{"id":392033,"date":"2026-04-22T11:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/392033\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T11:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:44:17","slug":"supercars-news-ryan-wood-to-race-ford-mustang-in-ta2-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/392033\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars news: Ryan Wood to race Ford Mustang in TA2 debut"},"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-Taupo-win.jpg\" alt=\"Ryan Wood to race Ford Mustang in TA2 debut\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRyan Wood at Taupo. Image: InSyde Media <\/p>\n<p>Wood will trade his Walkinshaw TWG Racing Toyota GR Supra for a Ford Mustang TA2, joining Walkinshaw junior Pip Casabene in the two-driver event.<\/p>\n<p>The Kiwi joins a list of Supercars stars to have competed in the event, including Brodie Kostecki and Craig Lowndes.<\/p>\n<p>For Casabene, a driver of Wood\u2019s calibre joining is a welcome addition.<\/p>\n<p>The teenager combines a second season in Toyota GR Cup \u2013 now with the Walkinshaw Foundation Academy \u2013 with his debut year in TA2.<\/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>Casabene started strongly in Round 1 at The Bend, with multiple top 10 finishes to take Rookie of the Round honours.<\/p>\n<p>A mistake at Bathurst scuppered an otherwise strong weekend of improvement for the young charger.<\/p>\n<p>TA2 category manager Matthew MacKelden described the Supercars star as a \u201cfantastic addition\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis years TA2 Tag Team Enduro is once again shaping up to be an awesome event and to have one of the most recent Supercars winners is very special,\u201d said MacKelden.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRyan [Wood] is clearly one of the stars of Supercars and for him to be partnering one of our championship drivers in fellow Walkinshaw TWG driver Pip Casabene is a fantastic addition to the field.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPip has already proven himself to be a future talent when he qualified third on debut at Tailem Bend so there\u2019s no doubt they\u2019ll be a competitive combination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll be releasing some more brilliant combinations in the coming days so I reckon Tim Slade and Alice Buckley will have their hands full defending their 2025 title.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1028588\" src=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DSC8636-e1776810779520.webp\" alt=\"The Ford Mustang TA2 of Pip Casabene at The Bend\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1082\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Ryan Wood will pilot Pip Casabene\u2019s TA2 Mustang in the Tag Team Enduro at Queensland Raceway. Image: TA2 Muscle Cars<\/p>\n<p>Casabene and Wood are one of seven confirmed pairs for the event so far, joining category regulars Des Collier, Kody Garland and Danny Reidy, partnered by Elliot Barbour, Ayrton Hodson, and Charlie Parker respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Bathurst 6 Hour winner Ben Kavich will be joined by Ben Grice, while reigning TA2 champion Jarrod Hughes is joined by TA2 NZ champ Caleb Byers.<\/p>\n<p>Alice Buckley and Tim Slade also return to defend their win in last year\u2019s event.<\/p>\n<p>The TA2 Tag Team Enduro is part of \u20182 Days of Thunder\u2019, Round 2 of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series at Queensland Raceway on May 1-3.<\/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 Taupo. Image: InSyde Media Wood will trade his Walkinshaw TWG Racing Toyota GR Supra for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[152673,152674,111,139,69,13401,9335,213,175782],"class_list":{"0":"post-392033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-aasa","9":"tag-hi-tec-oils-super-series","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-ryan-wood","14":"tag-slot2","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-ta2-muscle-cars"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392033","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=392033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}