Ryan Wood claims first Supercars victory for Toyota

While Borodie Kostecki won the first Supercars Championship race of the weekend at Taupō in New Zealand, all eyes were on Ryan Wood who claimed Toyota’s maiden win in the second race.

The first race saw Dick Johnson Racing driver Kostecki starting from pole and was briefly challenged by Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney into Turn 1 before he controlled the pack from then on.

Feeney meanwhile dropped ground on Kostecki early in the race, with team-mate Will Brown taking over second place on lap nine.

And things went from bad to worse for Feeney on lap 16 as he suddenly slowed down with an engine issue.

The Ford Mustang driver was able to continue the race and later found himself in a battle for third place with the Toyota duo of Chaz Mostert and Wood.

Feeney got past Mostert for third towards the end of the race with plenty of contact between the two, only for Wood to snatch third from Feeney a couple of laps later.

Wood then caught Brown and challenged him hard for second place during the final couple of laps.

But Brown was only just able to stay ahead of Wood, finishing second a massive 16 seconds behind race winner Kostecki.

Feeney came home in fourth ahead of Grove Racing driver Matt Payne and Blanchard Racing’s James Golding, while Mostert dropped to seventh.

Race 2

The second race saw Wood starting his Walkinshaw TWG Racing-prepared Toyota Supra from pole position ahead of the Triple Eight duo of Brown and Feeney.

Wood headed the field for the first part of the race but found himself under increasing pressure from Brown.

Wood managed to stay ahead after the first round of pit stops as team-mate Mostert climbed into the top three after a move on Payne for third on lap 29.

The second round of pit stops saw Brown losing second place to Mostert, as the Triple Eight driver got stuck behind Payne.

There was further drama during the final stops as Wood found himself undercut by Mostert, rejoining the race behind his team-mate, having pitted two laps later.

Wood managed to catch Mostert with ten laps to go and was able to pass without resistance from his team-mate.

Feeney had gotten past his team-mate Brown for third place one lap earlier and quickly caught Mostert in the fight for second place.

Feeney was able to get past despite intense defensive action from Mostert.

Local hero Wood won the race with a margin of just over three seconds over Feeney while Mostert was third and Brown fourth.

Payne came hime in fifth ahead of Race 1 winner Kostecki.

Kostecki heads the standings on 657 points, Feeney is second on 638 and Payne is third on 569 points.

The next race weekend takes place at Christchurch on April 17-19.