Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Ryan Wood will be sweating his hopes for a maiden Bathurst 1000 pole after the Supercars young gun crashed out of practice at Mount Panorama.
The Walkinshaw TWG Racing racer brought the red flag out in Friday’s first practice session after clipping the inside wall at the exit of Forrest’s Elbow before ricocheting into the outside barrier.
Wood was able to exit the car, but his No.2 Toyota Supra suffered significant front right damage and had to be towed back to pit lane.
Team Walkinshaw will be under the pump to get the Supra back on track for qualifying at 4.10pm (AEDT), with another practice session scheduled at 1.15pm.
New Zealand driver Wood, 22, is sharing the car with compatriot Jaxon Evans.
“So sorry,” Wood said over the team radio.
“Mate, it’s practice. You’re always going to try, so it’s alright,” engineer Richard Harris said.
Wood had just put on new tyres and set out on a push lap when he crashed with 26 minutes remaining in the hour-long session.
Walkinshaw team principal Carl Faux was adamant their pit crew were prepared for quick repairs.
The top-10 fastest drivers on Friday will progress to Saturday’s shootout to determine the grid for the 1000km epic.
“As the underlying parts of a Gen 3 chassis, they’re the same for everything,” Faux told Fox Sports.
“We’re prepared, and the guys are prepared.
“As far as the bodywork of this, we’re not worried about that at this stage.
“It’s seeing how much damage is done and whether we can get this out for later today or not.”
The Supras have yet to show their true pace in their first Bathurst 1000 attempt, with Wood going 20th fastest out of 26 cars in the weekend’s opening practice after laying a lap time of 2:07.4910 seconds.
Grove Racing youngster Kai Allen was the fastest (2:05.5460) racer, while Wood’s teammate and Supercars champion Chaz Mostert finished 17th.
Wood is ninth in the championship standings after claiming one race win and two pole positions across the Sprint Cup.
