Allen playing long game amid deficit to teammate Payne

Kai Allen concedes he has “homework to do” to close the deficit to Penrite Racing teammate Matt Payne.

Payne has had Allen’s measure in their time as teammates, despite the latter pouncing on Payne’s Semi Final misfortune to reach last year’s Grand Final as a rookie.

Since the start of 2025, Payne leads the qualifying head-to-head 37-10, and race head-to-head 33-12.

Now armed with ex-Formula 1 engineer Riccardo Corte, Allen has made a huge year-on-year jump. After Round 4 last season, Allen was 19th, 475 points behind Payne. This year, Allen is 151 points behind, and is fifth.

Victory in Christchurch was the strongest sign that Allen has made a big jump, but he was soundly beaten by Payne in the final two races of the weekend.

Speaking post-race in Christchurch, Allen admitted Payne is "showing me up at the moment,” but also quipped that he "really learned a lot” from his Bathurst-winning teammate.

Payne led Allen to a late Safety Car restart, and Penrite Racing made the call to protect the win. When asked if he had enough to challenge Payne, Allen admitted: "No, he's too fast. I got on the gas the last corner and he pulled away.

"But no, at the end of the day he was fast all race, he deserved that win. I was pretty happy in second there. That's the best I probably could have gotten. For Matty to dominate the way he did in that first stint, and that second stint, he was just up the road."

Payne has re-emerged as a title favourite, with Supercars.com projecting the Kiwi to lead the field heading into the 2026 Repco Supercars Finals Series.

Allen knows he is up against it in the intra-team battle, but put more focus in accruing points and staying within reach.

“Credit to [Payne], Jack [Bell, Payne’s engineer] and the Car 19 side, they were super fast. But I think we really merged together in that last race, and it showed what package we had,” Allen continued.

"I've got a bit of homework to do to try and close that gap, but at the end of the day, I'm just chipping away, trying to get as much points as I can, be consistent lap after lap.

“Didn't step a foot wrong in the races, I felt like I really didn't make many mistakes this weekend."

Track action resumes in 2026 at Symmons Plains on May 22-24.