{"id":388783,"date":"2026-04-20T13:51:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/388783\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T13:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:51:15","slug":"supercars-news-ryan-woods-silver-lining-in-christchurch-heartbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/388783\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars news: Ryan Wood\u2019s silver lining in Christchurch heartbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Ryan-Wood-Christchurch.jpg\" alt=\"Ryan Wood\u2019s silver lining in Christchurch heartbreak\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRyan Wood at the Christchurch Super440. Image: InSyde Media <\/p>\n<p>The 22-year-old Kiwi was the star of the two-week swing across Taupo and Christchurch, set to win the Jason Richards Trophy before his Toyota stopped seven laps from the finish.<\/p>\n<p>Wood ticked off Toyota\u2019s first Supercars pole and race win at Taupo, finishing on the podium in both races at the venue before another two rostrum visits in Christchurch.<\/p>\n<p>The run of results cemented the new Supra\u2019s place as a genuine contender and Wood as a national hero.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe crowd and everyone in New Zealand\u2019s helped make this two weeks enjoyable and pushed me to a level I never knew existed inside me,\u201d Wood told Speedcafe post-race.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fcttn.com\/products\/v8s-in-nz-tee\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-1.webp\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a real credit to New Zealand and the fan group and the amount of support I\u2019ve had is truly humbling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll never forget these two weeks\u2026 I can always remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.com\/supercars-news-2026-christchurch-super440-walkinshaw-container-meeting-ryan-wood-heartbreak-engine-failure\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018Feast on this pain\u2019: Inside Walkinshaw container meeting<\/a><\/p>\n<p>There was no hiding the heartbreak, though, as one of the sport\u2019s biggest prizes slipped from his grasp.<\/p>\n<p>Walkinshaw TWG has so far only indicated the issue was engine-related.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[There was] no warning on the dash and then it started fluttering and I was like, \u2018surely not\u2019,\u201d he recounted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen I came out of last corner and just lost all power. Absolutely gut-wrenching.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wood spent the following 15 minutes stranded on the inside of the circuit while the closing laps unfolded, before eventually making it back to the paddock.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things you\u2019ll just never get back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot a lot of words can describe that sort of moment and but I\u2019m super proud of my team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes you go two steps forward and it feels like we go one step back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wood was placed seventh at the time of the failure.<\/p>\n<p>Although that was more than enough to secure the JR Trophy, it was the Kiwi\u2019s least competitive showing of the six-race NZ swing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI ran an average race on my behalf and just got stuck into a few different things that I shouldn\u2019t have got myself into,\u201d Wood admitted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can be better in those moments too. So all in all, a lot to learn, [but] it\u2019s not all doom and gloom and we can try and be better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/t.cfjump.com\/92797\/b\/250635\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/250635.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Wood at the Christchurch Super440. Image: InSyde Media The 22-year-old Kiwi was the star of the two-week&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,13401,1058,213,154397],"class_list":{"0":"post-388783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-ryan-wood","12":"tag-slot1","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-walkinshaw-twg-racing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}