Ford Mustangs dominated the Repco Supercars Championship Melbourne SuperSprint Race 3 qualifying session, securing seven of the top ten positions, including the first five rows. Chaz Mostert, driving a Toyota Supra for Walkinshaw TWG Racing, achieved fourth place, while Jack Le Brocq in a Chevrolet Camaro for Matt Stone Racing qualified ninth.
Qualifying Incident: Ryan Wood's Frustrating Session
Ryan Wood, Mostert's teammate, faced an initial issue with his #2 Walkinshaw Supra, which would not shift out of first gear. The team partially rectified the problem, enabling Wood to use gears two through six for his final qualifying attempt.
During his last flying lap, Wood encountered significant congestion from multiple slow-moving cars in the final sector. This forced him to abandon his lap, as many of the dawdling cars failed to cross the start-finish line to commence their own flying laps, exacerbating the traffic.
As a result, Wood qualified last without recording a representative lap time.
Reactions and Commentary
Wood's mentor, Greg Murphy, expressed frustration, questioning why cars were idling on track and impeding others.
Supercars championship winner and Fox Sports commentator, James Courtney, attributed the congestion to poor communication from teams. He noted that teams send cars out too late, and drivers move slowly on out-laps to preserve tires, leading to bottlenecks and drivers failing to make the starting line for their laps.
PremiAir Racing team principal, Roland Dane, was observed in a discussion with Supercars head of motorsport Tim Edwards following the incident.