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It has been a meteoric rise for the newest manufacturer to Supercars.<\/p>\n
In the opening round in Sydney in February the two Toyota teams asked for patience, knowing they were some way off the rest of the field.<\/p>\n
By the end of the Sydney weekend \u2013 all five Supras were inside the top ten \u2013 even to their surprise.<\/p>\n
Weekend two at Albert Park delivered Toyota their first podium, via Wood.<\/p>\n
The Kiwi was then was able to grab a maiden pole for Saturday\u2019s second race in New Zealand, before transferring that into a race win.<\/p>\n
It was a seismic result \u2013 which made global headlines.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the power of Toyota.<\/p>\n
Ryan Wood driver of the #2 Mobil1 Truck Assist Racing Toyota GR Supra during the ITM Taupo Super 440, part of the 2026 Supercars Championship at Taupo International Motorsport Park on April 11, 2026 in Taupo, New Zealand. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s the importance of having them make the multi-million dollar call to come and race in Supercars via last year\u2019s championship winning Walkinshaw team and the Albury based Brad Jones Racing squad.<\/p>\n
Nothing Toyota does is done lightly \u2013 hence the enormous investment into the Supra program.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s why all of their rivals up and down pitlane would be fearful of what comes next.<\/p>\n
It was always supposed to be a slow build to ensure the Toyota\u2019s were on the pace in year one by Bathurst in October.<\/p>\n
The fact they\u2019ve been able to win inside ten races sends an ominous message to those running Fords and Chevys.<\/p>\n
Be afraid, be very afraid.<\/p>\n
Their rapid progress has also now given Supercars a template to provide other global manufacturers around the globe \u2013 to come and try racing in Australasia.<\/p>\n
If it\u2019s good enough for Toyota, will a fourth manufacturer step up to the plate?<\/p>\n
Oh, what a feeling, indeed.<\/p>\n
NEW ZEALAND\u2019S WILD WEATHER<\/p>\n
The sport is in the middle of a historic period, running back-to-back weekends for the first time in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
But the biggest drama has been the fickle Kiwi weather.<\/p>\n
Tropical Cyclone Vaianu forced a rapid fire cancellation of last Sunday\u2019s Taupo running completely.<\/p>\n
It means Sunday\u2019s race will now be run this Friday as Supercars debuts at Ruapuna Raceway in Christchurch with a brilliantly stacked schedule of races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n
Only problem now \u2013 the ordinary weather is following the sport, with rain forecast on all three days.<\/p>\n
Add to that, arctic lows of just six degrees are forecast on Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n
And Friday\u2019s race is due to end at 5:48pm local time \u2013 with sunset forecast for 5:55pm.<\/p>\n
Waters unleashes ‘racing b grade drivers | 02:38<\/p>\n
These are testing times for the sport to work through, which becomes even more difficult \u2013 with this fortnight the first the series has raced without their CEO James Warburton \u2013 who sensationally and shockingly quit the week before New Zealand.<\/p>\n
With the wet and wild conditions, look for a Kiwi to be the pacesetter.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s likely to be Ryan Wood \u2013 who looms as the hottest new star in the sport.<\/p>\n
Fresh from a historic win last weekend, he also secured his future \u2013 signing a big dollar deal to remain with Chaz Mostert at Walkinshaw.<\/p>\n
For Wood, life right now is as good as it gets.<\/p>\n
Which might explain the decent sized drink he and his team had Saturday night \u2013 after his maiden Toyota win at Taupo.<\/p>\n
BAD BLOOD<\/p>\n
Everyone in the sport is on a two week New Zealand trek \u2013 which is interesting timing with so many in the sport at war with each other.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to remember a time when so many within the sport are feuding.<\/p>\n
Just on Saturday \u2013 you saw the latest instalment of the fiery battle between last year\u2019s championship winning Walkinshaw team, and the best team in the sport\u2019s history, Triple Eight Race Engineering.<\/p>\n
Four times \u2013 yes, FOUR times, Chaz Mostert and Broc Feeney ran into each other on the back straight during the opening race at Taupo.<\/p>\n
Feeney already has a healthy hatred for Mostert\u2019s teammate, Ryan Wood \u2013 who sent him packing in the Grand Final of the sport last November.<\/p>\n
The two haven\u2019t spoken since.<\/p>\n
And then it\u2019s their team bosses, Ryan Walkinshaw and the legendary Jamie Whincup \u2013 who are happy to snipe at each other on any platform or podcast available.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not just these two teams.<\/p>\n
Chevrolet tried to poach Grove Racing to move from running Fords to Chevys, without success.<\/p>\n
Which then led Chevy to go and grab Grove Racing\u2019s boss, Grant McPherson.<\/p>\n
And now they\u2019re trying to convince Grove\u2019s biggest star, Bathurst 1000 winner Matt Payne, to move in a massive multi-million dollar deal.<\/p>\n
The two are genuinely at loggerheads.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the likes of mild mannered Andre Heimgartner and Ford star Cam Waters \u2013 who came to blows on the track last weekend, and nearly came to blows off it.<\/p>\n
They settled on a verbal clash on the Fox Sports broadcast \u2013 with Waters calling Heimgartner a \u201cB-grader\u201d.<\/p>\n
Teams have been dealing with a lot this past week \u2013 with the international double-header, then races cancelled, cyclones circling and more wild weather coming \u2013 and everyone is just a little more on edge as tensions rise.<\/p>\n
‘Tough day for Cam Waters!” | 00:42<\/p>\n
WINNING JASON\u2019S AWARD<\/p>\n
Jason Richards won just one Supercar race.<\/p>\n
And that was twenty years ago.<\/p>\n
He claimed a couple of poles.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s been fifteen years since his tragic passing due to a brutal battle with cancer.<\/p>\n
But his influence on the sport remains so great to this day \u2013 with the entire field chasing his trophy across these two weekends in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
And for the lucky man to walk away with the Jason Richards Trophy \u2013 for the first time contested across six races over two weekends \u2013 will hold it as proudly as any in their careers, including a Peter Brock Trophy for winning Bathurst.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the appeal of Richards \u2013 who is still so fondly remembered by so many in pitlane.<\/p>\n
He was one of the best blokes.<\/p>\n
Fittingly, it\u2019s a Kiwi who leads the points after Taupo\u2019s shortened weekend, with Ryan Wood holding a 17-point lead over Broc Feeney.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s four wild races to come to decide this weekend and to determine who stands on the podium with one of the most prized awards in Supercars racing.<\/p>\n
NEIL\u2019S PASSION<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a moment, what an incredible moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
These were the words from Supercars Hall of Famer Neil Crompton last Saturday in the Taupo pit lane after Wood\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n
And for many the emotion and the tears from Crompton was the moment of the season to date, which will take some topping.<\/p>\n
For the sheer fact Crompton spoke on the Supercars coverage and gave them the interview of the year, after the same coverage had given him his marching orders prior to the season – shows the quality of the man.<\/p>\n
Crompton cares deeply for the sport that made him one of the greatest Motorsport commentators globally.<\/p>\n
He worked tirelessly for years behind the scenes to bring Toyota to Supercars, and since his exit from the sport\u2019s TV coverage, has seen him take on an official adviser role with the Supra backed teams.<\/p>\n
As Crompton acknowledged after Toyota\u2019s first win: \u201cThis is a great thing for the sport\u201d – because he knows how important it is for everyone in the game.<\/p>\n
But he also said: \u201cThis is a huge moment in my life\u201d – because for all that he has done in Supercars, this might be the most important.<\/p>\n
Crompton is deeply missed on the Supercars coverage – and unfortunately remains highly unlikely to ever return to the commentary box, but maybe he has a bigger calling back inside the team garage.<\/p>\n
ITM Christchurch Super 440 weekend race schedule<\/p>\n
Friday<\/p>\n
12:15pm – Race 10 qualifying<\/p>\n
2:35pm – Race 10 (120km)<\/p>\n
Saturday<\/p>\n
8:05am – Race 11 qualifying<\/p>\n
9:00am – Race 12 qualifying<\/p>\n
10:45am – Race 11 (120km)<\/p>\n
2:10pm – Race 12 (120km)<\/p>\n
Sunday<\/p>\n
9:50am – Race 13 qualifying<\/p>\n
10:45am – Race 13 top 10 shootout<\/p>\n
1:05pm – Race 13 (200km)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It shouldn\u2019t be lost on those inside the sport, nor glossed over just how big the feats of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-610330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}