Supercars contract for super Kai

Kai Allen’s rise in Australian motorsport has been meteoric and in just his third season of racing, the 19-year-old is set to debut in the Repco Supercars Championship as a full time driver.

The reigning Dunlop Super2 champion, who is well placed to secure back-to-back titles in the category, has joined forces with Grove Racing to drive Car 26 alongside Matt Payne, which will see the duo line-up in 2025 as the youngest driving team on the grid and the youngest full-time driver line-up in 18 years.

“I am so glad to have pinned down a contract for next year to get into the main game,” Allen said. “Driving Car 26 is pretty surreal too. It’s a number that I’ve raced with since karting, so I guess it’s meant to be.”

Allen is Kai Grove Racing’s second Dunlop Series signing in recent years following on from the success of Payne’s promotion to the Repco Supercars Championship.

Payne’s progression through the ranks is testament to the philosophy of Grove Racing’s investment in young talent. After renewing Payne’s contract at the end of last year, this partnership with Payne and Allen will usher in a new frontier for Grove Racing, with youthful talent a key ingredient.

“Grove Racing were really proactive in looking for the next new kid on the block and I am that next kid coming through and I am really looking forward to it,” Allen said.

Allen has already had cause to interact with Payne and believes they share the same laid back personality, underlying their drive to succeed.

“He is pretty cruisy and I think we’ll get on really well – hopefully we’ll be successful,” Allen said.

The new contract will see Allen relocate to Melbourne as the sport he has loved since he started competing in karting as an eight-year-old becomes a full time career.

“I’ll be working out a brand new facility that they (Groves Racing) have redone – it is a second to none workshop,” he said. “It is now a job so I will be knuckling down and spending a lot of time in the workshop, getting to know the team and building relationships. It is a new challenge and I am looking forward to it.”

““It’s pretty surreal…I’m super grateful to finally be in a position that I’ve worked towards my whole life. It still hasn’t sunk in, but I’m sure come Round 1 next year that will all change.

“I can’t thank Stephen and Brenton enough for the opportunity. I feel like I’m joining a team that’s really on the way up and there’s some really great personnel on the team with so much experience. David Cauchi, Shippy [Grant McPherson], Garth [Tander], who are all massive names in this sport.”

“Ultimately, I’m here to learn as much as possible. Matt’s a really talented driver so I’ll be doing my best to keep the team up the front and absorb as much as possible from him.”

And while Allen has secured his supercars championship drive for 2025, he is focussed on getting the job done for Dick Johnson Racing in this year’s Dunlop Super2 Championship. If he does secure successive titles, he will be the first driver to achieve that feat, only adding to a short career thus far, that has already seen Allen set many benchmarks.

Alongside his Super2 program, he will once again team up with Dick Johnson Racing for the 2024 Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.

“My goal for the rest of this year is to tick Super 2 off,” Allen said. “That’s really important. It will also be valuable to do Sandown and Bathurst in the Gen 3 car, just so I can be as comfortable as possible with that style of car before I join the team.”

“But it really is important to finish off on a high for Dick Johnson Racing because they have been such a great support to me – they have been there from the start.

“They invested heavily into me and given me the opportunity to show my skillset.”