It was business as usual for Ryan Wood in the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, the young Kiwi claiming Round 3 round honours at Sandown with a win in yesterday’s Race 1 and a second in todays endurance event.
As has been the narrative this season, Wood and championship leader Thomas Sargent were locked in battle over the weekend’s races, tricky conditions throwing several curveballs over the two races which were held after Race 2 was cancelled due to a torrential downpour.
Wood qualified on pole for Saturday’s opener with Aron Shields starting alongside in second. Sargent could only manage the fourth fastest time, relegating him to the second row alongside Courtney Prince.
Race 1
It was Shields who got the better start, leading the field in a haze of water and mist off the track surface into Turn 1. Wood quickly slotted in behind, with Sargent moving to third.
An early safety car was required after a Lap 1 incident between Nathan Sticklen and Marc Cini required vehicle retrieval.
Shields led the pack for the majority of proceedings after the restart, until pressure put on from a charging Wood forced him wide at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap.
Wood snuck through for the lead, as did Sargent with that being the finishing order for the event, Wood over Sargent with Shields third.
Fellow Kiwi Madeline Stewart also had an impressive race, coming home 13th in the massive 27-car field.
Race 3 (Endurance)
A sudden downpour as the cars lined the grid saw around half the field box at the start for wets, with Wood and Sargent among those.
Shields took the lead off the start on slicks, before a later spin at Turn 3 saw Eric Constantinidis take the lead, the drivers behind who had elected for wets making progress through the field towards the front.
Sargent took the lead on Lap 5, before Wood managed an overtake just a lap later. This began a nose-to-tail and side-by-side battle which only befits two such evenly matched competitors, Sargent finally getting the lead back on Lap 21.
As the track dried and evolved, the drivers whom started on slicks began to see an improvement and regain the pace of the lead cars, before working their way through the field.
Lachlan Bloxsom, who had once sat as low as 16th, was the main improver in this regard, working his way to the front of the field by the conclusion of the race. His pace was evident by a best lap of 1.11.97, nearly three seconds faster than that of Sargent and Wood.
The flag couldn’t come soon enough for the two front-runners, a charging Bloxsom managing passes on Courtney Prince and Harrison Goodman to take third on the final lap.
Sargent held on to take the victory, Wood a further one second up the road. The pace of the two was so significant, that despite the pace advantage of Bloxsom over the dying stages, they remained a full 32 seconds ahead.
Stewart was the second of two Kiwi’s, coming home 16th.
Victory in yesterday’s Race 1 and second in today’s Race 3 see Wood walk away with round honours having scored one point more than Sargent.
Sargent is still at the top of the leaderboard at the halfway point for the campaign, Wood only nine points back.
The Michelin Porsche Sprint Challenge now takes another month off, returning to The Bend over the weekend of October 21-23.
Banner Photo: Ryan Wood Racing (Facebook)
