{"id":350582,"date":"2026-03-27T12:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/350582\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T12:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:58:16","slug":"supercars-ace-tops-gt-world-challenge-phillip-island-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/350582\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars ace tops GT World Challenge Phillip Island practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Wood
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRyan Wood was fastest across Friday’s two GT World Challenge Australia practice sessions at Phillip Island.<\/p>\n

Wood\u2019s best lap in the morning \u2013 a 1:26.1549s \u2013 came on just his seventh lap in chilly conditions before banking the fastest lap of the day \u2013 a 1:26.0696s \u2013 late on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Wood, who is sharing the #88 Team BRM Audi R8 with Kiwi compatriot Steve Brooks, put four tenths on his nearest rival in Practice 1 and had a two tenths advantage at the end of Practice 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really nice to join the team here at BRM. It\u2019s been a lot of fun,\u201d Wood told Speedcafe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve obviously got really fast teammates, so it\u2019s been really good for me and Brooksy to learn off what they do and I feel like we\u2019ve made a good step from probably where we were last year as me and Steve driving the car. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll in all happy, but still a lot to try and learn. I think there are some really fast cars. I think we\u2019re there or thereabouts, I think there are a few cars that are on par, if not a little bit faster, so we\u2019ll see how we go tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

This season, Wood has reunited with engineer James Marshall. The pair worked closely together when Wood raced a Toyota 86 in New Zealand and later raced for his eponymous Porsche team in the South Island Endurance Series.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s like getting the band back together,\u201d said Wood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot to do with James. It\u2019s probably the first time since racing 86s that he\u2019s engineered me. <\/p>\n

\u201cHaving him back here it\u2019s cool, so it\u2019s been good. It\u2019s been good fun, so we\u2019ll have a laugh and try bring home some trophies. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe weather is probably the thing that\u2019s not on our side at the moment for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood and Brooks have this year moved camps from Melbourne Performance Centre while remaining in an Audi R8.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve obviously been really, really solid the last couple of years with Alex [Peroni] and Mark [Rosser],\u201d said Wood of Team BRM.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really looking forward to driving alongside Alex because I reckon he\u2019s probably been one of the benchmark GT3 drivers in Australia, and unfortunately he\u2019s not here this weekend. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to teaming up with him as the year goes on and the team runs a really good operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just through Steve having a contact [at Team BRM after the [Bathurst] 12 Hour and it just felt right for him, so I just do what the boss says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also can\u2019t thank everyone enough at MPC for last year and what they did because they\u2019re a good bunch of guys as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercedes and Audi ruled the roost on Friday morning, with the #66 Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Jayden Ojeda\/Paul Lucchitti second fastest.<\/p>\n

Thomas Randle was third-fastest in the #268 Team BRM Audi with Mark Rosser while Brendon Leitch and Oscar Targett completed the top five in the #44 and #56 for Tigani with Sergio Pires and Shane Smollen respectively.<\/p>\n

After going red flag-free in Practice 1, it was an eventful second session on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Targett\u2019s co-driver Smollen put their Mercedes-AMG off the road and then Matt Stoupas did the same in the #24 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi.<\/p>\n

Wood was fastest ahead of the #1 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi with of Broc Feeney and Brad Schumacher.<\/p>\n

The top five was completed by Ojeda\/Lucchitti, Randle\/Rosser, and the #26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari 296 of Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte.<\/p>\n

GT World Challenge Australia will continue on Saturday with the first leg of qualifying at 11:15am AEDT.<\/p>\n

Coverage will be live and exclusively on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.<\/p>\n

Results: GT World Challenge Australia Phillip Island, Practice 1<\/p>\n

Pos
\nNum
\nTeam
\nDriver
\nVehicle
\nClass
\nLap
\nDiff<\/p>\n

1
\n88
\nWolfbrook Motorsport
\nR.Wood\/S.Brooks
\nAudi R8 LMS EVO 11
\nPA
\n1:26.1549<\/p>\n

2
\n66
\nMove My Wheels by Tigani
\nJ.Ojeda\/P.Lucchitti
\nMercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
\nPA
\n1:26.5487
\n0.3938<\/p>\n

3
\n268
\nCastrol Team BRM
\nT.Randle\/M.Rosser
\nAudi R8 LMS EVO ll
\nPA
\n1:26.6690
\n0.5141<\/p>\n

4
\n44
\nGeyer Valmont Racing by Tigani
\nB.Leitch\/S.Pires
\nMercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
\nPA
\n1:26.7504
\n0.5955<\/p>\n

5
\n56
\nKollosche AMG by Tigani
\nO.Targett\/S.Smollen
\nMercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
\nPA
\n1:26.8790
\n0.7241<\/p>\n

6
\n23
\nZagame Autosport
\nJ.Buchan\/C.Campbell
\nFerrari 296 GT3
\nPA
\n1:26.9492
\n0.7943<\/p>\n

7
\n26
\nARGT
\nJ.Evans\/E.Schutte
\nFerrari 296 GT3
\nPA
\n1:27.2525
\n1.0976<\/p>\n

8
\n1
\nKelso Electrical MPC
\nB.Feeney\/B.Schumacher
\nAudi R8 LMS EVO ll
\nPA
\n1:27.2892
\n1.1343<\/p>\n

9
\n71
\nAED Consulting by Tigani
\nL.Youlden\/N.Halstead
\nPorsche 911 GT3R
\nT
\n1:27.4258
\n1.2709<\/p>\n

10
\n181
\nOnlyFans Racing
\nW.Davison\/R.Gracie
\nFerrari 296 GT3
\nPA
\n1:27.9203
\n1.7654<\/p>\n

11
\n93
\nWall Racing
\nT.D\u2019Alberto\/A.Deitz
\nLamborghini Huracan
\nPA
\n1:28.0563
\n1.9014<\/p>\n

12
\n24
\nKFC Team MPC
\nP.Stokell\/M.Stoupas
\nAudi R8 LMS EVO 11
\nT
\n1:28.3451
\n2.1902<\/p>\n

13
\n2
\nTeam MPC
\nV.Astuti\/D.Currie
\nAudi R8 LMS EVO ll
\nPA
\n1:28.4366
\n2.2817<\/p>\n

14
\n14
\nVolante Rosso Motorsport
\nA.Gardner\/L.Stibbs
\nAston Martin Vantage
\nT
\n1:28.7019
\n2.547<\/p>\n

15
\n15
\nVolante Rosso Motorsport
\nJ.Hunt\/G.Emery
\nMcLaren 720s GT3 EVO
\nPA
\n1:28.9732
\n2.8183<\/p>\n

Results: GT World Challenge Australia Phillip Island, Practice 2<\/p>\n

Pos
\nNum
\nTeam
\nDriver
\nVehicle
\nClass
\nLap
\nDiff<\/p>\n

1
\n88
\nWolfbrook Motorsport
\nR.Wood\/S.Brooks
\nAudi R8 LMS EVO 11
\nPA
\n1:26.0696<\/p>\n

2
\n1
\nKelso Electrical MPC
\nB.Feeney\/B.Schumacher
\nAudi R8 LMS EVO ll
\nPA
\n1:26.2630
\n0.1934<\/p>\n

3
\n66
\nMove My Wheels by Tigani
\nJ.Ojeda\/P.Lucchitti
\nMercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
\nPA
\n1:26.3849
\n0.3153<\/p>\n

4
\n268
\nCastrol Team BRM
\nT.Randle\/M.Rosser
\nAudi R8 LMS EVO ll
\nPA
\n1:26.4027
\n0.3331<\/p>\n

5
\n26
\nARGT
\nJ.Evans\/E.Schutte
\nFerrari 296 GT3
\nPA
\n1:26.6959
\n0.6263<\/p>\n

6
\n44
\nGeyer Valmont Racing by Tigani
\nB.Leitch\/S.Pires
\nMercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
\nPA
\n1:27.1216
\n1.052<\/p>\n

7
\n2
\nTeam MPC
\nV.Astuti\/D.Currie
\nAudi R8 LMS EVO ll
\nPA
\n1:27.2322
\n1.1626<\/p>\n

8
\n93
\nWall Racing
\nT.D\u2019Alberto\/A.Deitz
\nLamborghini Huracan
\nPA
\n1:27.2779
\n1.2083<\/p>\n

9
\n56
\nKollosche AMG by Tigani
\nO.Targett\/S.Smollen
\nMercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
\nPA
\n1:27.2861
\n1.2165<\/p>\n

10
\n23
\nZagame Autosport
\nJ.Buchan\/C.Campbell
\nFerrari 296 GT3
\nPA
\n1:27.2918
\n1.2222<\/p>\n

11
\n181
\nOnlyFans Racing
\nW.Davison\/R.Gracie
\nFerrari 296 GT3
\nPA
\n1:27.5939
\n1.5243<\/p>\n

12
\n71
\nAED Consulting by Tigani
\nL.Youlden\/N.Halstead
\nPorsche 911 GT3R
\nT
\n1:28.1928
\n2.1232<\/p>\n

13
\n24
\nKFC Team MPC
\nP.Stokell\/M.Stoupas
\nAudi R8 LMS EVO 11
\nT
\n1:28.4797
\n2.4101<\/p>\n

14
\n15
\nVolante Rosso Motorsport
\nJ.Hunt\/G.Emery
\nMcLaren 720s GT3 EVO
\nPA
\n1:29.0523
\n2.9827<\/p>\n

15
\n14
\nVolante Rosso Motorsport
\nA.Gardner\/L.Stibbs
\nAston Martin Vantage
\nT
\n1:29.3888
\n3.1392<\/p>\n


\"\"\/
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