Kiwi rising star Ryan Wood capped off a standout weekend by claiming his maiden Supercars Championship pole position and backing it up with a breakthrough race win after dominating across multiple sessions at Wanneroo Raceway in Perth.
This morning’s action saw two qualifying sessions set the grids for this afternoon’s double-header, Races 14 and 15.
Qualifying 1:
Kiwi driver Matt Payne set an early lead in session one, topping the timesheets after the opening laps with a 54.504-second lap. Fellow Kiwis Andre Heimgartner and Ryan Wood were just outside of the top ten in the 12th and 13th positions.
When the drivers came back out for the final laps after changing to fresh tyres for their final flying lap, securing pole position became a battle between Payne, Wood, and rookie Kai Allen.
Wood managed to secure provisional pole with Payne right behind him, putting Kiwis in the top two positions going into session two.
Prominent names, including Thomas Randle, David Reynolds, and Will Davison, sat just outside the top ten, failing to advance to session two.
At the start of the Top 10 Shootout, Fullwood, Payne and Allen opted for fresh tyres early, while the remaining seven drivers held theirs back for a late-session push.
With fresh tyres, Payne continued to top the timesheets with a lap time of 53.872 seconds. Allen and Fullwood managed fourth and fifth before retiring from the session.
After a tyre change, Payne was bumped out of first by a fast Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown.
Chaz Mostert stormed to pole with a blistering 53.686-second lap, the fastest of the weekend, edging out teammate Ryan Wood, who clocked a 53.770 to complete a Walkinshaw Andretti front-row lockout for Race 14.
Qualifying 2:
Wood came out swinging in the second qualifying session, becoming the only driver to dip under the 54-second mark in the opening laps.
Payne wasn’t far behind, making it a Kiwi one-two before the field headed to the pits for fresh tyres.
As the grid returned for their final runs, Wood chose to stay put, electing to save his tyres rather than rejoin the session.
Payne took first place before Kostecki, Allen, and Cam Waters also posted times under 54 seconds, dropping Wood back to fifth.
After securing pole for Race 14 in the first qualifying session, Mostert narrowly missed out on the Top 10 in the second, settling for 11th.
Meanwhile, Randle bounced back from 14th in session one to earn a spot inside the Top 10.
The second session opened with a flurry of quick laps and constant changes at the top of the leaderboard. Randle briefly held P1 with a 54.6-second lap before heading to the pits, but was soon eclipsed by Broc Feeney and Waters.
Waters topped the timesheets with a 54.154, narrowly edging out Feeney’s 54.198 lap time.
On his second-to-last lap, Payne suffered a kerb strike but managed to make it to fourth on the final lap.
Wood then surged to the top with the session’s only 53-second lap, securing his first-ever Supercars pole position. Having qualified second earlier, he locked in front-row starts for both Race 14 and Race 15.
Race 14:
At just 21 years old, Wood claimed his maiden Supercars victory with a commanding drive, outdueling teammate Mostert and holding off Brown in a tense battle.
Starting from second on the grid alongside Mostert, Wood launched strongly off the line, pulling ahead into Turn 1. The teammates went side-by-side through the opening corners, with Mostert narrowly edging back in front.
Undeterred, Wood kept the pressure on, staying glued to Mostert’s rear bumper as the gap between them remained razor-thin. By lap 10, Wood made his move, closing in and executing a clean overtake to seize the lead. Mostert began to drop back, allowing Wood to extend his margin and take control of the race.
On lap 21, Feeney, who was in third position, decided to pit in an attempt to undercut the race leaders. Wood countered this by also pitting early on lap 23.
Coming out of the pits, Wood rejoined just ahead of Feeney and had to fight him off for a lap to hold position.
Mostert encountered a delay during his pit stop due to trouble fitting the right-rear tyre, costing him valuable seconds. He rejoined the race behind Kostecki, effectively slotting into fifth.
Wood held the lead as Feeney fell back into fourth position. Brown then took second and closed the gap to Wood.
In the final three laps, the gap between Wood and Brown hovered at less than half a second. Brown relentlessly searched for an opening to overtake but couldn’t find the right moment to make his move.
After heavily defending, Wood crossed the finish line first and earned his first race win in the Supercars series. Brown finished in second place ahead of Chaz Mostert, making it a double podium for Walkinshaw Andretti.
“It’s pretty emotional, to be honest,” he said.
“My parents have sacrificed a lot for me to get here and to achieve my lifelong dream; it just doesn’t feel real.
“I’m so stoked for my whole team, and just kudos to all our partners, the engineering group, for coaching me through that race. I just can’t believe it.”
Wood also paid tribute to Kiwi motorsport legend Greg Murphy, praising his mentorship over the weekend.
“It’s pretty amazing to have Murph here,” said Wood
“The things he does for me behind the scenes, I can’t speak highly enough for him.
“I know everyone thinks he’s a hard bastard, but he is, and that’s what keeps me committed and focused and got me to this result.”
Matt Payne crossed the line in sixth, collecting valuable points for his championship campaign. Jaxon Evans battled through a difficult race to finish 18th, while Heimgartner and Richie Stanaway followed in 21st and 24th respectively.
Race 15:
Just hours after claiming his first race win, Wood lined up on the front row for Race 15, this time from pole position.
Alongside him on the front row, Waters was hungry for another victory.
However, Wood got off to a sluggish start, dropping back before reaching Turn 1 and briefly holding up Feeney. Meanwhile, Payne rocketed from fourth on the grid into second place, slotting in behind Waters and pushing Wood down to third, at least for the moment.
The three leaders ran wheel-to-wheel, separated by just 0.3 seconds.
Waters then surged ahead, setting the pace with the fastest laps for several circuits. On lap 22, Wood executed a clean pass on Payne to reclaim second place.
Meanwhile, Mostert was on a charge from 11th, slicing through the field and moving up four positions after overtaking Allen to reach seventh.
Wood closed in on Waters and made his move on lap 19, overtaking him in the final corner. The two battled fiercely, with Waters responding immediately by executing a crisscross maneuver to reclaim the lead.
A few turns later, Wood was able to take the race lead again and hold onto it.
Disaster struck Wood on Lap 22 when a mechanical failure forced him off the track and into the dirt. By the time he rejoined, he had dropped to 19th and was forced to pit immediately due to damage sustained.
A broken wishbone caused the critical steering failure that led to Wood’s off-track excursion, along with additional damage that forced him into the garage for repairs, ending his chances of back-to-back wins.
Thankfully, he rejoined the race in time to cross the 75% distance mark and salvage some valuable points.
“Something broke. I’m not too sure what; I just can’t believe it, to be honest,” Wood said before rejoining the track to salvage points.” said Wood
“Our race car was unbelievable; that’s all I care about; we should have won that race.
“I hate to be cocky, but the thing was a jet. So pretty gutted, but at the end of the day, we can hold our heads high, and there’s still plenty of positives out of today.”
Feeney and Brown both decided to pit early, undercutting the rest of the field. The Triple Eight duo gained a solid lead ahead of Payne, who sat in third.
On lap 29, heartbreak struck another Kiwi as Evans suffered a dramatic failure when his rear tyre came off the spindle, leaving his car severely damaged and forcing him out of the race.
A third mechanical issue took Cooper Murray out of the race with only 10 laps to go. He narrowly escaped a collision and safely returned to the pit.
After a stunning drive, Mostert made it into third position, passing Waters with only a few laps to go. He gained the most positions out of any driver during the race, making it up seven spots and securing back-to-back podiums.
Championship Leader Broc Feeney took the win for Race 15 and extended his lead in the championship. He is now 27 points ahead of teammate Will Brown who finished second.
Payne delivered another solid top-ten result, finishing fifth and continuing his run of consistent pace. Stanaway came home 17th, with Heimgartner in 22nd after finishing two laps down. Wood was classified 23rd, while Evans was forced to retire and recorded a DNF.
Wood finished the day ninth in the championship with 631 points with one more race remaining.
Payne holds onto third in the championship with 929 points, 80 points behind Brown.
The drivers will line up tomorrow for Race 16 in Perth at 7:15 pm NZST.
Header Image: Supercars
