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Ryan Wood Secures Pole and Race Win at Modified Taupo Supercars Event; Matt Payne Tops Christchurch Practice

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Supercars Championship Update: Taupo Results & Christchurch Practice

Taupo Event Summary

The ITM Taupo Super440 race program was modified and condensed into a single day on Saturday due to the forecast arrival of Cyclone Vaianu. The scheduled Sunday program was canceled.

The victory marked Toyota's first win in the Supercars series, ending a period of 2,884 days where only Ford or General Motors brands had won races.

Qualifying for Race 2

  • Pole Position: Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw TWG Racing) in the #2 Toyota Supra with a time of 1:25.8734s.
  • Second: Will Brown (Triple Eight Race Engineering), 0.0169s behind.
  • Third: Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering).
  • Brodie Kostecki set the fastest time in the first qualifying segment but finished fourth overall.
  • Anton De Pasquale was the only Chevrolet Camaro driver to qualify in the top ten.

Race Results

Two races were held on Saturday.

Race 1:

  • Winner: Brodie Kostecki, from pole position, finishing 16.1855 seconds ahead of Will Brown.
  • Third Place: Ryan Wood.
  • Broc Feeney, who was challenging for the lead, finished sixth after his car lost engine power.

Race 2:

  • Winner: Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw TWG).
  • Second Place: Chaz Mostert, Wood's teammate. Mostert initially led but allowed the faster Wood to pass after a radio communication.
  • Third Place: Broc Feeney, whose race included a delay during a pit stop.

Updated Championship Standings

Following the Taupo event, the championship standings are:

  1. Brodie Kostecki (657 points)
  2. Broc Feeney (638 points)
  3. Matt Payne (569 points)
  4. Cam Waters (544 points)
  5. Ryan Wood (523 points)

Driver Statements

Ryan Wood: "I am so incredibly proud of our team, what they have done with this beautiful car. To do it at home in front of so many friends and family is incredible as well."

Chaz Mostert: "I tried my hardest to race Broc there but he was too fast. Woody was too fast, he drove an unbelievable race."

Broc Feeney: "We had a real fast car then but a few little things didn't go our way."

Schedule Update

The championship's Race 10, which was canceled at Taupo, will now be held at Ruapuna Motorsport Park near Christchurch.

Christchurch Practice Session

In preparation for the next championship round, the first practice session for the ITM Christchurch Super440 was held.

Session Results

  • Fastest: Matt Payne (Penrite Racing) with a time of 1:21.3016s.
  • Second: Payne's teammate, 0.0402s behind.
  • Third: Ryan Wood (Walkinshaw TWG Racing), 0.2414s behind Payne.
  • Ford entries occupied the top five positions in the session.
  • Jayden Ojeda (PremiAir Racing) was the highest-placed Chevrolet Camaro driver in sixth.

Session Incident

The session was interrupted by a red flag when Cameron Hill's Brad Jones Racing car stopped on track due to an electrical issue. Hill did not participate for the remainder of the session.

Next Session

Qualifying for the Friday afternoon race is scheduled for 12:15 PM AEST.

Unrelated Qualifying Incident at Melbourne Event

A separate qualifying session for the Repco Supercars Championship Melbourne SuperSprint was also reported.

During that session, Ryan Wood encountered traffic congestion on his final flying lap, which forced him to abandon the attempt. He qualified last without recording a representative lap time. Following the incident, commentators and team principals discussed possible causes, including team communication and strategy.