Kai Allen leads Penrite Racing charge in Queensland

Penrite Racing has produced a solid weekend out at Queensland Raceway in Supercars’ first event at Ipswich since 2019, with Matt Payne and Kai Allen both leaving the event with valuable championship points.

With three races making up the schedule amid challenging weather conditions, it was Allen who led the way for the majority of the weekend, securing two podiums and edging closer to the top 10.

Despite having a slow start to the weekend on Friday with 24th in Practice 1, Allen responded instantly by breaking into the top 10 in the afternoon which set up a strong run for Saturday morning’s qualifying session.

Qualifying for Race 23 inside the top 10 with 8th overall, Allen made an electrifying start off the line when the race got underway, gaining four positions by the time cars hit lap two before climbing a further two thanks to a swooping double move to slot into second.

From then on, Allen enjoyed a mature drive and completed his pit stop without issues, eventually crossing the line in second place as the race finished under safety car.

The weekend’s second race was far less spectacular for the 20-year-old as he finished three places lower than when he started in 20th overall, having been spun in a chaotic opening lap that saw a number of cars taken out.

Sunday’s final race was looking far from ideal for Allen after he qualified in 22nd, however the decision to pit later than the rest of the field paid massive dividends as a safety car intervention midway through the race allowed Penrite Racing to complete two consecutive stops with little time loss.

Although Allen lost the temporary lead during that second stop and fell to third shortly after, the young gun was able to hold on to third place and, with the most positions gained across the 63-lap race, the race-high 19 position rise helped him end the weekend in 11th in the standings.

Payne also benefited greatly from Sunday’s mid-race carnage as some quick pitstops helped the New Zealander finish in 4th place — a result that looked well out of reach before the safety car period.

Despite starting strong and making a spot up early, Payne had lost a handful of positions by lap two and had fallen well outside the top 10 with a mountain of work to do, however an early pit stop helped him back up the order before gaining even more ground on the leaders during the mid-race chaos.

Payne eventually found himself in the battle for the top five after muscling his way up the order before a penalty post-race to Chaz Mostert promoted Payne to 4th — the result proving his best for the weekend.

In Saturday’s first race, Payne again found himself on the rise as he qualified in 18th, but a handful of gains on the opening two laps set him up for a decent result, where he eventually crossed the line in 12th.

Payne’s upwards trend continued in the weekend’s second race as he again finished higher than where he started. Having just missed out on qualifying inside the top 10, Payne was squeezed off the line but thankfully avoided all the drama that occurred around him.

A solid strategy from the team once again helped Payne up the order as he managed to finish in 6th place overall.

The strong Sunday results saw Payne finish the weekend just eight points off Will Brown in second place, while Allen’s double podium saw him move to 11th place and just 20 points off the top 10.
With the Sprint Cup now complete, all attention turns to the Endurance Cup, which begins next month at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park on 12–14 September.

Qualifying did not go our way and the car wasn’t quite where we wanted it to be, but we put that behind us and had a really good strategy which helped us get the result, Allen said.

Everyone says it’s a bit lucky to end up with the podium and I do believe the race went our way, but I still had to work hard for it as I stayed out there for 30 laps while everyone was pitting, so I am super stoked we were able to get the podium.

The team is nailing the strategies at the moment and it goes to show the brainpower that we’ve got in the garage and some really smart guys, and we work very well together, so pumped as a team that we can keep making those calls and being on top of everyone.

To have four podiums in my rookie year was certainly unexpected but I’m finding my feet here and I believe I have the best team down Pit Lane, and Steve, Brenton and Tania Grove cheering us on certainly gave us a little bit of an edge.

Saturday’s podium was probably the most fun I have had all year — especially those first two turns when I had it to fourth place and then had an awesome battle with Ryan Wood on the straight.

To get that podium was pretty cool in front of such a huge crowd at Queensland Raceway, so it was just an awesome weekend.

Kai Allen – #26 Ford Mustang

It was certainly an exciting race today. Qualifying wasn’t very strong for us this weekend — we just didn’t quite have the car and it was a little bit difficult to drive at times. But really, a mixed, up-and-down race is a good way to put it, Payne said.

We were on the back foot after the start and just made a couple of mistakes, but the last stint was just all-out and we were right in the thick of it there for a while and just managed to cut through the field. We’re really relieved to have a really good result, which is good points for us.

Obviously Kai having two podiums this weekend was awesome for him and it was great points for the team. He got the reward for staying out and it was nice to see, and we obviously picked up a couple of spots.

Overall, our tough days are becoming better and easier to manage, but you always want to be competing in the top five and I just felt like this weekend we were just inside the 10 at best, so it was tough, but yeah, good, great results today.

We’re still in the fight for second and still looking forward to getting the enduros underway with Garth (Tander). I think that’s going to be an awesome couple of races.

Matt Payne – #19 Ford Mustang

It was great to be back at Queensland Raceway for the first time since 2019, even though we had a bit of an up-and-down weekend, Cauchi said.

Qualifying wasn’t very strong for us and we really struggled with car speed, but we were able to get two podiums for Kai — a second on Saturday and a third today

Matt finished fourth today which is really good for the team. We’ve stayed in second in the Teams’ Championship, and Kai is now only 20 points from 10th, which means he’s close to getting into the finals.

Overall, it was a solid weekend for the team and now we’re looking forward to the endurance races, which start at Tailem Bend and then head to Bathurst. Very positive signs for the team, and I can’t wait to get into the next event.

David Cauchi – Team Principal, Penrite Racing