How Kiwi Ryan Wood went from karting in Upper Hutt to Supercars’ next big thing
Friday, 17 April 2026
Sculling champagne out of his racing boot and cracking one-liners at will, Ryan Wood has quickly become Supercars box office theatre.
The Wellington-raised driver is the talk of the track after a momentous victory in the feature race at Taupō last Saturday.
He wrote himself into the record books, joining Greg Murphy, Shane van Gisbergen, Scott McLaughlin, Andre Heimgartner and Matt Payne as Kiwis to win a Supercars race on New Zealand soil.
The man from the capital is as close to a hometown hero as Canterbury petrolheads will get when Supercars makes its South Island debut at Christchurch’s Ruapuna Raceway, starting on Friday.
Cantabrians have Wood partly to thank for getting an extra race day. He suggested last Sunday’s 120km race in Taupō, which was canned because of the threat of Cyclone Vaianu, be rescheduled for Friday in Christchurch, giving Ruapuna three days of racing for championship points.
The 22-year-old, in his third full season in Australasia’s premier motorsport category, has rapidly become Supercars’ rising star and a must-watch on and off the circuit.
That much much was clear after his Taupō race win when he celebrated with a ‘shoey’, drinking champagne from his racing boot, and then busted out humorous quotes to media.
Father Shane and mother Tania were trackside in Taupō for the biggest moment of his young career. They proudly soaked up a vision Wood had dreamed about since he first took up karting at the Kaitoke Kart Track in Upper Hutt, four minutes from his childhood home.
“He’s a character all right. He’s a chip off the old block as we say. He just loves being there and loves entertaining,” father Shane said on Thursday.
“It’s really humbling as parents. We knew he had it in him.”
Shane, a former New Zealand jetsprint championship competitor, has been there with Wood every step of the way from his karting days as a kid to the bright lights of Supercars, debuting in 2024.
Wood was schooled at Hutt International Boys’ School and left Wellington at the age of 17 to chase his motorsport dream, moving to the Gold Coast. He now resides in Melbourne, racing the Toyota Supra for Walkinshaw TWG Racing – Toyota’s first time in Supercars. Last year, he drove the Ford Mustang S650 for Walkinshaw Andretti United.
“He just wants to win Supercars, Bathurst and all those big ones. He wants to win those and tick all the boxes there,” Shane said of his son’s bright future.
“Like any young guy, if you ask [fellow Kiwi] Matt Payne or any of these young guys, they would all love to go to America [eventually], race IndyCars or Nascar. That’s what the other boys are doing and they’ve got a pathway now there too.”
If Wood felt any extra pressure heading into Ruapuna after his triumph in Taupō he was certainly not showing it. He joked around with Australian championship leader Brodie Kostecki on Thursday before he was put up for media duties.
Wood sits fifth in the championship standings and leads the Jason Richards Trophy, awarded to the top driver for the Kiwi doubleheader, named after the late New Zealand driver, who died of cancer in 2011.
“It would mean everything… Down here, down south, JR wasn’t far from here. He was from Nelson, so I want to get the job done and make sure every Kiwi is nice and proud,” Wood said when asked what it would mean if he could capture the trophy in Christchurch.
Ruapuna is a circuit Wood knows well.
He raced there regularly in his teenage days, competing in South Island endurance events and raced Porsche’s for the James Marshall Motorsport team.
“It’s changed a little bit now [since then]. The club here at Christchurch at Ruapuna have done an amazing job. All the Aussies are saying it’s not different at all and to be honest I stand here right now and the way they’ve done a lot of things here is something we can be proud of as Kiwis.”
No love was lost between the drivers in Taupō with Australian Cam Waters and Kiwi Heimgartner getting into a war of words after race one, following wheel to wheel contact. Waters’ car sustained rear damper damage and he did not hold back, saying he wanted to avoid the “B grade drivers” at Ruapuna.
With so much on the line in every race and Supercars drivers all ultra-competitive, Wood expected similar fireworks.
“It was spicy last weekend. I know a few drivers were throwing around B-grade stances towards other drivers. I think it’s going to be full on in that mid pack and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and hopefully we can stay up the front and just have a good clean weekend.”
Fine weather is expected in Christchurch for the first two days of racing on Friday and Saturday with showers possible for Sunday’s 200km feature race.
Christchurch Supercars round; Ruapuna Raceway
Race 10 (120km): Friday, 4.35pm
Race 11 (120km): Saturday, 12.45pm
Race 12 (120km): Saturday, 4.10pm
Race 13 (200km): Sunday, 3.05pm
Supercars drivers’ championship after nine races
Brodie Kostecki: 657
Broc Feeney: 638
Matt Payne: 569
Cam Waters: 544
Ryan Wood: 523
Anton De Pasquale: 465
Chaz Mostert: 449