Another fine drive by Desi Henri on Rally Northern Ireland
26-08-2010
08:32
20 year old Portglenone driver Desi Henry and co-driver John Rowan in their Citroen C2 R2 Max finished a fine 17th overall, and third of the Citroen Racing Trophy Ireland runners on the weekends, Rally Northern Ireland event. In just their second Citroen Racing Trophy appearance, the pair impressed once more, as they once again significantly upped their pace in relation to the other Citroen Trophy runners. Desi was understandably happy. “We were very pleased with the weekend. We had a few issues on the Friday stages, but on Saturday we were there or there-abouts as regards pace. We weren’t on Marty McCormack’s pace, but we were pleased that we were doing similar times to Mark Donnelly and Mark Sheahan, who don’t hang around.”
Day one brought a few small dramas for the PRH Construction team, with a very worrying problem of the brake pedal going to the floor on occasion! “We were having to pump the brakes on occasions and others I was just checking to see that there was a hard pedal there. It was a little worrying at times, especially over stages like Torr Head. We eventually found the problems when I spotted some fluid near John’s feet. A connection to the bias valve had worked loose and the boys corrected it at service.” Despite the problems the crew lay 22nd overall overnight, but were set to climb a lot higher on day two. Indeed on the day’s second test they were third fastest C2 R2 Max, a performance they were to repeat on stages 10, 12 and 13, before being fastest C2 Max on the final Langford Lodge stage near Antrim. Indeed a hold up behind an ailing Mitsubishi on the penultimate test cost a position to John McCrone’s Fiesta, but clocking up a result of 17th overall and third of the Citroen Racing Trophy Ireland runners was an excellent second outing in the Trophy for Desi and John.
“I really enjoyed the event. The stages were great, as was the weather for it, and the rally was very well run. There wasn’t one stage cancelled and there were no long queues for the stages. Now we intend to complete the final CRT Ireland round in Cork, as we have been really enjoying the Citroen series since we joined it this year.” Redacteur: PB Desi Henry | Foto's Roydempster.com
