Wood in for Adelaide opener, Allen ineligible to race
Supercars
16 Nov
Dale Wood confirmed as Richie Stanaway substitute
Kai Allen ineligible to race amid Super2 commitments
Wood set to start from pit lane for Race 23 on Saturday
Dale Wood will stand in for Richie Stanaway for Saturday's VAILO Adelaide 500 opener, with Kai Allen ineligible to compete due to his Super2 commitments.
Penrite Racing initially announced Allen would stand in for Stanaway, who withdrew from Race 23 due to delayed concussion symptoms.
However, given his Super2 commitments, Allen was deemed ineligible to race, with Porsche Carrera Cup Australia veteran and long-time Supercars co-driver Wood called up.
Wood raced with Stanaway at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 and Repco Bathurst 1000 in recent weeks.
In a subsequent statement, Penrite Racing confirmed Wood will stand in for Stanaway.
"Due to Kai Allen’s Super2 commitments, he is ineligible to compete in today’s Race 23 of the Supercars Championship for Penrite Racing," the Grove squad said.
"As such, Dale Wood will drive Car 26 in today’s Race 23."
Wood is set to start his first solo Supercars race since the 2017 Newcastle 500 from pit lane.
"Richie's unwell as you know, so we wanted to put Kai in the car, which we can't do with the regulations due to him needing to compete in Super2," team boss Stephen Grove said.
"The stewards have got nowhere to move, so we can't use him, so we've got Dale. I just did the race with Dale in the Porsches, and now it was pretty tough, so I don't know how he's going to do it, but he's ice bathed and ready to go.
"It's pretty tough, we thought Richie would be alright, but we've obviously had some checks on him and we don't think he is, so now we've got to start from pit lane, and we've just got to go and do the best job we can.
"Motorsport is like that, you need to adapt on the fly, so I'm excited for Dale and we'll see how he goes.
"[Richie] needs some more assessment, I mean his crash was 52G I think they said, which was more than the other two, so we've just got to make sure we look after him and he's right, so we'll see how he goes tomorrow."
The 78-lap race will commence at 3:20pm local time/3:50pm AEDT. The race will be broadcast live on Foxtel (Fox Sports 506), Kayo and the Seven Network.
