It’s Woody’s first appearance inside the top 10 since June’s Perth Super 440, ending a five-race run outside the finals spots.
His weekend started with a demonstration of strong single-lap speed, topping the first half-hour practice session, but qualifying for the first race later that day was more muted, with 10th alongside teammate Chaz Mostert all that was on offer.
Ryan’s race was then fundamentally decided at the start, when a tangle with title leader Broc Feeney had him run wide and drop two places, down to 12th. A traffic train held him up in the opening stint, triggering an early stop, on lap 9, to break the cycle. It saw Woody climb as high as fifth as the rest of the field took their stops, but older tyres had him drop back to 12th sjust two laps from the chequered flag.
Saturday dawned but its qualifying returns were dire. Unable to get a clean lap in, Woody qualified 24th and last, setting up a long afternoon for the 70-lap feature, the first major points race of the weekend.
He was, however, equal to the task. In an improved Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing Mustang he gained four places immediately off the line and was up to 14th at the deployment of the safety car on lap 13. Walkinshaw Andretti United had him serviced on the following lap, ensuring he held that position at the restart.
His second stint was methodical, picking off cars one by one until he was up to eighth before making his second stop on lap 46, which saw him rejoin the race 16th.
Woody unleashed the pace of his Mustang on the midfield from the get-go, rising to eighth after just 14 laps and holding that position to the flag to complete a phenomenal 16-place turnaround from his qualifying position, the largest recovery of the day.
Sunday brought with it improved qualifying form, though Woody lacked the fresh tyres in the shootout to qualifying any higher than 10th.
He lost a place to the first-lap melee but recover steadily before his first stop on lap 26, overcutting most of his competitors to gain an offset with four fresh tyres. He was rapid in the middle stint, rising into the lead before his final stop on lap 53.
Woody’s Mustang was a rocket in the final 17-lap dash to the flag, but a long duel with Thomas Randle had him run out of time to take on Anton de Pasquale ahead of him, leaving him seventh in a tight five-car battle four fourth place.
The up-and-down weekend was nonetheless good enough to promote Ryan back into a crucial top-10 berth with just three rounds to go until the inaugural Supercars finals series, with only 67 points separating the drivers from seventh to Woody in 10th.
“It was a weird weekend here at Townsville, and I’m leaving with mixed emotions. Our goal is always to finish in the top 10, and we did that twice, and once from last position, so it’s a weird weekend. I feel like we probably didn’t maximise our weekend, with a lot of gremlins with our braking package and some clutch issues. I’m leaving here a little bit confused. All in all, I can’t thank our team enough. It was really cool to be back at the Townsville 500. I’m really excited for Queensland Raceway, and we’re in the top 10 in the championship now, and we’ve closed the gap to the rest of the teams that we’re racing in the teams championship, and we’re closer to seventh, and — what else? — I had fun!”
Round 8 of the Supercars Championship takes place on 8–10 August with the Ipswich Super 440.
