Ryan Wood remains unbeaten in the South Island Endurance Series, the teenager collecting another win in the Class C and D one-hour race, this time from Timaru.
Wood controlled almost all of the race. He initially slipped into second and behind the fellow Porsche of Johnny Small but reclaimed the lead a few laps later.
From there, Wood didn’t miss a step as he eased home. If anything, the only slight disappointment was he couldn’t get a lap under the one-minute barrier.
“Today was real cool,” he said.
“Kind of stuffed the start, but that was my fault. Really happy with where we ended up today.
“We just pushed on and tried to do quali laps the whole race.”
Wood now holds a commanding lead in the points standings but suggests he isn’t done yet.
“We’re definitely achieving the little goals we wanted to achieve but there is definitely still more we can hope to achieve throughout the series.”
Even Wood’s rivals are singing praises about the 17-year-old.
“We were really only kidding ourselves at the start there but it was good to have a run with [Ryan]. Once he got by, he just went,” Johnny Small said.
“I really hope he can get over to Australia or something like that because he is really impressive.”
The Small brothers finished second in their home race, making up for the disappointment of round one, where they retired early.
“It’s really good,” Chris Small said. “We’ve got a lot of friends and family here, and we are just so lucky to have some spectators out here this weekend.”
The race was briefly interrupted in the final ten minutes when the Angus McFarlane/Michael Bushell Porsche V8 spun off the circuit.
Part of the rear wing was damaged, and the car suddenly became undrivable with the lack of downforce.
Perhaps the biggest benefactor from the caution period was Marco Schelp.
After a shaky first lap where he dropped to ninth, Schelp spent most of the race chasing the leaders.
The safety car was deployed when Schelp was up to fourth, and it allowed him a free pass to close in on Jarrod Owens in third.
Schelp made his move for the position with a handful of laps remaining.
“My brain didn’t give up, but my body. Man,” Schelp said. “Did some slower laps just to keep me going, but I was pushing the whole time to catch Jarrod.”
Teretonga hosts round three of the South Island Endurance Series on October 24.
Main Image: South Island Endurance Series