Ryan Wood took a pointed swipe at Walkinshaw’s critics after creating history on Friday with the first ever Supercars podium for a Toyota. Brodie Kostecki made it back-to-back wins in Melbourne, finishing ahead of Matt Payne and Wood.
For Wood, the third-place finish marked the first time a Toyota has landed on the podium. And it was a sweet moment for the Walkinshaw team after they’d copped it from Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup over their chassis.
“It’s a very special day for our team [and] for myself,” Wood told Fox Sports after the race. “With all of the stuff that’s being going on in the background, it’s really cool to shut up a few people.”
Ryan Wood (L) made history for Toyota amid controversy over the Walkinshaw chassis. Image: Supercars/Getty
Wood appeared to be referencing the controversy that has erupted over the Supra chassis. Whincup made extraordinary public comments this week, claiming the Walkinshaw chassis shouldn’t be legal.
Under Supercars rules, the chassis of a car must have MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welding, rather than TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welding. Whincup claimed that Walkinshaw have WIG welded over the top of TIG welding, which was approved by Supercars.
Ryan Wood came third in the second Supercars race in Melbourne.
(Getty Images)
“Walkinshaw have built two chassis at the start of the year and the rules clearly state you cannot TIG weld the chassis,” Whincup said on the ‘Apex Hunters United’ podcast. “So Walkinshaw have TIG welded both their chassis up.
“Supercars go ‘gee okay, what are we going to do here? If you just MIG over the top, it’s going to be okay. I said ‘hey guys, that’s not on. They need to throw them in the bin and start again’.
“If you’re a Kai Allen fan or a Rylan Gray fan or a Broc Feeney fan and you get beaten by a Walkinshaw car this weekend, you’ve got every right to be pissed off because they’re not running the same chassis as what we are. It needs to be addressed. It can’t continue like that.
“They can’t be running these, what I regard as an illegal car. They’re legal because Supercars say they are, but I don’t accept that. We need to get that changed as soon as we can.”
Walkinshaw and Supercars dismiss Jamie Whincup claims
Walkinshaw co-owner Ryan Walkinshaw refuted Whincup’s assertion, claiming the cars with TIG welding were retired “years ago”. He wrote online: “That was over three years ago at the start of Gen3. Supercars told us we could weld the cars in that way then changed their minds after the chassis were built a few months later (we were one of the first teams to build chassis).
“It wasn’t an advantage as he claims, it was a disadvantage as we had to re-weld them adding more weight. Those chassis have been retired years ago. So Jamie, as usual, is chatting nonsense.”
Supercars boss Tim Edwards told Speedcafe that Walkinshaw don’t have anything to answer for. “There’s zero issues as far as we’re concerned,” Edwards said. “The chassis that are being highlighted were the two cars from 2023 that Walkinshaw raced, which obviously Supercars gave them a direction to weld over the TIG welds. Both of those cars are no longer race cars.”