Just two days remain until the AirTouch 500 at The Bend gets underway, as Supercars goes endurance racing for the first time in 2026.
Sitting eighth and ninth in the Championship heading into this weekend, 2025 Supercars champion Chaz Mostert and teammate Ryan Wood will need a strong Ryco Enduro Cup across The Bend and the Bathurst 1000 in order to fight for a championship later this year.
“Its exciting with a new combination I am looking forward to,” commented Wood. “It’s great to have Jaxon (Evans) on board.
“Testing tomorrow and then into the event with a couple of big weeks ahead of us.
“It’s all learning and about getting better each time we roll out. We need to step up and do the best we can. Excited to be with Toyota their first opportunity to win the greatest race.”
It also marks the first endurance race for the Toyota GR Supra Supercar, which debuted in the Repco Supercars Championship earlier this season.
Needing to stay in the top 10 to advance to the Supercars Finals, both Mostert and Wood will rely on help from across the ditch to take on the longest races of the Supercars season.
Queensland’s Mostert will be joined by Fabian Coulthard for a third time. The pair finished runners up on debut at the 2022 Bathurst 1000 and are viewed as one of the strongest pairings on the grid.
The sister car will see an all-Kiwi pairing as Wellington’s Wood is joined by Levin’s Jaxon Evans, who makes his debut with WTWG after two full seasons at Brad Jones Racing.
Toyotas have won three races in 2026, but uncertainty remains over their reliability following multiple mechanical failures to date, something not uncommon for a new arrival to the Championship.
With 500km of racing scheduled on Sunday, this weekend – and next month’s Repco Bathurst 1000 – will be the Japanese marque’s greatest test yet.
Practice at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia begins Friday, with Boost Mobile Qualifying and the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout on Saturday to set the grid for Sunday’s 500-kilometre race.
The AirTouch 500 is the first event of the Ryco Enduro Cup, and precedes October’s Repco Bathurst 1000.
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