Divina Henton

Divina Philippa Henton (born July 12, 1986 in Woodford, London, England) is a race car driver who has been competing in the TM Master Cup Series. Henton is one of the many female drivers backed by Lynxe to assist in their racing ambitions. Like her good friend Alexis Rainsford, Henton is known for her fashion sense and for not being intimidated easily on the track.

2011
Henton spent her rookie season driving for the uncompetitive Trevor Carrington Racing outfit before being dropped midway through the season, despite scoring points on two occasions. Henton's efforts were noticed by Lynxe, who picked Henton up as a sponsored driver. When Alexis Rainsford announced her switch to Champ Car, Henton was one of the two drivers (Packer Carroll being the other) that were selected to take Rainsford's place. Despite a strong run during the race in Quebec, Henton did not gain as much attention as Carroll had.

2012
Henton controversially was signed by Volpi to drive for them in 2012 alongside Carroll, however some felt that Chris Davenport may have been a better fit for the team. Some of the controversy still lingered even though it was discovered that Rainsford suggested Henton would be a better fit for the full-time seat. Rainsford and Henton are known to be good friends off the track.

Henton was largely considered an unknown despite a sterling effort in the 2011 Round of Quebec, leading to concerns that Henton may be out of her depth. During preseason testing, Henton silenced some of her critics by matching teammate Packer Carroll, however, more attention was brought to the sessions where Carroll had been quicker.

During the first race at Las Vegas, Henton ran very well but was caught out by the first yellow flag and as a result did not finish as well as she hoped, even though she scored points. But at the next event, the 2012 Round of Georgia at Road Atlanta, she showcased that she would be a threat on the road course events by scoring her first career podium finish, 3rd, vaulting her all the way up to fourth in the points standings. She suffered a setback at Carbondale, finishing out of the points in 25th position. She bounced back with a 9th place finish at her home race at Brands Hatch, but her strong form came to a halt in Sweden when she violently rolled her car during the Round of Sweden.

Despite Carroll winning in Quebec, Henton was rated higher than Carroll by Dan Mullen during the 2012 Round of Queensland broadcast. Mullen stated that Henton had generally been more dependable than Carroll, and had on several occasions been faster than him only to drop out with mechanical woes.

Henton had not won a race before the two-race Australian tour, and VRT announced that she would be dropped from the team in 2013 in favor of Leonid Roderick, who signed to drive for VRT during the Indianapolis week. Some in the paddock suggested that the emotional timing of Carroll's first win made it impolitic of Volpi to drop Carroll after producing one of the more memorable emotional moments of 2012. TM Master Cup series commentator and former driver Lance Andrews called Henton's sacking "a grave mistake", and suggested that a Roderick/Henton pairing would be far more beneficial in the long-term.

Henton would win her first race during the 2012 Round of British Columbia at the HLR Circuit, she would become the third driver to achieve a Perfect 70 after winning the pole and dominating the race in brilliant fashion. She was emotional during her post race interview, to the point where she could not properly conduct it on live television for a few minutes. Henton thanked all those who supported her through the good and bad times of her career.

She ended up 5th in the championship, a sterling effort considering that, for much of the season, the Volpi VC04 was seldom a contender for wins and podiums.

2013
Just days after Henton's sacking was announced by Volpi, Lynxe announced that they would not renew their sponsorship for the 2013 season, opting to buy out the floundering Majestic Motorsports team. Henton was confirmed as one of the two drivers at the new Lynxe Racing team during the 2012 Round of New York weekend. In early December, it was announced that the 2012 Rookie of the Year and TM Europe champion, Mélanie Clévenot, would be Henton's teammate. Henton and Clévenot currently share a house in Indianapolis.

Preseason testing went very poorly for both Henton and Clévenot, with numerous mechanical problems and very questionable pace in their Lynxe L313s. However, they seemed much quicker at the first race of the season, the Round of California. Henton was eliminated from that race in a lap 5 crash where her car went on top of the wall, which Henton said left her sore for a few days afterwards. The speed of the Lynxe cars was shown by Clévenot, who finished the race in 10th after Packer Carroll was excluded from the results.

Entering the 2013 Round of England, Lynxe Racing had set its sights on getting both cars to the finish -- something that it had yet to do in 2013. Opening practice was not promising, as both Clévenot and Henton were languishing deep in the field.

Both drivers found some speed once light rain hit practice 2, and, much to their surprise, Henton took the pole and Clévenot took third on the grid in qualifying. Many in the paddock guessed that the Lynxe cars were on qualifying setups and would be roadblocks in the race, so much so that Zelda Ashby, who qualified second, was the pre-race favorite for the win.

"We were nowhere until qualifying, honestly." Henton stated before the race began. "I don't know what will happen, we've got a good car but I'm not sure it's good enough."

During the race, that prediction appeared to be true, as Henton quickly dropped back whereas Clévenot was able to hold station. Later in the race, the Lynxe team was able to pit both cars quickly and make the right adjustments to launch both cars back into the hunt for the win. Despite a charge from Gaspar de Sousa, Henton was able to catch Adrien Devereux and pass him late in the race to score her second TM Master Cup series victory.

Greater success awaited Henton and the Lynxe team at the Karjala Grand Prix. Henton and teammate Clévenot qualified in the top ten, but they were not expected to be serious threats for the win. After pre-race favorite Kurt Plissken was knocked out, the Lynxe cars proceeded to dominate the race with Henton trailing Clévenot. At the last stop, however, Henton got out in front of her teammate and held on for her third TM Master Cup series victory.

Trivia

 * Divina Henton and Yuliya Nosova share the same base model for their 3D renders. They also share the same jacket, because the dress Cynon intended to use for Henton didn't fit the model properly.


 * Divina Henton was one of the drivers Cynon had for his GPRO team.


 * Henton's EFR Twitter Thread name, "DivinaHentervation" is a play on the term "divine intervention".