Raftery returns to the Junior ERC with HRT Racing

Aoife Raftery is set to compete in her third season of the Hankook FIA Junior FIA European Rally Championship.

Driving a Peugeot 208 Rally4 the Galway-based driver’s six-event European Rally Championship season will begin in Spain this weekend.

The DirtFish-supported driver will drive for the Hungarian rally team HRT Racing this year.

HRT announced the new partnership at a special press conference close to the team’s Hungarian headquarters this week.

“I am really looking forward to working with HRT Racing and the team; everybody has been so welcoming with a very professional approach, “said Raftery.

“I think this year there are some very exciting things that are going to happen in the European Rally Championship, and I am really looking forward to this opportunity.”

“The partnership with DirtFish has just begun. It is the start of something new and exciting.”

“There is going to be pressure, of course as always, in rallying to have a good performance and good results. But with the right approach and working with DirtFish and working with HRT I have a very good support system behind me to make the whole championship easier to compete in. With hard work and preparation, we are hoping for good results.”

Hannah McKillop continues as her co-driver for the entire ERC season, and this continued partnership aims to build on their shared experience from the last two years.

An unprecedented 24 Rally4 crews have signed up for round one – Rally Sierra Morena – with 22 of them registered in the Junior category.

Raftery has competed in four of the six events on this year's calendar before, while the other two events are new to the schedule.

One of the rallies the Craughwell-based driver is looking forward to the most is V-Híd Rally Hungary on May 9 to 11.

Last year, at this event, she narrowly missed becoming the first woman driver to finish on the podium of a Junior ERC round.

She came within 6.1 seconds of a top-three finish after overcoming braking and steering issues late in the all-gravel event.

“The target, as always, is to be on the podium and have good results. HRT won the junior championship in 2023, and I will use their experience and advice to have good results in each rally, improve our pace and become a better driver with a good team around me,” she added. “HRT have results, and I have seen the drivers that they have worked with in the past. I was impressed with [team principal]  Attila Nagy’s approach and HRT’s approach to the European Rally Championship  and rallying in general and how professional they come across.”

The Junior ERC is only one part of a busy 2025 season for Raftery.

DirtFish recently revealed that she will contest a programme of four American rallies at the wheel of a DirtFish Subaru WRX STI.

The Craughwell native starts her competitive Stateside journey at the Olympus Rally in mid-April.

The Washington-based event marks the first outing for a DirtFish Women in Motorsport Driver as well as Raftery’s competitive debut in a four-wheel-drive rally car.

In addition to the Olympus Rally, she will contest the following American Rally Association round (Oregon Trail Rally) in May as well as two regional events:  Tour de Forest and the Mike Nagle Rally later in year.

Other events in Ireland and Britain are potentially on the cards too.