Shannons Ambassador, Dale Wood, doubled down on his racing commitments for the Penrite Sandown 500, among the busiest people roaming the Sandown paddock.

Alongside his usual entry in Round 5 of Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, Wood partnered Kiwi, Ritchie Stanaway, in the #26 Grove Racing Ford Mustang GT as co-driver for the traditional pre-Bathurst endurance warmup.

Queensland–based Porsche racing operation Earl Bamber Motorsport, the team tasked with preparing Wood’s #992 Porsche, made the trek down to Sandown a few weeks prior to the Sandown 500, enabling Wood to complete a comprehensive testing and corporate ride day programme.

Despite the crucial preparation and experience afforded in the lead up to the event, misfortune struck Wood in both his Carrera Cup and Supercars outings.

Porsche Carrera Cup Australia – Round 5:

Regarded as the premiere one-make championship in Australia, the Sandown 500 marked Carrera Cup Australia’s 150^th points-scoring round since its inception more than two decades ago.

Championship leader, Harri Jones, became the seventh driver in the category’s history to notch three or more consecutive pole positions, securing the top spot for the opening race of the weekend with a time of 1m 08.7300s. Dylan O’Keefe joined Jones on the front row of the grid.

Wood meanwhile had a difficult session, only managing 10^th place. The session was interrupted by a Red Flag after Marc Cini, the driver with the most starts in the championship, grinded to a halt just before Turn 1.

The opening race of the weekend on Saturday was held in wet conditions. Jones made a relatively good start off the line, but it was O’Keefe that secured the lead with a lightning launch into Turn 1.

Jones shadowed O’Keefe until half race distance, where he pounced on an opportunity to slip into the lead, pulling away to score a comfortable win.

Wood meanwhile crossed the line eighth to score crucial championship points, with his brother, Glenn Wood, completing the Top 10.

Race 2 was a longer distance ‘endurance’ race for Carrera Cup, and it was Jackson Walls who mastered the mixed weather conditions to beat Jones.

With a dry start and inclement weather looming, it was down to teams and drivers to determine if they would start the race on slick or wet weather Michelin tyres.

Walls was one of the drivers to bolt wets onto his Porsche, with the conditions eventually suiting him as the race unfolded.

Jones and O’Keefe echoed Walls with their tyre choice, but they couldn’t get ahead of the eventual race winner who had made a fast start and was able to manage the gap to P2 despite sustained pressure from Jones.

Wall’s win helped him extend his lead in the Endurance Cup standings.

The final race of the weekend on Sunday saw Jones retake control, resetting the Sandown lap record for Carrera Cup cars enroute to claiming win number 15 in his fledgling Porsche racing career.

Walls dropped two positions in the first completely dry race of the weekend, with O’Keefe jumping the youngster to be second in the finale, Walls completing the podium.

Following a lowly 15th place finish in Race 2, Wood recovered to ninth in Race 3.

Wood’s rollercoaster weekend places him sixth in the championship points standings, eight–points behind Bailey Hall.

Round 6 of Porsche Carrera Cup Australia heads to the famed Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst, as part of ‘The Great Race’ Bathurst 1000 event.

Wood will once again make starts in both his Porsche and Mustang GT on the same weekend.

Supercars Championship – Race 19 – Sandown 500:

Put simply, the Sandown 500 did not transpire in Wood’s or Stanaway’s favour.

With Stanaway proving to be a standout performer in wet conditions, the duo featured within striking distance of the podium for most practice sessions on Friday, indicating their potential heading into Qualifying on Saturday.

Stanaway locked in a Gurnsey for the Top Ten Shootout on Saturday, with his single flying lap in that session good enough for P7 in the 500km endurance race on Sunday.

As outlined by race organisers, main drivers were mandated to start the race, resulting in Stanaway stepping behind the wheel for the start of the 161–lap race, Wood in the Garage.

The #26 Penrite Mustang, sporting a tribute livery for the weekend, was running strongly in the opening stanza of the race, however it all fell apart in dramatic fashion on Lap 23.

As Stanaway was charging up the back straight, a catastrophic engine failure seized the driveline and subsequently locked the rear wheels of his Mustang. Squealing to a halt before Turn 6, the car was clearly out of the race.

Representatives from Ford acknowledged the issue was likely caused by a defect in the control crankshaft, and that an investigation into all crankshafts made within the same production batch will be completed prior to Bathurst. 

Watching from the pits, Wood was understandably in a state of disbelief.

“It’s so gutting because it’s been such an awesome build up [to the race].” Said Wood.

“You get here [Sandown] and think something feels pretty cool about this one, then next thing you can’t believe your luck.

“Sounds like that issue has done a proper job of finishing that engine which is a shame because it’s brand new.

“We thought we had a really good day ahead of us and it’s now a very short day.

“Onto Bathurst.”

Race 20 of the 2024 Supercars Championship takes place at Bathurst for the famous 1000km endurance race, October 10 – 13.