Wood must 'put best foot forward' amid Finals crunch

Ryan Wood admits his side of the garage has "missed out on a few opportunities" in 2025, with the Walkinshaw Andretti United jostling for a provisional Finals spot.

The New Zealander has been a breakout star in 2025, claiming a maiden podium in New Zealand, and maiden pole and win in Perth.

Wood's speed has been impressive; through six rounds, he is ranked fourth in qualifying, behind only Broc Feeney, Matt Payne and Cam Waters, and ahead of reigning champion Will Brown.

However, amid a run of mechanical failures, penalties and incidents, Wood is only 11th in the championship, and currently without a provisional Finals spot.

Despite holding a 13-6 qualifying head-to-head lead over experienced teammate Chaz Mostert, Mostert is 257 points and six positions up the road in the championship.

“We would’ve loved to have more points on the board, that’s the thing I’m most disappointed about,” Wood said on The Driver's Seat radio show.

“Trophies and stuff come when you get points. We missed out on a few opportunities, especially at Perth and even at Darwin.

"We’ve had good pace, we just haven’t put our best foot forward at times where we could’ve achieved something great.

"Obviously winning, and getting a pole, a podium and all that sort of stuff is awesome, but still definitely a lot more to achieve.

"We want to get into the top 10 and make sure there are two WAU cars in the Finals.”

Speaking after Darwin, 2007 Supercars champion Supercars champion Garth Tander belives execution, not a lack of speed, is holding Wood back from becoming a genuine Finals contender.

Wood was penalised for lap 1 run-ins with Jack Le Brocq (Melbourne) and Brodie Kostecki (Taupō), collided with Aaron Cameron (Tasmania), suffered a suspension failure while leading (Perth), crashed with James Golding (Perth), and retired with an engine failure (Darwin).

The Perth suspension failure was the toughest pill for Wood to swallow, the 21-year-old adding: “That was very hard to take.

“Winning a Supercars race shows how hard it is to do it. To put ourselves in a position to do that again twice and have it taken away, was a hard pill to swallow.

“It is what it is. It’s why we do it, it’s why we love it so much. That unknown and to be able to put ourselves and our cars on the line and be able to risk it for, at the end of the day, only a little trophy.

“Whatever comes with it — the glory for our whole team, the hard work, the sweat, the tears, all that stuff — to do that for our guys and girls at WAU and our sponsors, is what we do it for.

“That bit of glory I had on Saturday in Perth is something that I want to feel again."