Henry is excited by his return to the British series
JOSH Moffett, the reigning Irish forest champion, and Desi Henry, winner of the series in 2016, head up the Irish challenge in this year’s British Rally Championship which kicks off with the Cambrian Rally in Wales next week.
They will be joined by more than a dozen other Irish drivers including former British junior champion Marty McCormack, already a winner this year, and 2017 Northern Ireland champion Jonny Greer.
Moffett, who also begins the defence of his Irish Tarmac title in Galway this weekend, is returning to the British series for the first time since 2016 while Henry is back after a year away.
They have been tempted back by a revamped schedule which features two rounds in Ireland this year, the West Cork Rally and the Ulster International.
Portglenone driver Henry said: “It’s great to be back and what swung it for me this year was the great calendar. We are only a private team and we struggled with the longer events, as time off work was a massive factor.
“The 2019 calendar is spot on. With one-day events and the extra rally this side of the water it was a no-brainer for us.”
First up is Sunday’s Galway Rally and Moffett, Henry and Greer will hope their R5 cars come through unscathed. McCormack, who has already won the opening round of the 2019 Irish Forest Championship in his Skoda Fabia, is skipping Galway to focus on the BRC series.
The front-running quartet will be joined in Wales by Alan Carmichael, Brendan Cumiskey and Niall Henry, who are taking advantage of the ruling to allow right-hand-drive R5 cars to fully participate in the Championship, plus a strong group of young drivers in the junior category.
William Creighton, Billy Coleman Award winner James Wilson, Josh McErlean, Jordan Hone and Marty Gallagher are all included in their little R2 cars.
The Cambrian line-up will be led by Chilean brothers Pedro and Alberto Heller ahead of 2018 Ulster Rally winner Matt Edwards, the British champion, and includes fellow Welshman Tom Cave and multi-Scottish champion David Bogie.