Sandown’s qualifying day produced one of the most dramatic afternoons of the 2025 season so far — a mix of shock exits, bold tyre calls, and another statement performance from New Zealand’s Supercars contingent.
Ryan Wood delivered a masterclass under pressure to top qualifying and later convert it into a storming pole in the Top 10 Shootout, while Matt Payne fought his way into the one-lap dash with strong pace of his own.
It wasn’t smooth sailing for everyone, though, with Andre Heimgartner eliminated early and Jaxon Evans narrowly missing the Shootout cut.
Quallifying:
Ryan Wood set the tone early, topping the combined qualifying sessions ahead of Broc Feeney and Chaz Mostert, with the Kiwi showing blistering speed on the Dunlop Super Soft tyres as the track rubbered in.
Q1: Payne and Wood progress, Heimgartner out, Evans just misses
The first segment became a scramble for grip, with several teams running the softer tyre for the first time all weekend. Wood worked into the session strongly, climbing into the top half as the tyres came up to temperature.
Matt Payne was steady and composed, placing his Penrite Mustang comfortably inside the advancing group.
On the flip side, Q1 proved costly for Andre Heimgartner. Two scrappy early laps left him exposed heading into the final minute, and even with clear air on his last attempt, he couldn’t recover the margin needed. He was bundled out in the first cut along with Jack Le Brocq, Aaron Cameron and Macauley Jones.
Jaxon Evans came agonisingly close to joining the Shootout contenders. His 11th-place effort left him just one position short of progressing — a tidy lap, but not quite enough on a day when the margins were brutally small.
Q2: Wood stars again, Payne safe, Brown and Randle implode
Q2 saw Wood fire another warning shot with a sharp banker lap, slotted among the front-runners while others scrambled to find clear track.
Payne again worked the window perfectly, producing the lap he needed to secure his place in the Top 10 Shootout — ultimately qualifying eighth overall.
Two of the day’s biggest shocks came courtesy of title rivals Will Brown and Thomas Randle. Brown had burned two green sets in Q1, forcing him into a single-run strategy for Q2. After initially going fastest, he stepped out of the car and watched helplessly as he tumbled to 15th.
Randle’s gamble was even costlier. His one-run plan in Q1 offered little margin for error, and he never found the grip he’d hoped for — ending up buried in 22nd and furious with his own execution.
When the dust settled, Wood led the Shootout qualifiers ahead of Feeney, Mostert, Kai Allen, Brodie Kostecki, Anton De Pasquale, Bryce Fullwood, Payne, David Reynolds and Cam Waters.
Top 10 Shootout:
The Top 10 Shootout became a tense chess match, but it was Ryan Wood who ultimately delivered the knockout blow — producing a mega lap at the end to steal pole from teammate Chaz Mostert.
Cameron Waters set the first benchmark on used tyres: tidy but not spectacular. David Reynolds came close, missing top spot by 0.028 seconds.
Matt Payne was the first driver to really light up the session. He went full send from Turn 1, he nailed the opening sector and carried the momentum across the lap, going nearly four tenths clear of Waters. It was the first genuine “Shootout lap” of the day and briefly put him on provisional pole.
Bryce Fullwood and Anton De Pasquale then raised the bar. De Pasquale, in particular, produced a flyer — fastest in the final two sectors — to push Payne down to second.
From there, the lap times tightened even further. Brodie Kostecki missed the top spot by just 0.0078 seconds, and Kai Allen also threatened, losing time late in the lap and slipping into third.
Chaz Mostert became the first driver to dip below the 1:09 bracket with a 1:08.9, taking over provisional pole and setting a huge target for the final two runners.
Broc Feeney’s wide moment at Turn 6 put him back in sixth, leaving only Ryan Wood with a chance of toppling Mostert. And Wood delivered.
Up by 0.038 seconds at the second split, he hooked up a superb final sector to stop the clock at 1:08.7371, securing his third pole of the season and sealing a Walkinshaw Andretti United front-row lockout.
Top 10 Shootout Results:
- 1st – Ryan Wood
- 2nd – Chaz Mostert
- 3rd – Anton De Pasquale
- 4th – Brodie Kostecki
- 5th – Kai Allen
- 6th – Matt Payne
- 7th – Broc Feeney
- 8th – Bryce Fullwood
- 9th – Cameron Waters
- 10th – David Reynolds
The 2025 Sandown 500 opens with Race 30 at 5:20 PM NZST, live on Sky Sport. With Wood on pole, Payne inside the top six, and Evans and Heimgartner aiming to climb forward, the Kiwi contingent is perfectly placed to shape the opening chapter of the Sandown 500.
Header Image: Supercars
