Ryan Wood has taken the first Toyota outright victory in Repco Supercars Championship/Australian Touring Car Championship to end a shortened round in Taupo.
As Cyclone Vaiana bears down on the North Island of New Zealand, Supercars honchos decided early in the day Sunday’s action was cancelled leaving the 200km event to cap off the third event at Taupo.
Starting from pole, Wood put on a clinic to secure Toyota’s first outright victory after being a dominant force in classes throughout the 1980s and early-1990s.
Wood’s victory places him atop of the Jason Richard Memorial Trophy standings, which extend for the first time to a second event at Ruapana next weekend.
Getting a great start off the line, Wood left fellow front-row starter Will Brown behind as the drama normally occurring on an opening lap at Taupo failed to occur.
It proved a solid comeback for Red Bull Ampol Racing despite cool suit failures, with Brown and Feeney moving on from the engine afflictions the latter suffered during the opening race.
An attempted move for the lead by Brown had the opposite effect due to Feeney, Kostecki and Payne making ground until the latter pitted on lap 15.
Wood was able to move on from Brown’s move to build a margin heading into the pit stops, with the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver dove in first on lap 19, while Walkinshaw TWG Racing brought the in the leader two circuits later.
Feeney was one to watch after conserving fuel and stopping on lap 24, while Kostecki marched on, but both drivers were held up when they re-joined to harm their chances.
Wood was building on a comfortable lead and teammate Chaz Mostert was setting up a charge towards a Toyota 1-2 by demoting Payne to fourth before being the first of the leaders to pit on lap 41.
Another baulk in the pits, this time for Brown hurt the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver’s position and Mostert was able to not only snatch second, but became the effective leader.
Meanwhile, an inter-team battle for Red Bull Ampol Racing fell in favour of Feeney when he exited the pits, but a rare mistake meant he dropped behind Brown.
Rain appeared on the horizon when the race was ending its final third as Kostecki pitted out of the lead and with 12-laps to go.
Reigning champion Mostert was fending off teammate Wood for the lead, but this was futile when the positions were swapped at Turn 1.
This left the rivalry between Red Bull Ampol Racing and Walkinshaw TWG Racing to be played out on the track.
Mostert jumped on the radio to reveal his intention of defending Wood’s lead and it was Feeney up first due to an earlier Brown mistake.
Feeney had lap record pace as he closed on Mostert, but the Mustang driver moved down the inside at Turn 2 and was pushed onto the grass on his way to making the move stick.
However, Feeney lost two-seconds to follow Wood home and hold off Mostert.
Brown maintained fourth ahead of Payne, Kostecki, James Golding, Allen, Cam Waters and Anton De Pasquale.
The next round of the Repco Supercars Championship is the ITM Christchurch 440 at Ruapana on April 17-19.