The Ford squad took a punt on the young Kiwi this year as a replacement for Nick Percat, who left after a tough two-year stint at WAU.

Wood was part of WAU’s Super2 programme last year, having been identified as a star of the future during an evaluation in late 2022 by team principal Carl Faux.

While more experienced drivers such as Cam Waters and Fabian Coulthard were known to be on WAU’s radar for this season, it was Wood that ultimately landed the seat.

The early signs are that the rookie gamble will pay off, too, Wood impressing with his pace on debut in Bathurst last month.

He was fast enough to make the top 10 Shootout on the Saturday, only to be bumped out of the single-lap dash during to a yellow flag infringement, while he qualified an impressive 11th on the Sunday.

His debut weekend yielded a total of zero points, though, Wood crashing out of both races early.

He has since completed a rookie test at The Bend where he was able to work on long runs, while he finally banked some championship points with a 19th place finish in yesterday’s Albert Park opener.

Race results aside, WAU co-owner Walkinshaw says the team is thrilled with Wood’s early speed – as well as what he describes as a significant culture shift on that side of the garage.

“He’s bounced back really well. He’s been working incredibly hard since Bathurst,” said Walkinshaw.

“I think if he’d managed to keep his first quali lap like he would have been the first rookie ever to get in the top 10 shootout on his debut. We still thought he deserved that. And he backed it up on day 2 [at Bathurst] so it wasn’t just a fluke, he was still got to 11th and we’ve missed [the Shootout] by a couple of hundredths.

“He’s definitely got some speed. We just need to get him a clean race and keep building his confidence, working in the right direction.

“He’s working very closely with Chaz [Mostert]. He has been a fantastic addition to our team culturally, a big, big, big shift there for our team and on that car, which is really really, really exciting.

“He’s definitely got a big future and I personally believe he’s going to be a champion one day, or at least fighting for [a title].”

The reference to the culture shift relates to the latter part of Percat’s WAU tenure, with a lack of results souring the relationship between the team and driver.

Both have seemingly benefitted from the split, with Percat leading Matt Stone Racing to third on the road in yesterday’s Albert Park race.

He was classified fourth, though, after copping a penalty for early contact with his former WAU teammate Mostert.

Another of WAU’s co-owners is at Albert Park this weekend, with Zak Brown on the ground in his role as CEO of McLaren.

When asked by Speedcafe for his thoughts on Wood’s promotion to the main game, he said McLaren’s approach to rookies shows how comfortable he is with blooding new talent.

“I’m particularly comfortable with it; we took a risk on Lando [Norris], we took a risk on Oscar [Piastri],” he said.

“[WAU] has been around a long time, they know what talent looks like. I think we see these young drivers that have immense talent, they show it pretty quick, so I’m very happy with our driver line-up.”