Sorry Wood made 'judgement error' in Randle crash

Ryan Wood admits he made a “judgment error” in the incident that ended Thomas Randle’s day, and attracted a penalty for the Toyota star.

Wood and Randle were fighting from the back of the field on Saturday at Albert Park, and collided through Turn 5.

Randle tripped over Macauley Jones at Turn 4, opening the door to Wood. As he did with Jack Le Brocq 12 months ago, Wood was bitten by his role in a clash at Turn 5.

The punishment was 30 seconds for Wood, with Randle out on the spot.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Tickford, given the Castrol Ford will line up from second alongside pole sitter Will Brown at 10:10am on Sunday morning.

Wood apologised to Randle and Tickford Racing post-race.

“We were on for a really good result today, considering where we started but I made a judgement error and had a clash with Thomas, I’m sorry for ending his race early,” Wood said.

Chaz Mostert spared Wood’s blushes with another strong run, giving the Kiwi hope for a standout result from sixth on Sunday following his breakout podium on Friday. However, Mostert received a post-race penalty over an incident of his own.

“On a more positive note, the race car is really speedy, the team have done an awesome job tuning up our race pace this weekend,” Wood continued.

“We have one final one tomorrow, we start out P6 so we are definitely in the hunt for a good result.”

Walkinshaw TWG Racing teammates Wood and Mostert are sixth and ninth in points heading into Sunday.