Wood goes from zero to hero
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 11 April 2025
Ryan Wood ended the opening session of the Taupo Super440 in the gravel, but bounced back brilliantly to fly faster than all in Practice 2.
Wellington’s Wood was the only driver to record a 1m25s time throughout Friday’s hour of Supercars on-track action.
The Walkinshaw Andretti United driver’s 1:25.9778 was 0.0435s clear of DJR’s Brodie Kostecki, while Thomas Randle and Andre Heimgartner ensured less than a tenth covered the top four.
It was a clean session as teams pushed the boundaries with some qualifying simulations in the final practice before qualifying and racing takes centre stage over the weekend.
After a mistake in the final chicane seeing Wood beached and end Practice 1 in the sand, the WAU youngster was thrilled to end the day on top.
“The car feels really good and Rich (engineer Richad Harris) has rolled something out that is pretty solid at the moment so kudos to the team,” he said.
“There is a lot of water to go under the bridge still. I have done this a few times topping practice, but there is more to come.
“It is just about digging into the data because there is still a lot to learn and I am down in a few sectors.
“All in all we can be happy.”
Just like the opening session, Payne again impressed the home crowd by going straight to the top with a 1:26.8712.
On this occasion he had a full tenth up his sleeve ahead of Brodie Kostecki and Cameron Hill.
But Kostecki stayed out and hit back to snatch the lead by a meagre 0.0080s.
De Pasquale also improved to ensure just 0.0768s covered the top three, while Andre Heimgartner and Ryan Wood ensured three of the top five were Kiwis from the opening run where all 24 cars were on show.
The pace was up instantly with the top four all dipping straight into the 1m26s window after it took more than half of the session for someone other than Payne to do the same.
The first to show their hand in the second run was another local, Stanaway.
Purple second and third sectors soared the #62 to the top by the best part of two tenths with a 1:26.6858.
The Kiwi was not on top for long as he was denied by teammate Golding by the barest of margins, 0.0039s.
Mostert was having trouble however, going off twice on his fifth lap alone. He spun at Turn 6 before also finding the grass on corner exit three turns later.
Jones also found the dirt at the end of the twisty opening section, going off at Turn 7, while Triple Eight’s battles with Turn 9 carried on with Feeney running wide.
Numerous tweaks were made to the cars ahead of the final five minutes were teams went on full attack in qualifying mode.
The first off the bat was Reynolds, who flew up 18 spots to the top of the leaderboard and this set the scene for the lead to change hands on numerous occasions.
Le Brocq crept 0.0041s ahead before De Pasquale found a further three tenths.
However, Wood was the man with the foot down, becoming the first to record a 1m25s time.
Kostecki, Randle, Heimgartner, Mostert and Hill also showed speed, but could not quite do the same in the final minute.
No more practice remains in the Taupo Super440 which means teams have plenty to think about with setup far from simple on the patchy track surface.
Due to the time difference, it is an early start with qualifying at 8.25 AEST.
Taupo Super440 Supercars Practice 2 results
1: Ryan Wood 1:25.9778
2: Brodie Kostecki +0.0435
3: Thomas Randle +0.0838
4: Andre Heimgartner +0.0937
5: Anton De Pasquale +0.2209
6: Chaz Mostert +0.2805
7: Cameron Hill +0.3256
8: Bryce Fullwood +0.3760
9: Will Brown +0.4395
10: Cameron Waters +0.5020
11: Broc Feeney +0.5040
12: Jack Le Brocq +0.5203
13: David Reynolds +0.5244
14: Kai Allen +0.5504
15: Will Davison +0.5729
16: James Golding +0.7041
17: Richie Stanaway +0.7080
18: Matt Payne +0.7584
19: Cooper Murray +0.7710
20: Macualey Jones +0.9438
21: Jaxon Evans +0.9518
22: James Courtney +1.0639
23: Nick Percat +1.2239
24: Aaron Cameron +2.0953
Practice 1 – 1: A. Heimgartner 1:26.8830 2: Anton De Pasquale +0.0258 3: Matt Payne +0.0830
Fri 12.30-13.00: Supercars Practice 2
Sat 8.25-8.55: Supercars Race 8 Qualifying
Sat 9.05-9.35: Supercars Race 9 Qualifying
Sat 10.50: Supercars Race 8 (37 laps)
Sat 14.05: Supercars Race 9 (37 laps)
Sun 8.35-9.05: Supercars Race 10 Qualifying
Sun 10.50-11.35: Supercars Race 10 Top 10 Shootout
Sun 13.05: Supercars Race 10 (61 laps)
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