While Carrera Cup is a fixture of the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, Wood moved straight from Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge into the Dunlop Super2 Series with WAU in 2023, and hence has never driven at the Melbourne venue.
The 20-year-old has also never raced on the soft Dunlop Supercars tyre, which has been allocated to teams this weekend.
However, a rookie test day this time last week at The Bend, which is one of the more similar circuits to Albert Park, means that Wood at least has that experience under his belt now.
“This’ll be my first time at the Grand Prix Circuit; it’s one of the fastest tracks on the calendar, I might need to remind myself to blink for the first few laps,” quipped the New Zealander.
“We had a rookie test day last week which went really well, it was great to get some runs in on the Dunlop Soft tyre before we hit the track this weekend as it’ll be my first time racing on them.
“It’s a huge weekend coming up with four days on track, being an at event with the F1 guys is pretty surreal, let’s put on a show for the massive crowd.”
The Blanchard Racing Team also headed to The Bend/Shell V-Power Motorsport Park with its own rookie, Aaron Love, who pilots the #3 CoolDrive Mustang.
Both newcomers had tough outings at last month’s Thrifty Bathurst 500, which was run on the hard compound, but it is Wood who arrives at Albert Park with precisely zero championship points to his name from what was his Repco Supercars Championship debut.
However, that was more so due to misfortune than anything, with the Mobil 1 Truck Assist Mustang caught up in collisions off the start of both races.
Wood had looked set to contest a shootout at the first time of asking until he lost his fastest lap time in Qualifying for Race 1 because of the presence of a yellow flag and missed the one-lap dash on the following day by barely more than a hundredth of a second.
WAU co-owner Ryan Walkinshaw had seen enough in that to suggest that his Kiwi tyro has what it takes for long-term success in Supercars.
“He’s definitely got raw talent, he’s definitely got a lot of speed; I think he’s going to be a championship-winning driver one year,” said Walkinshaw.
Wood’s team-mate, Chaz Mostert, is well in championship contention given he sits 21 points off the lead after finishing on the podium in both races at Mount Panorama in February.
Wood himself was in action at Sepang in recent days for a 12-hour enduro at the former Malaysian Grand Prix venue, although the EBM Porsche which he was piloting with Adrian Henry D’Silva and Tanart Sathienthirakul was not classified a finisher.
The Supercars roll out at the Australian Grand Prix on Thursday for Practice 1 at 11:25 local time/AEDT, with Practice 2, Qualifying for Race 3, Qualifying for Race 4, and Race 3 of the season all to come later that day.
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