Supercars driver Ryan Wood was the talk of the pitlane after going quickest in the second and third practice sessions of the first round of the 2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy.
In the process, he clocked the fastest time of the day – and was the only driver under the 1 minute 30 second bracket with his 1.29.764 – edging out British single seater young gun Freddie Slater.
The New Zealand championship will be Wood’s first in single-seaters, but he continued on his impressive learning curve after catching the eye on Thursday during unofficial testing.
Third in the first session, he put in a series of fast laps in the second to go quickest. And in the third session of the day, he went even better for mtec, and put down a clear marker for a good performance when the action begins on Saturday morning.
Ugo Ugochukwu backed up an impressive Thursday by being consistently near the front, while Japanese drivers Kanato Le and Jin Nakamura continued to impress with fast times throughout the day for Hitech.
James Wharton had a strong day for TJ Speed with HMD Motorsports, while Red Bull Juniors Ernesto Rivera and Fionn McLaughlin had mixed days, though both showed genuine pace.
McLaughlin bounced back impressively after a session one shunt to go sixth in the second session, a feat matched by Rivera in the final half-hour session in the afternoon.
Kiwi race winners from last season, Zack Scoular and Seb Manson, filled midfield places and will be aiming for more speed on Saturday, while Louis Sharp was the best Kiwi behind Wood and took fourth fastest in the final session.
Two-time world rally champion Kalle Rovanperä continued to improve too, getting another three tenths closer to the outright pace to be just seven tenths behind Ugochukwu and thirteenth fastest of 19.
In a field where the top 15 were covered by a second or so for the entire day, it was an impressive run, but the Finn will be aiming higher on Saturday.
Saturday morning will bring qualifying, and for the first time, two races on Saturday. Race three will take place on Sunday morning, followed by the Dorothy Smith Memorial Race on Sunday afternoon.
Can Wood impress as Supercars drivers Van Gisbergen, Payne, Feeney, and Brown have done before? It’s an impressive start for the Kiwi, but he’ll have some of the best junior racers in the world – and a rallying legend – all trying to prevent him from making a winning start.
All of the weekend’s action – starting with qualifying Saturday morning and concluding with the feature race on Sunday – will be livestreamed on TGRNZ’s YouTube channel, and all races will be live on Sky Sport NZ. Tickets to come along to the race weekend are still available at https://nextgennz.flicket.co.nz
Header Image: Joel Hanks
