Allen “did not expect” early maiden Super2 success

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 14 July 2023

Just three rounds into his Super2 career, a surprised Kai Allen is now a winner and championship contender.

Allen enjoyed his “best weekend ever” at Townsville, where he converted his first Super2 pole position into maiden race and round wins.

The Reid Park street circuit was a fitting location for the debut successes given it is where Allen announced himself as a 16-year-old with a podium on Toyota 86 Series debut.

The near-perfect weekend rocketed the Eggleston Motorsport teenager from seventh in the standings to second as Zak Best’s nearest challenger, 66 points away.

Not only did the Blue Lake boy walk away from Reid Park with some silverware, but there are even rumours over a potential Bathurst 1000 wildcard drive with Dick Johnson Racing. However, Allen said “nothing is concrete yet”.

Kai Allen leads Zak Best through the hairpin at Townsville on Sunday. image: Mark Horsburgh

It is a lot for an 18-year-old to process on the one weekend, but he is taking it all in his stride.

Despite showing promise in the Toyota 86 Series and smashing records in Super3, Allen admitted he did not anticipate becoming the youngest winner ever in the category in just his third round.

“I am still buzzing. It was great to get my first pole, round and race win in the one trouble-free weekend,” he told AUTO ACTION.

“Probably the best weekend I have ever had in my racing career.

“We came close at Perth, but I am still learning everything. It is great that it came so early, but I did not really expect it.”

Kai Allen on Toyota debut in Townsville in 2021. Image: SE Voice

Allen entered the 150th Dunlop Series with a new engineer in the form of Dan Kroehn with Steve Owen on Toyota duties and showed signs of his speed in qualifying, falling 0.16s short of pole for the opening race in a disrupted qualifying.

But this did not stop the Mount Gambier youngster from nailing the start and leading an Eggleston Motorsport one-two during the early stages.

Although Allen was in complete control, his advantage was wiped out by an early Safety Car.

Suddenly the 18-year-old found himself in the same position as Perth where he controlled the final race, only for Ryan Wood to get by at the restart.

Kai Allen leads Cameron Crick, Aaron Seton and Aaron Love on his way to a breakthrough Super2 success on Saturday. Image: Mark Horsburgh

Despite the similarities, Allen admitted he was not nervous, having learnt from Wannaroo and it showed as he controlled the field all the way to the chequered flag to take a memorable win by 4s.

“I took a lot of positives out of Perth but also a lot of negatives trying work on restarts and tyre management,” he said.

“The thing with Perth is they called the green flag so late (at the restart) which really stuffed it all up. I had never really seen that happen which was a bit of a worry for me and I did not know what to do.

“It was a hard one to swallow, but I did a lot of homework and learnt a lot from that, so I was not nervous in Townsville.”

Allen carried the momentum into Sunday where an early flyer saw him score a maiden pole by a tenth.

He was looking good for a clean sweep, leading the first 20 laps and fending off Best in a tense battle for the lead where the gap never exceeded a second.

But eventually the experience of Best got the better of Allen.

Kai Allen celebrates his breakthrough Super2 success with his Eggleston Motorsport team. Image: Mark Horsburgh

“That was my first proper battle for the lead (in the Dunlop Series) because Super3 was different with people in front of you,” Allen reflected.

“Leading and punching fresh air with so much pressure coming from behind was very difficult, so it was a really good learning curve for me. I could have managed it a bit better with the tyre degradation and car setup

“I held Zak up for most of the race and tried to push him back to Zane (Morse) but he had a lot more front grip than what I did.

“At the end we just caught that lapped car, which is racing, but that allowed him to push me for a couple of laps.

“Unfortunately I just made a little mistake at the last corner, locked the front, pushed wide and accepted defeat.”

Whilst Best emerged on top to score his fifth Super2 career win, it may not be the first time the #17 Mustang and #26 ZB Commodore go head to head.

Allen has suddenly found himself second in the championship and within striking distance of Best at the halfway mark of the season.

Despite sitting towards the top of the standings, Allen admitted his plans have not changed.

Kai Allen storms through turn three under the Townsville sunshine.

He remains focused on the bigger picture of learning his craft at Super2 level and knows the “championship will take care of itself” if results fall his way.

“I did not even think of the championship leading into the weekend. I was seventh and thought it would be great just to have a clean weekend and gain a few spots,” Allen said.

“Once the last race finished Dan said ‘you are actually second in the championship’ and I was like ‘are you sure?’

“It is amazing, but does not change anything. This year is a learning year, I am still young with a young brain so I will try to limit the mistakes.

“We will keep chipping away and if we do the job right the rest will take care of itself.”

There is a two month break before the Dunlop Series returns at Sandown on September 15-17.

Main image: Mark Horsburgh

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.

Auto Action, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.

PODCAST: The latest episode of the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast is out now!

We’re back to normal after a few weeks on the road and this week we look at Supercars from Townsville and F1 from Silverstone, plus a little more.

Ford has finally won a race in the 2023 #Supercars Championship, but was it more the perfect storm for Anton De Pasquale or was it the parity changes. And what about #SVG, did he leave his heart in Dixie?

Then there is Auto Action’s very own Oscar Piastri and his stunning performance in Silverstone in a car one step behind his teammate in evolution. Yes Max won, but really, who cares anymore? Even he must be bored by now.

Listen on your podcast app of choice or here on the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast.

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