Ryan Wood and Kai Allen made contact at the final corner midway through the second part of qualifying when the Walkinshaw Toyota driver made a late dive on the Grove Ford.
The incident occurred as the duo were heading back to pit lane between their two tyre runs in the 10-minute segment that set the top 10 grid spots.
“I knew how close we were going to be to get two laps [on the second run] and he was just wobbling along,” explained Wood.
“I tried to get past him before the pits and he just turned down. I don’t know what that was about.
“He had to press on the out-lap and hurt his next run, because he was going that slow on the in-lap.”
Wood ended the session in sixth place, one position ahead of Allen.
Secure your spot today.
Supercars commentator and Grove Racing advisor Garth Tander questioned Wood’s move, given Will Brown was directly ahead of Allen on the road.
“I get Ryan’s rationale as to why he was trying to get a move on but I don’t understand what he was going to do with Will Brown, who was the next car in front,” he said.
“It’s not like he was going to vaporise and you’d be able to get back to the pits half a minute faster than anyone else.
“Also, the front of your car is far more fragile than the rear, so there’s more potential for disaster for Ryan Wood damaging his car than Kai Allen.
“I think it was just an unnecessary risk that didn’t need to take place.”
Race 1 at the Darwin Triple Crown gets underway at 5:30pm AEST.
Kostecki seals Supercars pole for Darwin opener, Feeney falters
Discussion about this post