Allen 'finding his feet' after stunning Darwin debut

In a morning of wild positional swings in back-to-back Boost Mobile Qualifying sessions, Penrite Racing rookie Kai Allen starred with two top seven qualifying efforts at the betr Darwin Triple Crown.

Making it all the more impressive, this weekend is the first time that the 2023 Dunlop Super2 Series champion has raced in any category at Hidden Valley Raceway.

Friday was a learning day for the 19-year-old, who finished 19th and 20th in the two practice sessions, however he was well and truly in the game during qualifying this morning.

The #26 Penrite Racing Mustang appeared towards the top of the timesheets in both sessions, and was right at the pointy end during Race 18 Qualifying.

After claiming seventh on the grid for the opening race of the day, Allen qualified an excellent fourth for Race 18, a season's best that has put him right in the hunt for his maiden Supercars podium.

Further underscoring Allen's impressive performance, teammate Matt Payne could only manage 13th on the grid for Race 18, with Allen one of only five drivers to qualify in the top 10 in both qualifying sessions on both the Soft and Super Soft tyre.

"Yeah it's pretty cool, obviously I had a lot to learn yesterday, and only got two 30-minute practices and it's the first time I've ever been here at Hidden Valley," said Allen.

"It's a pretty tricky little track, but the guys have been really good with me prepping before the round, obviously doing a lot of sim work and trying to figure it out and watch a lot of stuff from last year.

"I'm starting to find my feet, to get fourth was absolutely unreal, and we've got two top 10 qualifying's so we'll just keep chipping away from here, and I've set myself up with a couple of good spots for the race this afternoon."

Race 17 of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship begins at 11:45am ACST/12:15pm AEST.