Wood claims Toyota's first Supercars pole in Taupō

Ryan Wood has written his name into the history books, claiming Toyota's first ever pole position in the Repco Supercars Championship for Race 9 at the ITM Taupō Super 440.

Having been the fastest car on Friday in New Zealand, Wood backed it up on Saturday in a tight session that saw the top four cars separated by just 0.0698s.

The #2 Mobil 1 Truck Assist Toyota will start alongside Will Brown on the front row, the #888 Red Bull Ampol Ford just 0.0169s away from his second pole of the season.

Race 8 front row starters Broc Feeney and Brodie Kostecki will launch from third and fourth.

Saturday afternoon's race will be the rescheduled 200km refuelling race, with changes made to the track schedule due to expected weather impacts tomorrow.

Q1

After a brief gap between sessions, all 24 cars rolled out back on the DUNLOP Soft tyre that had been used throughout Friday's dual practice sessions.

At the first run James Golding rediscovered form to go fastest on a 1:26.2850s, but Wood and Race 8 pole-sitter Kostecki were both within just 0.0481s at the head of the field.

Golding's Blanchard Racing Team teammate Aaron Cameron was the driver on the bubble in 10th, with Matt Payne on the outside looking in back in 14th, with Tickford Racing's Thomas Randle just ahead in 13th.

Unlike Race 8 Qualifying, the entire field rolled out for a second run, electing to use up their Soft tyre stocks.

Payne got himself out of danger with a strong 1:26.0019s, but that was quickly surpassed by Kostecki who blazed to a 1:25.8816s, just two and a half tenths away from his qualifying record set last year.

Randle was unable to drag himself into the top 10, only moving up to 12th, while Cam Waters snuck into the top 10, with Brown the 10th and final car to go through by just 0.02s over Jack Le Brocq.

Q2

The first run produced something of an upset in the final segment of qualifying, as Kostecki's Saturday supremacy came under threat.

After an error on his final run in Race 8 Qualifying, Feeney was back in form, and punched out a 1:25.9328s to go fastest. Kostecki's response wasn't good enough, missing out by the minuscule margin of 0.0104s.

Anton De Pasquale and Kai Allen elected not to only roll out at the end of the session for a single run, with De Pasquale the only Chevrolet in the top 10 for Team 18.

After a conservative first run on a roaded set of tyres, Wood put the hammer down on his second run, setting the fastest opening sector of all and completing the lap in front of his home crowd.

Brown looked as though he would spoil the part for Toyota, however he couldn't quite finish the job, but managed to out-qualify teammate Feeney as he continues to find form.

Golding was a fine fifth for the Blanchard Racing Team, ahead of Chaz Mostert, De Pasquale, Payne, Allen and Waters.

Race 9 of the Repco Supercars Championship begins at 3:30pm NZST/1:30pm AEST.