Teenager Allen chasing history, redemption in Adelaide

A homegrown, history-making Dunlop Series title victory would be the tonic for rising Supercars star Kai Allen following his Adelaide heartbreak in 2022.

The Mount Gambier native is looking to capture the Dunlop Super2 Series title at next weekend’s VAILO Adelaide 500.

The 18-year old prodigy has been impressive in his first year in the development series, claiming two poles, two race wins and two round wins from five events.

Allen has momentum on his side following a dramatic win at last month’s Repco Bathurst 1000, and sits just 30 points behind series leader Zak Best heading to Adelaide, with a maximum 300 points available over the weekend’s two races.

Should he topple Best in the final round, Allen would become the youngest champion in the 24-year history of the development series, and the first South Aussie driver to win the Super2 crown since Todd Hazelwood in 2017. 

It has already been a big year for Allen, who made his Repco Supercars Championship debut in October, sharing a wildcard Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang with Simona de Silvestro. 

Critically, victory would help Allen erase the disappointment of last December, when a crash in the final race cost him the Super3 title.

Allen led the Super3 title fight for much of the year, but his Turn 8 crash gifted the crown to fellow South Aussie Brad Vaughan.

“It’s really exciting, the last round coming up in Adelaide,” he said.

“It’s a really cool event for me, being my home state if you call it, a lot of family and friends will come up for the event.

“It’s the last race of the year, big stakes on the line. Zak’s leading the championship, I’m only 30 points behind him, so it's quite tight.

“Especially being my first year, that would be absolutely unbelievable, and to be the youngest ever, that would be a very cool thing to have in the books."

Allen will be aged 18 years and five months on the Sunday in Adelaide, and title success would help him undercut Broc Feeney’s record from 2021.

Current Triple Eight star Feeney was aged 19 years, one month and 15 days when he won two years ago. Feeney himself broke Scott McLaughlin’s record from 2012, with Feeney, McLaughlin, Dean Canto (2000) and Paul Dumbrell (2002) the only teenage Super2 champions.

For Allen, victory in the Bathurst round was just rewards after a challenging weekend juggling his Dunlop Series commitments with a maiden Great Race start, with the Allen/De Silvestro Ford coming home 20th.

“I took a lot of stuff away from Bathurst, it was pretty cool doing that race with Simona and getting to do my first ever Bathurst 1000,” he said.

“It was quite hard juggling everything — a few other guys had to as well — but the biggest thing for me was I didn’t have much time to look through data because you’re jumping from one car to the other.

On-track action at the VAILO Adelaide 500 begins Thursday November 23, where the Dunlop Super2 and Super3 Series will race in support of the Repco Supercars Championship, and all three series will crown 2023 champions.

Both the Dunlop Series and Repco Supercars Championship will hold races on Saturday and Sunday to determine their 2023 titles.

Youngest Super2 champions