Chaz Mostert. Image: Richard Gresham
Sunday proved a storybook day for the squad, with its Mostert/Fabian Coulthard and Wood/Jaxon Evans Toyotas finishing first and third.
However, Mostert ended the race unsure if a tense battle between the Supras two-thirds of the way through had cost the team a 1-2 finish.
The team offset its cars by electing not to pit Evans under the third Safety Car, but they found themselves on track together when Mostert emerged from his fourth stop ahead of Wood.
Wood lost three seconds to the chasing Kai Allen over the next three laps as Mostert attempted to fire-up his slick tyres on a circuit that was still treacherous off the racing line.
Allen ultimately jumped Wood in the next round of stops – the Grove Racing Ford sitting just over three seconds ahead of the Toyota at the end of its out-lap.
“It’s probably something we’ll review a bit as a team,” said Mostert when asked by Speedcafe about the battle.
“We’ve spoken about [that fact] we sometimes trip over each other a little bit this year. When you got such a competitive teammate, that’s always going to happen at some point.
“We’ve got first and a third, and hopefully we don’t review it and [find out] Woody lost a second [place] because of where we kind of came out.
“I think it’s important for us to always look how we can always be better, but clear track is so important. I was hoping to try and get up to speed as quick as I can and get going.
“He didn’t really have lines to really have a go because it’s still wet offline, and he was super respectful behind me and did a solid job.”
When Mostert had emerged ahead, Wood asked his team what they wanted him to do and was informed the #1 entry had a fuel-in-hand advantage and fresher tyres.
Engineer Richard Harris’ instructions were to “just race, we just want to not hold each other up”, before channelling his old mentor Ludo Lacroix by urging his driver to be “nice and smooth”.
The heart-in-mouth moment that proved Toyota B-spec
Wood’s mentor Greg Murphy questioned the approach while commentating for the TV broadcast, declaring the team should have swapped positions to avoid car #2 losing out.
Four laps later Wood lamented that “we’ve lost so much time” and later revealed he’d deliberately backed away from his teammate after initial efforts to get ahead.
“I didn’t really know if I was in the race [for the win], but I knew Chaz was obviously the leader and then when he dropped out in front of me, I’m like, ‘I’ll try and have a crack’,” recalled Wood.
“The reason I was trying to get past was just because I had felt how long it had taken the slick tyre to come up to speed, and I could see him trying super hard to get going.
“But then also with me tucked right behind him, it takes a lot of aero away from his car.
“I sort of realised after two laps, okay, there’s no way of me getting past cleanly or low risk, and then I just sort of dropped it off a little bit and gave him a little bit of space.
“Then his grip sort of came together, and we probably didn’t lose as much time.
“Like Chaz said, it’s something that we’ve got to review because it has been probably something that’s happened probably more often than we would have liked.”
Wood’s radio chatter at The Bend was notably calmer than it had been when Mostert exited the pits in front of him at previous events this year, including Symmons Plains and Townsville.
While keeping it clean during the race, Wood had tagged the back of Mostert during opening practice on Friday, which marked the back of the ultimately race-winning entry.