{"id":625146,"date":"2026-04-23T06:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/625146\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T06:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:21:17","slug":"supercars-news-green-shoots-for-rylan-gray-despite-lap-one-wipeout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/625146\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars news: Green shoots for Rylan Gray despite lap one wipeout"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Green
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRylan Gray at the Christchurch Super440. Image: InSyde Media <\/p>\n

Gray, 19, was docked 25 points for slamming into the back of fellow rookie Jackson Walls in an incident that ended his own afternoon.<\/p>\n

That came after Gray banked the first two top 10 finishes of his young career on Saturday off the back of greatly improved qualifying performances.<\/p>\n

Gray noted after Saturday that he was \u201cslowly figuring it out\u201d, having graduated to the main game following a Super2 Series title with Tickford Racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty decent start to our weekend. We were just at the back end of the top 10 and finished up with two top 10s as well,\u201d he reflected.<\/p>\n


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<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c[Sunday] didn\u2019t really go as planned. We missed it a bit in quali, but we had a pretty good opening lap until it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately our race was done on lap one. But there were a lot of positives to come out of the weekend. We had a big turnaround from Taupo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gray\u2019s promotion to the Supercars Championship with the category\u2019s oldest team came amid the sudden axing of Will Davison.<\/p>\n

DJR had a year earlier passed up Kai Allen \u2013 who was subsequently snapped up by Grove Racing \u2013 in favour of keeping the veteran.<\/p>\n

\"Rylan<\/p>\n

Rylan Gray. Image: Richard Gresham<\/p>\n

Gray is 21st in the current standings, seven places lower than Davison was after four rounds last year, and third among the five-strong rookie contingent.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Friday at Ruapuna, DJR team manager Tom Moore said the squad is \u201creally happy\u201d with how Gray has settled in.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything he does off the track, you completely forget his age. He speaks and behaves 10 years older than what he is,\u201d said Moore.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe results on the track, he has a lot of time to grow in the sport and within the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s probably entering the category at a very hard time when there\u2019s a few years into a big technical regulation change and everyone is converging as far as the driver ability and the cars and all that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he was to come in two or three years ago, in 2023, there was a lot more spread in the field, it was probably a bit easier for a rookie to find his spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut everyone is so dialled at the moment in the driver ability, the car set up, the team operation, it\u2019s a very hard thing to get right when you\u2019re starting from scratch like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kostecki is second in the standings, five places higher than he was at the same point during his maiden DJR season in 2025.<\/p>\n


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