Henry hopeful Fiesta fix has him in Ulster Rally contention
Desi Henry heads to the Ulster Rally fresh from his fourth win of an up-and-down 2022. The Dogleap Rally victor has struggled with rally car reliability this year and is determined to put those demons behind him.
After enduring a torrid Donegal International Rally, blighted by mechanical troubles in his Ford Fiesta Rally2, Henry submitted a last-minute entry for the Dogleap Rally. Henry was defending his 2021 win on the single-venue event but the predominant purpose was to resolve the issues that ruined his attack in Donegal.
“We have been working with M-Sport to try to get the issues resolved,” explained Henry. “In fairness, they are working on it and trying to fix it.
“We did the Dogleap as we don’t want a repeat of what happened in Donegal where we couldn’t get the thing going at all.
“We had to play about a bit with the car on the first few stages but we think most of the issues are now rattled out.”
The 32-year-old and co-driver Mark Henry found themselves with some work to do at Dogleap’s halfway point – 10.3 seconds behind early leaders Aaron McLaughlin and Darren Curran. In fact, Stephen Wright and Gregory McQuillan looked to be the Donegal duo’s most likely challengers, less than three seconds off the lead.
With early morning car tweaks out of the way, the Henry cousins bounced back with a string of fastest times. They flipped a 2.2-second deficit before Dogleap’s final 10.8-kilometre test into a 1.2-second advantage to steal a last-gasp victory from McLaughlin and Curran.
Henry’s fourth win from five finishes this season is an intimidating statistic for his rivals if he has found his Fiesta’s reliability sweet spot. But those Circuit of Ireland and Donegal International Rally retirements remain hard to forget for Henry.
Henry held a 14.3-second lead on the Circuit of Ireland before running into electrical problems three stages from the end. The Ulsterman had the beating of leading Irish Tarmac Rally Championship contenders Josh Moffett, Alastair Fisher, and Callum Devine.
Surely that gives the Fiesta pilot confidence ahead of the Ulster Rally.
“The car was very competitive on the Circuit,” reflected Henry. “We have seen that the car can be there when everything is working.
“There have been these gremlins in the car, and it seems to be a generic issue with the mapping and ECU. We have seen the potential in the car and we are hoping that the issues have been resolved.
“We have lost out on some mileage by not doing a few of the rallies in between the Circuit, Donegal, and the Ulster so we might be a bit rusty to start with.
“We will give it our best and it won’t be for a lack of trying. We will aim to get a good test and I know M-Sport is working hard to give us an update before then as well.
“The Ulster Rally is notoriously tricky and the weather could have a massive part to play. You could find that the car’s set-up is more important on this rally as opposed to its power.
“Generally the wet, tricky weather is where the Fiesta has been strong and we’ll try to adapt the Rally2 car into the same way of going.”
With 19 rally victories to his name, Henry is still searching for that elusive international breakthrough. The Ulster Rally may come too soon for his Rally2 Fiesta’s development but with an already interesting Irish Tarmac battle, Henry’s hunt for a “big win” is an added storyline to follow.
“There are a few rallies I would definitely like to get off the bucket list and get a trophy from.
“The Ulster, the Circuit of Ireland, and Donegal are the three ones that would be my long-term ambitions.
“The Ulster is an historic rally and if you look down the list of previous winners it is an event with high prestige.
“We still have the same passion and enthusiasm, and we put in the same work as we have always done.
“We will certainly be out to race for the win and that is still our ultimate goal.”
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Photos by D Harrigan Images
