Rival teams chip in as Ryan Wood, Rylan Gray repairs continue
Wood, Gray cars were heavily damaged in Practice 3 on Friday
Both cars were ruled out of Bathurst 1000, to start from rear
While staring the down the barrel of long days at Mount Panorama, Walkinshaw TWG Racing and the Shell V-Power Racing Team have had rivals come to their aid.
Ryan Wood and Tony D'Alberto crashed heavily in the morning's Practice 3, ruling the #2 Mobil 1 Truck Assist Toyota and #38 Shell V-Power Ford out of Practice 4, and Boost Mobile Qualifying.
Wood escaped the 42G impact at Forrest's Elbow, while the experience D'Alberto — who crashed in last year's race — was unlucky to be caught out at The Dipper.
Tickford Racing, which supplies steering rack components to the field, was seen providing spare rack parts to Walkinshaw TWG for the Wood repairs.
Walkinshaw TWG Team Manager Anthony McDonald hailed their rivals, telling Supercars.com: "Big thanks to Tickford with some parts for steering racks that we haven't got in the truck.
"They've come to the party, which has been great."
After the crashes, Erebus Motorsport fabricator Jimmy White was seen with Dick Johnson Racing crew overseeing the tear-down of the #38. The chassis, DJRS-08-MR, was built by White.
In the hour after qualifying, veteran Triple Eight fabricator Jason Briggs was also seen helping with the #38 chassis repairs.
The ambition for both WTWGR and DJR was to avoid rushing repairs in time for qualifying, and in turn, putting their drivers at risk.
All told, both cars are expected to be on track for Practice 5 at 10:00am AEDT on Saturday morning.
"Most of the hard work's been done now," McDonald continued.
"Really it's all going back together, but it's just whatever little things you find that are unexpected.
"There's no way in the world we could have really finished it and made it safe for Woody for qualifying, I reckon.
"It's a long race, as they always say, so you really want to make sure that the car is safe for the drivers, but actually finishes the race as well."
Matt Stone Racing rookie Zach Bates claimed provisional pole ahead of Anton De Pasquale and Cooper Murray.
