The Supercars championship returns to Taupō today with practice sessions kicking off the ITM Taupō Super440 event before a weekend of high-octane racing.
Twenty-one-year-old Wellington-born driver Ryan Wood enters his second Supercars season with momentum, having shown promising pace in the opening rounds. Wood, who drives for Walkinshaw Andretti United, recorded his best career finish at last year's inaugural Taupō event with fourth place in Saturday's rain-affected race.
"Season two's obviously been a pretty good start," Wood said. "Round one was up and down and round two I think we showed a lot of what we probably hoped for at round one. Obviously always going back to Taupō is amazing for me. I've spent a lot of time there, not only at the racetrack, I spent a lot of time there on holiday and stuff like that."
The young Kiwi is dreaming of celebrating his first win on home soil: "I think if I got my first win in New Zealand it would have to be on the roof, but I think just trying to light it up. I've never done a burnout or donuts, so I would have to ask the boys how to do one and go and give it a crack. But then I think it would just be an amazing atmosphere to have my friends and family there. It would be pretty cool and then I think it would be a massive night after that."
This weekend's event features three races – two 120-kilometre contests on Saturday and a longer 200-kilometre race on Sunday. Adding strategic complexity, teams will race on different Dunlop tyre compounds for each Saturday race, with the Soft tyre used in the first race and the Super Soft in the second.
The driver accumulating the most points across all races will be awarded the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, named in honour of the late New Zealand Supercars driver who passed away from cancer in 2011.
Taupō Mayor David Trewavas expressed enthusiasm for the event at the opening Pōwhiri. "Oh fantastic, isn't it, to welcome all these visitors into town. Lots of internationals here, lots of locals as well, it's just wonderful," Trewavas said.
With tickets selling fast, the Mayor encouraged locals to take advantage of the opportunity. "Eighty percent tickets sold, it'd be nice to get a good walk-up crowd too, so get on down, the tickets are still available," he said. "Come into town, park and ride and it's so easy with the bus it drops you door to door, no hassles, straight in."
Tickets and corporate hospitality experiences for the ITM Taupō Super440 are still available via Supercars.com and Ticketek NZ as well as at the gate.
