Wood 'needs to think long game' after lap 1 penalties

Ryan Wood admits he needs to think about the long game, rather than get into early battles, after a number of costly early penalties this season.

The Walkinshaw Andretti United driver has been penalised twice in the last two events over lap 1 incidents.

Wood was hit with a penalty over his role in the collision that saw Jack Le Brocq end up in the wall in the second Melbourne race.

Last month, he was penalised again, this time for escorting Brodie Kostecki into the grass as the Ford drivers disputed the lead in New Zealand.

Both incidents occurred on the first lap of the race, ensuring Wood had to play catch-up and all but ending his chances of victory. Regardless, there was conjecture over both, with Wood "devastated" over the latter.

Speaking on Supercars.com’s live social video from Launceston on Thursday, the Kiwi believes he needs to leave his aggression for when it counts most.

“For me, I think it’s about picking and choosing the battles, and thinking about the long game” Wood said.

“Feeling like I'm learning lots, and feel like I’m been on a few sides of the wrong calls, but that’s just the way that motorsport rolls.

“I think there’s a lot of positives to take out of the start of the year. There’s a lot of light at the end of the tunnel, and just trying to chase that."

The 21-year-old claimed his first Supercars podium in the Taupō opener, something he described as a “monkey off the back."

However, Wood insisted WAU needs to keep building on its early momentum, with teammate Chaz Mostert winning the second race of the New Zealand weekend.

“Excited to go racing this weekend, but Tassie’s such a different event and such a different track to Taupō and obviously so many others,” he said.

“Not really got too many expectations, for us, we’ve just got to keep building and keep chipping away.

“Excited to get going this weekend and see what we can do.”

Wood is just 48 points from 10th in the championship heading to Tasmania, with Mostert fifth, 86 points down. WAU is third in teams’.