Kai Allen tops opening Ipswich practice
Penrite Racing young gun pips Broc Feeney, Declan Fraser
Sprint Cup leader Matt Payne fourth
Kai Allen and Penrite Racing have put all the noise of a turbulent couple of weeks behind them, topping the opening practice session of the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440.
Having kept his fifth place finish from the Perth finale after a Supercars appeal was dismissed, 21-year-old Allen was straight back to business in Queensland, setting his fastest time on just his fourth lap.
Allen was fastest early on a 1:09.6254s, marginally quicker than Broc Feeney, while PremiAir Racing driver Declan Fraser impressed late on green tyres to round out the top three.
Two of the field's three wildcards were in the mix early, Bayley Hall going sixth in the Supercheap Auto wildcard for Team 18, and Ben Gomersall eighth in the Tickford wildcard backed by UNIT.
Points leader Matt Payne was only 12th after his opening run, but vaulted to second behind his teammate on a 1:09.8156s as the session quickly approached half duration, though times were one and a half seconds down on Feeney's 2025 practice and qualifying record.
The Ford established itself as a dominant force, with Shell V-Power Racing Team rookie Rylan Gray launching himself into fourth on a 1:09.8677s, with Aaron Cameron, Cam Waters, Brodie Kostecki and Thomas Randle filling seventh through 10th.
That was only broken up by Team 18's David Reynolds in sixth, while Feeney threatened to knock off Allen, but fell short by 0.0243s on a 1:09.6497s. Reynolds then fell behind De Pasquale, who moved himself to sixth.
Chaz Mostert put Toyota in to the top 10 for the first time with five minutes remaining, a 1:09.9718s putting the #1 Mobil 1 Optus Supra into seventh.
Some drivers elected to put on new tyres at the end of the opening half-hour session of the weekend, Queenslander Fraser moving forward 14 positions with a late flyer to go third on a 1:09.7488s.
The session ran green throughout with no notable on-track incidents, though an errant screwdriver flew off Macauley Jones' Brad Jones Racing Supra in the final minutes.
Allen and Feeney were untouchable at the head of the field ahead of Fraser, the top three covered by 0.0722s. Payne, Gray, Will Brown, De Pasquale, Randle, Mostert and Reynolds rounded out the top 10.
Practice 2 commences at 3:30pm local time.
