He makes for two Supercars Championship full-timers in the field, with Grove Racing taking Matt Payne to the Malaysian venue as part of its GT3 programme.

Wood will drive for EBM Giga Racing in the #61 Porsche 911 GT3 R (991.2) which he will share with Adrian Henry D’Silva and Tanart Sathienthirakul.

The 20-year-old has history with both the Stuttgart marque and Earl Bamber Motorsport (EBM), having finished runner-up in the 2022 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia series with four round wins along the way.

“I’m excited to partner up again with the EBM Giga Racing crew at the Sepang 12 Hours,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to racing with Adrian and Tanart and hopefully we can pick up a strong result.

“It’s my first time racing in the Porsche 911 GT3 R (991.2) and my debut at Sepang, so I’m up for the challenge.”

The Sepang drive makes for a somewhat busy period for Wood during a gap in the Supercars calendar, given he tested at The Bend in the past 24 hours and will be racing at Albert Park when the season resumes with the MSS Melbourne SuperSprint next week.

There, the New Zealander will attempt to score his first Supercars championship points, after some rotten luck at the Thrifty Bathurst 500.

Wood was in the Saturday Top 10 Shootout until his fastest lap was cancelled due to the presence of a yellow flag, and qualified 11th for Race 2 of the season.

In both races, however, the #2 Mobil 1 Truck Assist Mustang was caught up in start line tangles, and he completed seven full racing laps out of a possible 80 all weekend.

Nevertheless, WAU co-owner Ryan Walkinshaw hailed Wood’s performance, and tipped him as a future champion.

“He’s definitely got raw talent, he’s definitely a lot of speed; I think he’s going to be a championship-winning driver one year,” said Walkinshaw.

Wood’s Sepang co-driver, D’Silva, finished third in the 2023 running of the event with EBM Giga Racing.

In the Grove entry, Payne will share driving duties with Stephen and Brenton Grove themselves in a Mercedes-AMG GT3, after the squad switched to the Three-Pointed Star from Porsche.

A 17-car field will tackle the Sepang International Circuit in what is the second year back on the calendar for its 12-hour event after a six-year hiatus.