Wood takes Toyota’s first Supercars win in dramatic fashion

There were rapturous scenes as the young New Zealander won in front of an adoring home crowd.

It nearly wasn’t to be for Wood, who was undercut by his teammate Mostert in the second pit stop sequence.

Wood was left irate by the pit stop strategy faux pas that allowed Mostert to take the effective lead of the race – prompting an irate radio response from the young New Zealander.

Ultimately, Wood caught Mostert in the dying laps of the race and retook the lead.

“I’ll protect the win,” Mostert radioed. “Woody’s faster.”

Mostert’s role as the rear gunner proved pivotal. A late charge from Feeney was thwarted by a battle with Mostert through the infield esses.

Feeney ultimately took second place away, but Mostert’s valiant defence cost the Triple Eight driver more than a second to Wood.

All told, Wood came home three seconds clear of Feeney while Mostert completed the podium.

“I’m so incredibly proud of our team and what we’ve done with this beautiful car,” said Wood.

“To win in our third round is pretty special. A big thank you to Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing, as always. This is incredible. I can’t believe it.

“Sorry about all my emotion, it just means so much. To do it at home in front of so many friends and family and supporters of mine is so incredible.

“A massive congrats to Chaz as well. I’m out of breath.”

It was a relatively tame start to proceedings as the top four made it through the first few corners without incident.

Wood controlled the first 10 laps but soon had Brown applying pressure.

On Lap 14, Brown tried to get to Wood’s inside with a lunge at Turn 9. Wood, however, defended – though the exchange briefly brought Feeney and Kostecki into the battle.

Wood responded to Brown’s attack and stretched his legs to a one-and-a-half-second lead by Lap 19. Brown pitted and returned to the race with Erebus Motorsport rookie Jobe Stewart in his way.

Payne, who was the first of the top five to pit out of fifth in a bid to undercut the leaders, gained some ground, but was baulked by Stewart and Triple Eight’s Jackson Walls upon rejoining the race.

Wood made his first pit stop on Lap 21 from the lead and returned ahead of Brown.

On Lap 24, Feeney pitted and was forced to wait for Grove Racing’s Kai Allen to pit ahead of him before leaving his pit bay. On the corrected order, that dropped him to seventh.

As he did earlier in the day, Kostecki ran longest of all – pitting on Lap 28 to drop to eighth.

The benefits of Payne’s undercut began to diminish on Lap 29. Mostert put himself back onto the podium with a pass at Turn 5 and Feeney followed suit a lap later at the same spot.

Conversely, Kostecki started to make the most of his tyre advantage with a pass on Payne at Turn 5 with 26 laps remaining for fifth.

With 25 laps to go, Wood’s advantage over Brown stood at 2.5 seconds while Mostart was 4.5 seconds back in third.

The final round of pit stops began in earnest with 23 laps to go, led by Anton De Pasquale – whose hopes of a strong result were hampered by a slow change on the left rear, costing him five seconds.

Mostert pitted on Lap 41, and a lap later Brown followed suit. It was an unfortunate case of deja vu for Triple Eight as they watched Payne pull in front of Brown, costing the #888 Mustang valuable time and a position to Mostert.

Wood pitted out of the lead on Lap 43 – and with a two-lap tyre advantage, Mostert undercut his teammate to take the projected lead.

Wood was left fuming, and radioed to his team “Are you serious?” as he questioned how Mostert was allowed to get ahead.

Engineer Richard Harris replied: “We’re not happy about it either.”

What followed was an honest assessment from Walkinshaw TWG Racing team principal Bruce Stewart, who admitted they had not expected Mostert go jump Wood.

Stewart, however, tried to temper the strategy fumble with some optimism for a potential one-two finish.

“How that played out, probably not ideal,” he explained.

“You know, you’re leading the race. Certainly we had a little bit longer with the fuel on Woody’s car.

“There was a lot of negotiation and chatting going on between the engineers right now, we’re just gonna focus on getting a 1-2.

“Then we’ll work out what happened and make sure it’s clear and transparent for our drivers and fans. I don’t think we expected it.

“I reckon with the fuel you just saw a little bit extra of the fuel… we’re in the front, so let’s not forget that. Has it played out ideal? No, not really.”

After pitting, Feeney came out in front of Brown, only to slip up at Turn 2 and gift the place to his teammate.

Kostecki finally pitted from the lead with 13 laps to go for slicks, despite light rain dusting the circuit. The #17 rejoined in sixth, behind Payne and in front of Golding.

With 11 laps to go, Feeney’s slight tyre advantage paid dividends as he passed Brown at the Turn 11 hairpin.

What followed defined the race. Wood caught Mostert and was let through into the lead.

Mostert was soon caught by Feeney, and some robust defence by the #1 Toyota Supra allowed Wood to skip away.

Wood was victorious, Feeney second and Mostert third.

Brown was fourth ahead of Payne while Kostecki, James Golding, Kai Allen, Cameron Waters, and De Pasquale completed the top 10.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship ITM Taupo Super440, Race 2