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Wood charges to third while Payne and Heimgartner battle hard in Race 8

by Ryan Higgins
April 11, 2026
in New Zealand, Supercars
0

After a thrilling two qualifying sessions earlier, drivers now focused on the shorter 120km sprint race.

Kostecki and Feeney battled into the first corner, which almost allowed Matthew Payne to sweep into the race lead. The field remained green on the first lap with Payne the lead Kiwi in third, ahead of Wood in seventh and Heimgartner in ninth.

Towards the back of the pack, some biff and barge heading onto the back straight left Aaron Cameron in a half spin, with Cameron, Kai Allen and Jobe Stewart all falling back in the order.

Payne was passed by Will Brown early in the race, dropping him to fourth. Wood was able to recover up into sixth, with Heimgartner moving into eighth. Kai Allen emerged from the pit lane five laps down after his damage suffered earlier.

By lap twelve, Kostecki held a lead of a second over Brown. Payne sat in fourth, just behind Feeney and just ahead of Chaz Mostert and Wood. Heimgartner remained in eighth.

Image: Walkinshaw TWG Racing

On lap sixteen, Feeney reported engine issues coming onto the straight. The engine cut out, cycling him out of the podium positions and down to sixth. Heimgartner came into the lane on lap eighteen, followed by Wood a lap later.

Payne came into the lane on lap nineteen, and managed to just get out in front of James Golding after traffic held Payne up in the lane. Brown was able to close up to the back of Kostecki after Brown undercut Kostecki into the lane.

After the pit stops, Wood led the Kiwi charge with a net fifth, ahead of Payne in net sixth and Heimgartner in net eighth.

With ten laps to go, Wood held the fastest lap while sitting in fifth. Payne sat in sixth, five seconds behind Wood. Heimgartner remained in ninth, under pressure from Jack Le Brocq.

Continuing his charge, Wood closed up to the back of Feeney with 9 laps to go. Wood was able to get past Mostert for fourth and was now all over Feeney for third. Wood made no issue getting past Feeney to take the last podium spot with seven laps to go.

Payne received a five-second penalty for an unsafe release, which would get added to his race time. At the same time, Wood was able to comfortably pull away from Feeney, and Heimgartner moved down to tenth after Le Brocq got past with three to go.

Heimgartner was lucky to avoid being taken out by Jayden Ojeda after he locked the car up, getting into Waters in the long left hander before the straight.

Wood was able to close the gap to Brown to three-tenths in the final sector with two to go. Wood tried to sweep around the outside before the straight, but was unable to. Brown was able to hold on to the chequered flag by a few tenths over Wood.

Kostecki looked untouchable out front and came home with a dominant win, ahead of Brown and Wood, who brought home another Supra podium. Payne fell down to fifth with his penalty, with Heimgartner coming home in twelfth.

Image: Walkinshaw TWG Racing

A jam-packed day of racing continues with the 200km race now taking place today at 3:30pm.

Tags: Andre HeimgartnerBrad Jones RacingGrove RacingMatthew PayneRyan WoodSupercarsWalkinshaw TWG Racing

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