Irishman Richie Dalton has caused quiet a stir down under in Australia.In his first year driving a rally car he has managed to finish runner up in the 4WD Australian Rally Championship.Richie hails from Freshford County Kilkenny and has lived in Australia for the last couple of years. He is 31 yrs old and he owns and runs the Shamrock Motorsport team.It has been an amazing year for Richie in his first season he has managed to finish all 5 events in the series not only that but finished on the podium in every event he started.He is partnered by very experienced co driver John Allen who has taken part in many WRC and Asia Pacific events as well as Australian National rallies.They had many ups and downs throughout the season which started with the Canberra Rally driving a Subaru STI he finished Second overall in his class not a bad achievement for his first rally after that he continued on pretty much the same as he started he also changed his car to a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 1X this was to prove very successful for him and going into the last round of the championship Rally Victoria with all to play for he had a ding dong battle with newly crowned champion John Mitchell they exchanged stage times over the two days and at the end of the rally Richie came out on top to get his first win and in doing so finished runner up in the 4WD Australian Rally Championship for 2013 not a bad result a tall for his first year in rallying yet another bright Irish talent .And on to next year with a little financial help who knows where Richie will end up roll on 2014 Lorcan
Shamrock Motorsport team Press release:
WRC Co-Driver Gelsomino Teams Up With Irishman For 2014 ARC Season
2013 rookie and 4wd Australian rally championship runner up Richie Dalton has attracted the services of WRC driver Ken Blocks regular co-driver Alessandro Gelsomino
Gelsomino explains “Basically Ken is only running a limited rally programme due to other sponsorship commitments this year. And he has given me the freedom to sit with other drivers. So I decided to look for other rides to add to the 3 or 4 events I will do with him in 2014. Obviously my wife Rhianon is very knowledgeable about the ARC and has given me many tips and drivers to follow, and Scott Pedder who has also guided me towards options for the past few weeks, I noticed Richie had done his first season in 2013, finishing all of the events, winning some of them and improving consistently, which is excellent and always a goal achieved on your first year.
A driver on his second season like Richie is a ride that I’m keen on at this stage of my career, a driver that shows solid potential and that I can help improve more and more. When I started co-driving for Ken in 2005, he had a sponsor-less suit, a basic group N car and no experience. And after 5 years we were in the World Rally Championship with M-sport, the car was covered in corporate sponsors and we were scoring points consistently. It is very rewarding to sit with a driver in such a journey.
After contacting Richie and discussing options and details, we agreed on a deal and I decided to join him and his Shamrock Motorsport team for the season opener in Canberra and hopefully for 3 more events of the 2014 ARC. I have been watching a few of his in-car videos, getting used to his system of pacenotes and I think we can work really well together, improve more and aim for wins. It will be a very interesting combination of Irish and Italian accents in the car, but I’m excited and can’t wait to get to round 1 of the ARC”
. “It’s pretty surreal to be honest, said Dalton. One week Alex is sitting beside Ken Block doing the 2nd round of the American championship and 4 days later he’s beside me testing in Canberra. That opportunity was just too good to pass up, I had to get to Canberra and that was it. Dalton had planned on doing little or no events this year so he could concentrate on getting the funds together for a 2wd Citroen DS3. Luckily I have some very supportive sponsors in the Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Cemform civil, and my good mate Ivan Cummins who has always been loyal to me. When I approached them about this once in a life time chance that was being given to me, they backed me straight away. But now that the deal is done, we still have a job to do, and our goal Is to win the championship this year. I have to mention John Allen in all of this, he has been a huge part of my progress and improvement in 2013, He was the first call I made when Alex offered to help me, And John being John backed me 100% and told me to “grab it with both hands” he was very supportive”, John will be sitting alongside Richie for the border ranges rally in august, and remains an important part of the team.