Supercars Christchurch: Kai Allen takes dramatic maiden win

Kai Allen

“I knew I was on Struggle Street five or six laps in,” Kostecki said. “I was flat-out and it [the car] was nervous. I fell into the clutches of Woody again, we have a bit of work to do.”

On the podium once again after giving Toyota its first Supercars win last week, Wood is beginning to look like a consistent threat.

“We have got something going on, we will have to look [at it],” he said. “We got up to Kai, I am so happy for him. We raced a bit coming up. I am not good in the spots where I need to be good, we have spots we have to work on for tomorrow.”

The first Supercars racing lap at the track was messy. From 10th back, there was a concertina of cars and some of the drivers who saw a local yellow flag expected a safety car and slowed.

But the track stayed green and by the time the confusion cleared, the front four cars were four-seconds clear of the pack, and going away. The man who lost out most was Broc Feeney, who dropped to 13th.

“The first three marshal points were waving yellows and safety car boards, but they never actually called it,” Allen explained.

Matt Payne backed up Allen’s result with fourth for Grove Racing, 17 seconds ahead of Anton De Pasquale in the Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro.

James Golding took fifth in the Blanchard Racing Team Ford ahead of Tickford’s Cam Waters (Ford) and Chaz Mostert (WTWG Toyota).

It was a disaster of a Friday for Triple Eight, as Will Brown suffered damage to the rear of the car and dropped to the back of the field, finishing 17th. After Feeney lost five spots in the opening lap melee he had a slow pitstop, and eventually finished in 10th.

Racing continues over the rest of the weekend, with two Sprint format races on Saturday.

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