'He's got the next move': No bad blood with Brown, insists Wood

Ryan Wood believes Will Brown has "got the next move" on whether the tension that spilled over in Ipswich rages on in 2025, despite insisting the two are still "good mates."

Wood and Brown stole the headlines during and after the last Supercars race at Queensland Raceway, following a series of clashes and post-race comments.

Wood was agitated by an aggressive move by Brown at Turn 6, before the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver tipped the reigning champion into a spin at Turn 3 and was penalised. It led to a heated confrontation on the cool down lap, with the two cars making contact and Brown showing the middle finger towards Wood.

Speaking after the race, Wood maintained he "had no intention to turn him or retaliate even.” However, Brown took to his Lucky Dogs podcast, saying: "I've bookmarked it. He’s ninth. I’m third. I’ve got a ticket to The Finals.

“I can tell you right now, I’m going to remember that one... I just think, at the end of the day, if you let it slide he’s going to think he won.”

Wood was recently a guest on The Formation Lap, and in his first public comments on the run-in since his post-race interview, said he was keen to move on and that he was more frustrated at himself than Brown.

When asked if the tension stays in Ipswich or continues into the season, Wood replied: “I’m not too sure, it depends, I guess he’s got the next move, to be honest. He said a few things after QR, which is fair enough.

“It cost him valuable points, and it cost myself valuable points, so it’s more frustrating for both of us.

“We had one convo that we both took something out of, which is good. But at the end of the day, I hope me and Browny and can move on from it.

"We were good mates, and I feel like we still are. He’s an awesome rooster and he’s someone I get on with on and off the track.

“At the end of the day, racing’s racing, especially when you don’t mean to do something on purpose. Sometimes it makes it a bit more easy to get over.

“We’ll see what the next state of play is."

Wood's rise in 2025 has been one of the feel-good stories of the season, with the New Zealander's increased performance leading WAU CEO Bruce Stewart to claim the team feels it is " fighting with two fists."

"When we first got Woody, we consciously decided we didn't want to media train him too hard or anything like that, because there's something so authentic and genuine about him," Stewart told Supercars.com.

“His passion and energy brings people in, and we love it. Occasionally it might boil over, and we're gonna work with him to try and retain a level of calmness during the race.

"But equally, he's just an amazing source of energy for our team in and out of the car. It's great to have two really competitive drivers and they're pushing each other, and it's great for Mozzie [Chaz Mostert].

“We genuinely do feel like we're fighting with two fists, but also we're fighting as a collective team together. It’s exciting times because we can only move upwards from here.”

The 21-year-old is determined to look ahead, starting with this weekend's AirTouch 500 at The Bend, where he will share the #2 Mobil 1 Truck Assist Ford with co-driver Jayden Ojeda.

All told, Wood reiterated that he believes Brown "does race fair" and he has respect for both driver and team, being Triple Eight Race Engineering, and that the incident was merely "gutting" for both parties.

"He races hard, and I feel like he does race fair," Wood said.

"He took a shot at me... it is what it is. Obviously have huge respect for him and for their organisation. What ended up happening was pretty gutting for both sides of the garage."

Brown clinched a provisional Finals berth in Ipswich, with Wood currently ninth.

Cars will hit the track at this weekend's AirTouch 500 at The Bend from Friday.