Memories to last a lifetime

Bathurst 1000 wildcard drive just the beginning

Lots of fun. Loved it. It was a very cool experience. Those were the initial assessments of Kai Allen hot on the heels of his weekend behind the wheel at Australia’s most iconic motor racing recent – the Bathurst 1000.

His recollections fall into two categories –on a professional level, it was a pivotal step it was in his career as he looks to make his way in elite motorsport but also, for the 18-year-old, it was a life experience where he did find some time to step back and realise where he was and with whom he was rubbing shoulders.

Leading motor sport commentators were talking about the youngest driver in the Bathurst field – Kai earning the drive alongside Simona De Silvestro, as the wildcard entry for DJR as part of the Shell V-Power Racing – especially when he worked his way to fourth fastest in the Saturday qualifying.

“To hear people like Neil Crompton and Mark Skaife, who are such big names, talking about me and have fans calling out, was pretty amazing,” Kai said. “And there were a couple of times when I was driving the track and saw myself up on the big screen. It is amazing to be flying down the track doing 190km and you can see the crowd cheering you on.

“It was really good at the end of the race to stop and look back and what had happened because for most of the weekend I was just caught up in what was going on and what I had to do in the car. To stand there looking down pit lane with all the people and see my name up on the board made it all real and I know I was lucky to have that opportunity.”

Of course, it was a huge weekend for the young driver, who is competing in Super2 this season and had to also race that class over the weekend, as well as making the most of his Supercars opportunity.

It made for an intense Saturday as he drove to a much needed victory in the race for the Super 2 championship, with that battle with Zak Best, now coming down to the final round in Adelaide at the end of next month – Kai in his first year of Super2 and Best in his fifth. Kai also had the qualifying sessions for the main race, making the 10 minute sprint from one set of pits to the other to get all his Saturday commitments completed.

“Saturday night is the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had – I was worn out,” Kai said.

But that also allowed him to head to the track Sunday, well rested and with only the main race on his mind.

He was also grateful that as part of the DJR team, there were people sorting out his nutrition and hydration for the weekend and his recovery, which consisted of specialist compression boots to wear when he got out of the car, as well as massages.

Kai split the driving in the main race with De Silvestro, with the duo coming in 20th, and for his first time in the cauldron of the Bathurst 1000, Kai was happy with his performance.

“I didn’t make many mistakes which was my goal,” he said. “I wanted to do my best but bring the car home safe.”

Going into the Bathurst 1000, Kai had never done a pitstop before so that was always going to be a learning curve and there are also significant differences between his Super2 car and the Gen 3 Mustang in terms of making his way around the challenging track.

“We had some practice pitstops in the lead up but it is certainly pretty hectic with everything going on but the team communicated really clearly what they needed me to do,” Kai said. “The team did a really good job all weekend and we certainly didn’t lose any time so that was good.

“I was also lucky that apart from a couple of corners where I had to adapt for each car, it wasn’t too bad.”

“I was really lucky that the DRJ team only gave me the information I really needed to know. They didn’t want to overwhelm me and I think that helped me really find my rhythm.

“You realise how much preparation goes into races like Bathurst and we did a lot of that work, dating back to the testing we did in Queensland in the lead up to the main race.

“I was also so lucky to team up with Simona and she was great with working on the car set up so I could focus on my driving and giving me little tips – she has so much experience and I was able to learn so much.”

Kai’s attention now turns to the final round of Super2 at the Adelaide 500 at the end of next month and his battle with Zak best for the 2023 championship.