Galway Rally Season 2015 Launched at Colm Quinn BMW! Start Your Engines!
The “best young rally talent in the country” Dean Raftery was among the crowd at the launch of the Galway International Rally at Colm Quinn’s BMW showroom on the Tuam Road. The rally takes place from February 6th-8th. Dean, from Craughwell, recently scooped the Billy Coleman award as the Young Rally Driver of the Year and described it as “the next step in my career”.
“The recognition alone is so huge and it means an awful lot to win the award,” Dean told the gathered crowd as details of this year’s rally were announced.
He spoke of how he began his rallying career at the age of 8 by karting and that it was “the best way to start”. He aims to get “as much experience as I can” in the World European Championships and on the world stage.
The challenging course in the 2015 Colm Quinn BMW Galway International Rally will take competitors across 14 stages in south Galway and is the opening round of the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.
Sponsor Colm Quinn welcomed everyone to “the most modern BMW showroom and retail outlet in the world”. He thanked the 350 volunteers who work behind the scenes and admitted he had “no idea” what went into planning a rally “until I got involved”.
The Galway International Rally has partnered with the charity Domestic Violence Response and co-ordinator Elizabeth Power said she was “delighted to be the charity designate”. “It is an issue that causes such devastation in people’s lives,” she explained, and the money raised will “increase education and awareness”.
City Mayor, Cllr Donal Lyons spoke of how the rally has grown “from strength to strength” since its inception in 1971 and will bring “a lot of visitors to the city and county”. “It is a major attraction with drivers from all over Europe,” he said, “and it brings great prominence to Galway city and county.
County Cathaoirleach, Cllr Mary Hoade, commended the rally’s “proud and successful history” and said it is a “wonderful and exciting event”. “The extensive television coverage is invaluable, highlighting all that Co. Galway has to offer, with its unique and varied landscape, and top class accommodation options,” she said.
The rally will bring a welcome tourism boost, generating over 2,000 bed nights, with entries from Scotland, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Mull and Germany. Multiple German rally champion, Kai-Dieter Kolle will bring a German film crew with him to record his progress in his Porshe 911 with navigator Bianc Hutzfeld.
“We look forward to a successful rally,” concluded Cllr Hoade.