Kiwi driver Ryan Wood on Perth: 'It's a nice track and I love racing here.' Photo / Photosport
Kiwi driver Ryan Wood on Perth: 'It's a nice track and I love racing here.' Photo / Photosport
Walkinshaw Andretti United Supercars’ pilot Ryan Wood has been scintillatingly fast this season, and to make inroads into the championship the Kiwi now needs to find some consistency.
Heading into the fifth round of the championship at Perth this weekend, no one driver has shown decent consistency, with BrocFeeney, fellow New Zealander Matthew Payne and Cam Waters all having won three races apiece.
With so many quick drivers in the field, regular point scoring at the remaining rounds of the championship will only bode well for any title aspirations.
“We’re looking for a bit of form this weekend for the whole team and hopefully I can get some good points, put our best foot forward and keep progressing up the table [points] and get the best out of the weekend,” Payne told the Weekend Herald.
Ryan Wood (centre), at the Supercars event in Taupō, with fellow Kiwis (from left) Richie Stanaway, Jaxon Evans, Andre Heimgartner and Matt Payne. Photo / Edge Photography
“Qualification speed seems to be there or thereabout, but I would love to get a pole and get a sticker on the side of the car. We’ve got speed, but it’s just the consistency that’s lacking.
“I don’t think it’s just our team that’s struggling a bit, it’s the whole field at the moment, and we need to do a better job on that side of things [consistency]. That’s going to be the main focus this weekend and if we can do that we’re going to be challenging for some trophies on a regular basis.”
Payne is heading to Perth this weekend looking to continue his good form in the championship, and Wood is keen to turn his pace into points.
Matthew Payne: 'We've got speed but it's just the consistency that's lacking." Photo / Photosport
Payne has been on a spectacular roll of late and has moved into third on the points (819) ladder behind Aussies Will Brown (861) and series leader Feeney (894). Wood sits a credible 10th (539) with only 105 points separating him and fifth-placed Chaz Mostert. So, there’s everything to fight for this weekend.
“I’m super excited for Perth this weekend,” said Wood. “It’s a cool round and I’ve had a bit of success here in the past.
“It’s going to be a good one, this weekend. There’s no room for error around this track and you have to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
“Perth is super technical and, as I said, we’ve gone okay here before. I’m not too sure why we go well here as there aren’t a lot of corners. It’s a nice track and I love racing here and it’s going to be a good weekend,” said Wood.
The 2025 season has seen many drivers step up to the challenge, and each round has often seen someone different challenging for a top 10 finish. While this is a good look for the series, with a great number of drivers vying for a fistful of points, getting a qualifying lap wrong by the smallest of margins can see a driver plummeting down the start grid.
Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Ryan Wood during race 9 of the V8 Supercar series in Taupō in April. Photo / Photosport
“There’s no team in pit lane now that’s not a very good team,” said Wood. “So, it makes it very hard to get ahead, but at WAU we are pushing very hard to get ahead.
“I think the new format and new tyre and all the other changes this year have helped to open the whole field.
“It’s been pretty exciting and super competitive, and we just want to be on the right side of that top 10 so we can be in the finals at the end of the season,” said Wood.
The series will once again use the Super440 format, split across three races as seen at the New Zealand round at Taupō. Teams will have to swap between soft and super-soft compound tyres and will qualify and race on the super softs for Race 14 and qualify and race on the soft tyre for Race 15, both on Saturday.
They will then return to the super soft for qualifying and the longer two-stop Race 16 on Sunday.
