekend.”
Aoife spent last weekend at the fifth annual DirtFish Women in Motorsport Summit. There she taught aspiring women the art of rally driving and co-driving alongside McKillop, fellow ARA driver Lia Block and DirtFish instructor Michelle Miller – who’ll compete this weekend alongside Richo Healey.
Lia Block leads the overall standings and tops the Ojibwe entry list in her Hyundai i20 N Rally2
“Off the back of the DirtFish Women in Motorsport Summit, which was another amazing event and incredible weekend, we arrive in such a positive frame of mind,” Aoife added.
“Thanks to Josie [Rimmer] and the whole DirtFish team for putting on such an inspiring event, and for their support in this program. We’re ready to push even more and show what we can do.”
Championship leader Lia Block, winner of the last two rounds Seth Quintero, and Javier Olivares are the only drivers seeded ahead of Aoife.
