Motorsport: Henry welcomes Race and Rally's prize package

PLEASED: Derry’s Desi Henry (Citroen C3 Rally2) hoping to avail of the prizemoney awarded by Race and Rally outfit. Pic: Martin Walsh.

Derry’s Desi Henry has welcomed the move by Race and Rally - Citroen Racing UK/Ireland importers - to award prize money for the top three Citroen C3 Rally2 finishers in each round of this year’s Irish Tarmac Rally Championship and the Triton Showers National Championship campaign. 

The Citroen Racing C3 Rally2 Trophy Ireland that begins with next month’s Galway International Rally will carry a season purse of €110,500.

Henry will begin both championships, the ITRC begins early next month in Galway and the National gets underway in Ballina in early March. 

Some of the other Citroen competitors include Belfast’s Jonny Greer, Dubliner Robert Barrable and Armagh’s Darren Gass while it is hotly tipped that Monaghan’s Josh Moffett is set to make a switch from his Hyundai i20 R5.

Race and Rally boss Raymond Moore outlined the reason for the financial package. 

“I wanted to run some form of support and incentives for our Citroen C3 family of customers. It’s been ongoing now since last August. We are delighted that we have been able to get support through Stellantis Motorsport and Michelin to offer the package on both the ITRC and the National Rally Championship for 2024.” 

On each of the seven ITRC rounds, there will be a total €9,500 (€5,000, €3,000 & €1,500) available while the corresponding figure for each of the eight national events is €5,500 (€3000, €1,500 & €1,000). 

Under the banner of the C3 Rally2 Trophy, it is open to all Citroen C3 Rally2/Citroen C3 R5s running on Michelin tyres in each series and the fund will be distributed amongst the three highest-placed C3 contenders on each round.

Kilrea driver Henry said, “It’s great support really, especially for both championships and hopefully other manufacturers will follow suit. It’s always welcome when you get some sort of a reward after a good weekend.” 

Switching to the Citroen C3 Rally2 last March he remarked: “It took a few months to get it (set-up) right. In general, I think we had an unlucky year, silly little things went wrong. 

"We’ve made some improvements towards the year end and I’m really confident with what we have. We had the same pace as Callum Devine on the Donegal Harvest, but we had an issue with the gear selector that dropped us back.” 

Henry has reinvigorated his own team to run the car and revealed that Scotland’s Stuart Loudon will co-drive. They will start both championships before deciding on his plans.

Meanwhile, the British Rally Championship was launched at the Autosport Show at the NEC in Birmingham. 

It’s the first time in many years that it will not include an Irish event as the Ulster Rally has been dropped from the series. 

Antrim’s Kyle White (27), who won the Junior BRC last year, unveiled the Hyundai i20 Rally2 that he will campaign in the main category. 

“It will be a learning year for sure, I’m told that having campaigned a front-wheel drive car I will get accustomed to four-wheel drive pretty quickly, I’m hoping that will be the case.” 

The six-round series kicks off with the Legend Fires North West Rally in Lancashire on March 22/23.

Details of the Galway International Rally, the first round of the 2024 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship will be announced at a press reception in the Connacht Hotel, Galway tonight (Friday).

Cork racer Matt Griffin and Briton John Dhillon compete in the GT Winter Series that begins in Estoril this weekend. 

Driving for the AF Corse outfit, they will have three races in their Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo.