Foes Moffett and Henry are in fine fettle as they eye up Tarmac quest

JOSH Moffett and Desi Henry will head to West Cork and the opening round of the Irish Tarmac Championship this week after strong warm-up performances on the Mayo Rally.

Moffett and Henry finished second and third in their R5 Ford Fiestas, and although winner Declan Boyle will also be in Cork, he won’t be of much concern as his WRC Fiesta is ineligible for Tarmac points.

The premier Irish series is headlined by the R5 category and, although they may be outpaced by the handful of more powerful WRC cars in the entry list, just as they were by Boyle’s Fiesta in Mayo on Sunday, Moffett and Henry are expected to be among the title contenders.

They join a line-up which includes Josh’s brother Sam, the 2017 champion, but will have the benefit of a competitive shakedown run in the Irish National Championship round.

It was Henry’s first outing in a new Fiesta and he used it to find a suitable suspension set-up for the West Cork stages.

Meanwhile, Kris Meeke has moved up to fourth place in the World Championship after finishing third in Rally Mexico, but he was frustrated in knowing he had let a potential second Mexican win slip away.

Three harmless spins and a slide into a gully cost Meeke close to one and a half minutes and he finished 79 seconds behind winner Sebastien Ogier, setting an equal number of fastest times as the world champion.