Wood's caution over fast Darwin Friday

Ryan Wood has expressed caution over his Darwin hopes despite flying out of the blocks in Friday practice.

The Walkinshaw Andretti United driver was first and second in Friday’s two practice sessions, with Brad Jones Racing driver Andre Heimgartner quickest in Practice 2.

The 25-car field was covered by just 0.68s in Practice 2, with eight Chevrolets and two Fords completing the top 10.

Engine works have been completed in recent weeks, with tweaks made to the Ford and Chevrolet engines ahead of May’s Tasmania round.

After a Supercars investigation into inlet air temperature on performance, Supercars made changes to the mapping of Ford and Chevrolet engines. The changes came after Supercars engaged MoTeC to develop an ECU software update.

The investigation found that temperatures below the nominal test temperature slightly favoured the Ford engine, while temperatures above this temperature slightly favoured the GM engine.

After additional testing at Queensland Raceway, further tweaks were enacted to the Ford before the Perth round.

However, Wood claimed he was still down despite showing speed on Friday, saying after Practice 2: “There were two Fords in the top 10 then — I think we still have the same issues.

“I was just saying before, we’re one of the slowest in a straight line. I don’t know, if I don’t get a tow tomorrow I don’t think I’ll be good enough [for the front row].

“It’s definitely something that still plays on a lot of the Ford teams’ minds. And I think it’s the characteristics of this track to a certain degree, getting off the last corner.

“Our cars seem to flow a lot more speed across the face, and their cars stop and start a lot better. We need to try and make sure our car does that well tomorrow so we can stay up the front.

“All of the teams have to dig deep, but I think this is one of our hardest tracks.”

It must be said that WAU has a poor recent record in Darwin; in the Gen3 era, across Wood, Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat, WAU has an average qualifying result of 21.3 in Darwin.

Dick Johnson Racing boss David Noble expressed optimism over performance, saying it will boil down to how teams set up their cars.

“All the indicators for us are that it should be better,” Noble said on Friday morning.

“Ford has had eight wins and nine poles [this season] at the moment, so it’s a good staple for us to get the Ford teams collectively back up in a competitive situation.

“Our expectation, from what I’ve been told, based off the engine temperature sweeps that have been done, the engine should perform better. Then it’s up to the teams to get the set-ups right.”

Wood added: “And I’m sure we have advantages at other tracks like Sydney, Taupo… it sort of levels itself out across the year.

“But I still think that when we come here, we definitely don’t have the straight line that’s necessary. I think that’s something to do with the heat, not just the engine itself.

“We’ll see what we can do, but it’s just one of those things that you’ve got to battle on with.”

Boost Mobile Qualifying for Race 17 of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship begins at 8:35am ACST/9:05am AEST tomorrow morning, immediately followed by Race 18 Qualifying.