Wood leads the way in final practice at The Bend

Ryan Wood capped off the final practice session at The Bend Motorsport Park on top of the timesheets, as Supercars completed its last hit-out before qualifying for Round 9 and the opening leg of the 2025 Enduro Cup.

The 40-minute session got underway with teams focusing on pit stop and driver swap rehearsals, before the times quickly began to tumble. Jayden O’Jeda set the early pace in the #2 Walkinshaw Andretti United Mustang with a 1:52.161, with Jaxon Evans not far behind on his first flying lap.

David Reynolds then took over at the front, only to be eclipsed moments later by Tickford wildcard Lochie Dalton.

Andre Heimgartner’s co-driver Declan Fraser also featured early in the mix, before a raft of improvements reshuffled the order. Heimgartner himself soon climbed to third with a 1:51.124, while Aaron Cameron briefly held top spot before Anton De Pasquale broke into the 1:49s with a 1:49.999.

It was a tough session for Grove Racing, with Matt Payne and Garth Tander forced to the garage for a starter motor change before Payne could rejoin the circuit.

The repaired #1 Triple Eight Camaro of Scott Pye and Will Brown also returned to the track after yesterday’s clash between Jamie Whincup and Pye, though the pair continued to battle lingering issues and had limited running in the final practice session.

As the session wore on, times tightened at the top. Brown jumped straight to the top with a 1:49.934 on his return to the circuit, only to be edged by Thomas Randle’s 1:49.804.

Mostert, sharing with Fabian Coulthard for the enduro campaign, slotted into second, before De Pasquale again reset the benchmark with a 1:49.724.

The late stages belonged to the co-drivers. Coulthard got valuable mileage in the Walkinshaw Andretti entry, while O’Jeda handed the Walkinshaw Andretti Mustang to Wood for the closing minutes. Wood delivered in style, stopping the clock at 1:49.286 to go quickest overall.

Kostecki was just 0.027 seconds behind in second, while championship leader Broc Feeney slotted into third, only 0.058s off Wood. The tight margins continued through the top 10, with less than seven-tenths separating Wood from Chaz Mostert in 10th.

In other news, Whincup has been fined for his Practice 4 incident with Pye with the Stewards handing down a $1,000 fine for careless driving.

The Stewards summoned and heard from the Driver of Car 88 and the team representative and reviewed broadcast and judicial camera footage from Cars 88 and 1. The report read:

“Shortly after the session commenced, the Race Director announced there would be a simulation of the new SC procedure. After the commencement of the simulation the Race Director announced that a simulated ‘slow zone’ would be implemented between Position Line 3 (exit of Turn 3) (PL3) and Sector Line 1 (Turn 7)(SC1) after the instruction for SC limiters to be deactivated was issued. The simulated SC procedure required all Cars to activate their SC limiters between PL3 and SC1 and reduce their speed in that sector to a maximum of 80kph. The Race Director’s instruction was conveyed to the Driver of Car 88 by the Car’s engineer.

“Car 88 was closely following Car 1 on the approach to the slow zone. Car 1 reduced speed before PL3, activated the limiter and complied with the procedure. The Driver of Car 88 misjudged when and to what extent the Driver of Car 1 would reduce speed to enter the zone and collided with the rear of Car 1. While the SC procedure (which only applies during a race) was only a simulation in the session, all Drivers were required to comply with the instructions of the RD. The Stewards determined that the Driver of Car 88 was wholly to blame for the collision and imposed a Fine on the Driver in the sum of $1,000.“

Qualifying is up next at 3.35pm AEST/5.35pm NZST followed by the Top 10 Shootout at 5.20pm AEST/7.20pm NZST.

Practice 5 Results:

Header Image: Supercars