Drake and Moynihan going to Coffs Harbour Rally

The Rallyschool.com.au Irish duo of Charlie Drake (Derinagree) and Eoin Moynihan (Ballydaly) are counting down the days until the next round of the Australian Rally Championship gets under way in Coffs Harbour on the 14th – 16th May. The pair are fired up after recording their best ever result in a NSW State Championship round, the Lithgow event, where they finished third overall.

“We were really happy with the result in Lithgow and to finish third overall was a great boost for our confidence. We were seeded car 16 so to have a joint fastest stage time and be consistently in the top three was really encouraging, so now we are really looking forward to Coffs,” Charlie said.

The Celtic Motorsport Team has this year entrusted their ex-Justin Dowel Evo 8’s maintenance and rally preparation to the team at Dashsport Performance. With over 20year’s experience in both rallying and circuit racing, Darren Williams has transformed the car. His wealth of experience has reflected in the team’s strong results so far this year.

“Last year we struggled to find the right people to look after the car,” Drake added, “but Mick Ryan from Rallyschool pointed us in the right direction and we teamed up with Dasher and have not looked back since. His tarmac experience was invaluable in the first round at Tasmania and his advice and technical knowledge really helped us with the result there. At our last start in Lithgow the car felt good and it’s hard to believe that was our first gravel rally finish in the Evo. We are growing in confidence with every stage and to know that our car is as good as it can be will allow Eoin and I to really focus on our partnership inside the car.”

The team’s aim at Coffs is to secure a good points haul in both the premier league section of the ARC and the NSW State Championship. After a perfect start to the ARC premier league season in Tasmania, the lads are keen to keep on a winning streak.

“We had a good start in Tassie but the field will be much bigger and the competition a lot stronger when we hit the dirt in Coffs”, Drake added. “It’s obviously our goal to be fighting for the win in the premier league and the State section but with guys like multiple state champion Michael Boaden and Lithgow winner John Mitchell running, we will have to be on maximum attack from Stage 1, but that’s the buzz from rallying and the whole team is raring to go “.