Wood and Wharton shine in Friday practice

A fired up Ryan Wood grabbed fastest time in two of today’s three practice sessions at Taupo ahead of the second round of the 2026 Castrol.

Wood, taken out of the final feature race last weekend at Hampton Downs, gave notice of intent of a very strong weekend by being quick in all three of the sessions in his mtec Motorsport car.

So too was Australian James Wharton (main photo) for TJ Speed with HMD Motorsports, revelling in the car, the tyres, the fully dry conditions and in some subtle but effective changes to his engineering support trackside.

Wood was quickly into his stride in the first session, finding the limits of the partly damp track quickly and putting in several laps that were quicker than anyone else around the circuit where he scored his first Supercars podium.

**Ryan Wood had a solid day again. Picture Joel Hanks**

His quickest lap gave him an advantage of around half a second until a fully dry line appeared. That allowed TJ Speed with HMD Motorsport’s James Wharton to get within a tenth of him by the end of the session with Brit Freddie Slater also eye-catchingly fast in third. Sri Lankan Yevan David maintained his Thursday form with fourth fastest ahead of Hitech’s Jin Nakamura and Louis Sharp.

A little further back round one pacesetter Ugo Ugochukwu was eighth fastest while two time world rally champion Kalle Rovanperä continued his learning process in 12^th. Clearly at one with the damp/dry conditions early in the session, he was quickly inside the top six, but fell back down the order a little as the track fully dried. Regardless, the Finn certainly looks to be moving closer towards the front in one of the most fiercely competitive fields in two decades of NZ’s premier motorsport championship.

With an increase in tyre allocation for pre-event testing compared to last season from one set to two sets, all of the drivers emerged for the second session with new tyres – and some with higher fuel loads – and the top runners by the end of the session were onto their second set of fresh rubber.

***Freddie Slater gets sideways in the second session. Picture Joel Hanks***

Wharton ended up fastest but behind him it was that man Wood again, followed by mtec Motorsport team mates and fellow Kiwi racers Zack Scoular and Sharp. Nakamura was next up for Hitech, followed by David for Kiwi Motorsport, early session pacesetter Slater for M2 Competition and ominously – Ugochukwu – who was running a heavier fuel load in his car than the rest throughout. Hitech’s Kanato Le and M2’s Seb Manson rounded out the top ten.

The third session – with drivers running simulated qualifying laps – was blighted by a significant number of lap times being deleted for many of the drivers exceeding track limits at the super fast right hand Turn 9. After all of those times had been deleted Wood retained the fastest time, but the session was largely unrepresentative.

The real action begins on Saturday, with three track sessions – one qualifying, the first race and then race two later in the day, with the first eight on that grid a reverse of the top eight finishing order from race one.

2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy – R2 Taupo Practice 1

1	40	Ryan WOOD	NZL	MTEC Motorsport
2	13	James WHARTON	AUS	TJ Speed with HMD
3	27	Freddie SLATER	GBR	M2 Competition
4	21	Yevan DAVID	LKA	Kiwi Motorsport
5	12	Jin NAKAMURA	JPN	Hitech
6	11	Louis SHARP	NZL	MTEC Motorsport
7	19	Kanato LE	JPN	Hitech
8	4	Ugo UGOCHUKWU	USA	M2 Competition
9	24	Ernesto RIVERA	MEX	M2 Competition
10	3	Zack SCOULAR	NZL	MTEC Motorsport
11	22	Sebastian MANSON	NZL	M2 Competition
12	52	Nolan ALLAER	USA	Giles Motorsport
13	69	Kalle ROVANPERÄ	FIN	Hitech
14	33	Fionn MCLAUGHLIN	IRL	Hitech
15	14	Cooper SHIPMAN	USA	Kiwi Motorsport
16	5	Yuanpu CUI	CHN	MTEC Motorsport
17	50	Jack TAYLOR	AUS	Giles Motorsport
18	41	Ricardo BAPTISTA	BRA	TJ Speed with HMD
19	8	Trevor LATOURRETTE	USA	TJ Speed with HMD

2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy – R2 Taupo Practice 2

1	13	James WHARTON	AUS	TJ Speed with HMD
2	40	Ryan WOOD	NZL	MTEC Motorsport
3	3	Zack SCOULAR	NZL	MTEC Motorsport
4	11	Louis SHARP	NZL	MTEC Motorsport
5	12	Jin NAKAMURA	JPN	Hitech
6	21	Yevan DAVID	LKA	Kiwi Motorsport
7	27	Freddie SLATER	GBR	M2 Competition
8	4	Ugo UGOCHUKWU	USA	M2 Competition
9	19	Kanato LE	JPN	Hitech
10	22	Sebastian MANSON	NZL	M2 Competition
11	33	Fionn MCLAUGHLIN	IRL	Hitech
12	5	Yuanpu CUI	CHN	MTEC Motorsport
13	52	Nolan ALLAER	USA	Giles Motorsport
14	24	Ernesto RIVERA	MEX	M2 Competition
15	69	Kalle ROVANPERÄ	FIN	Hitech
16	14	Cooper SHIPMAN	USA	Kiwi Motorsport
17	41	Ricardo BAPTISTA	BRA	TJ Speed with HMD
18	50	Jack TAYLOR	AUS	Giles Motorsport
19	8	Trevor LATOURRETTE	USA	TJ Speed with HMD

2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy – R2 Taupo Practice 3 – PROVISIONAL

1	40	Ryan WOOD	NZL	MTEC Motorsport
2	27	Freddie SLATER	GBR	M2 Competition
3	13	James WHARTON	AUS	TJ Speed with HMD
4	12	Jin NAKAMURA	JPN	Hitech
5	4	Ugo UGOCHUKWU	USA	M2 Competition
6	33	Fionn MCLAUGHLIN	IRL	Hitech
7	24	Ernesto RIVERA	MEX	M2 Competition
8	19	Kanato LE	JPN	Hitech
9	11	Louis SHARP	NZL	MTEC Motorsport
10	52	Nolan ALLAER	USA	Giles Motorsport
11	21	Yevan DAVID	LKA	Kiwi Motorsport
12	50	Jack TAYLOR	AUS	Giles Motorsport
13	3	Zack SCOULAR	NZL	MTEC Motorsport
14	22	Sebastian MANSON	NZL	M2 Competition
15	5	Yuanpu CUI	CHN	MTEC Motorsport
16	69	Kalle ROVANPERÄ	FIN	Hitech
17	14	Cooper SHIPMAN	USA	Kiwi Motorsport
18	41	Ricardo BAPTISTA	BRA	TJ Speed with HMD
19	8	Trevor LATOURRETTE	USA	TJ Speed with HMD