Why Allen refused to be doomed by scary 160km/h crash

Kai Allen refused to crumble to a 160km/h crash that had the potential to derail his Supercars Finals quest.

The Penrite Racing driver has been a revelation in 2026, rebounding from a devastating steering failure while fighting for the lead in Sydney to sit fifth overall.

Allen has been arguably the form driver across the last two rounds, turning a 28-point Finals deficit into a 222-point safety margin. However, he threatened to undo all of his hard work when he careened into the concrete wall during Boost Mobile Qualifying in Tasmania, forcing his team into hurried repairs.

Just minutes after missing the boat on wet tyres and qualifying 22nd for the Symmons Plains opener, Allen bowled a wide at the fast final corner, slid onto the wet grass and clouted the wall.

Allen wasn't hit by other cars and came to rest at Turn 1, but the pressure was back on. A penalty over a clash with Aaron Cameron left him 19th in the first race, and facing another hammer blow when he lined up for the second race.

A charge from 17th to sixth spared his blushes, before he turned another mistake in Sunday qualifying into a brilliant podium, his fourth of the season — just one shy of his total for 2025.

On a weekend he could easily have fallen back out of the top 10, he added 89 points to his safety margin to be 222 clear heading to Darwin, where he claimed his first Supercars podium 12 months ago.

When asked if he thought his crash had thrown a curveball at his Finals hopes, Allen replied: "No, not at all.

"I knew the speed the car had, and up until the corner before I crashed, I was well inside the top 10. Just misjudged the slippery conditions.

"And in the first qualifying when we went P22, we just didn't quite optimise the wet tyre at the right time.

“It's just all learning for us. We’re still chipping away and we had a really fast car in the first race. Unfortunately got a penalty, which hurt us. But at the same time, the second race, we once again did a really good strategy call and got ourselves from 17th to sixth.

"I know that, when things go wrong, I know that I've got the best team around me to make sure that I've got everything I need to recover the result. But it's a lot easier doing it from the front.

“We'll keep working hard as a team to make sure that we execute in qualifying and get inside that top 10, because it makes our lives a lot easier."

Allen and ex-Ferrari Formula 1 engineer Riccardo Corte have formed a race-winning bond this season, and while there are six rounds before the cut-off, Finals appears a certainty for the in-form South Aussie driver.

Having scraped his way to last year's Grand Final as a rookie, Allen made a pointed comment that he and Corte are walking the Finals path already.

“We should have been further up [the grid],” Allen said.

“We're just chipping away, but what we're doing now isn't really about now, it's about later in the year.

"So we should keep learning and as a team, we regrouped, and I knew that I could definitely move forward in the race. It's just a matter of doing the right strategy.

“Credit to Riccardo and the rest of the boys. They made a bold choice like they did yesterday, pitted me really early, and then it gave me the chance to fight hard in the end.”

Track action in Darwin commences on Friday June 19.