Finals nailbiter looming large for Walkinshaw TWG stars

Walkinshaw TWG Racing duo Ryan Wood and Chaz Mostert have admitted that they aren't in a comfortable position relative to the Finals bubble entering the Ryco Enduro Cup.

Both have experienced the highs of race wins with the brand new Toyota GR Supra package, however it has been a rollercoaster season with niggling reliability issues with the Toyota 2UR-GSE engine.

Wood has also fallen behind teammate Mostert into ninth in points, despite being one of the stars of the early rounds, and is 169 points clear of Jack Le Brocq in 11th.

Wood teams with Jaxon Evans, who returns to the Supercars scene after two difficult full-time seasons with SCT Motorsport, with Wood hunting redemption after falling agonisingly short of a Bathurst win last year, though also mindful of his Finals predicament.

"It's getting close at the moment, we need to make sure that we ace these next two races and take the pressure off us," Wood said after Ipswich.

"We'll try our best. At the end of the day, we can't really change history, and we'll just try and look forward to the next two races to put our best foot forward."

The 22-year-old enters the enduros off the back of an oddly anonymous weekend at Ipswich, failing to qualify inside the top 12 for any of the three races. Ipswich also saw the introduction of the new 'B-spec' Toyota V8.

"We're getting there, it's all learning and trying to be better each time we roll out," continued Wood.

"A little blip in the radar this weekend [at Ipswich], but we'll just develop and learn from that, and at two of the biggest races of the year, we've gotta step up really, really tall and try and tackle the Mountain and The Bend obviously the best we can."

"I'm excited to get there with Toyota, their first opportunity to win the greatest race, and we'll try and provide that for them."

Teammate Mostert was by far and away the best of the Toyota runners at Ipswich, though he didn't quite have the pace to challenge for trophies, and was sidelined by an engine issue in the Sunday finale.

However, with the vastly experienced Fabian Coulthard back alongside, Mostert is confident that the #1 Mobil 1 Optus entry can survive inside the Finals bubble through to the end of Bathurst, sitting 242 points clear.

"It all comes down to the enduros to try and make the cut for us, we're on that back side of the 10 there. We've chipped away and got some points and got inside it, but two really, really big points races to get us in the Finals," Mostert said.

"It all needs to go right. I know it's going to be a big team game. I'm going to lean pretty heavily on Fabs' ability too, he's super fast in our cars, so I'm looking forward to getting there.

"Not only trying to get some silverware, but also that Finals position as well."

The reigning Supercars champion was the first driver to drive the race-homologated Supra at Bathurst in February, partaking in demo laps at the Bathurst 12 Hour alongside Broc Feeney and Anton De Pasquale.

"It's going to be pretty awesome, obviously I was lucky enough to do some demonstration laps at the start of the year," added Mostert.

"The car felt awesome going around there, so looking forward to getting it there, and see how we go.

"You just never know with Bathurst, you get there early in the week and you get those butterflies and all of those tingly feelings. Hopefully it's our story to tell this year."

The Ryco Enduro Cup begins at the AirTouch 500 at The Bend from September 11-13. Tickets are on sale now.