Allen denies Stewart special Super2 pole

KAI Allen has ticked another box in his Super2 title defence, chalking up pole position for Race 2 of the Bathurst season-opener.

Allen had to dig deep to pull out a 2:05.4110s to deny rookie Jobe Stewart a sensational pole, on a weekend where his Erebus/Image team is racing in honour of the late Dana Wyhoon.

Contrary to the standard Dunlop Series protocol of splitting the qualifying field in two, a late decision was made to run all 25 cars together across a half-hour hitout.

That caught out AIM Motorsport’s Zane Morse, who only had 15 minutes’ worth of fuel onboard, forcing him to wait in the lane while others headed out.

It was quickly clear that conditions were fast.

Tickford Racing protégé Rylan Gray shot to the top on the first flying laps with a 2:07.3394s, but that effort was blown out of the water by Kai Allen the next time around.

Allen registered the quickest lap of the weekend to date, a 2:05.6904s, before another Coca-Cola Commodore found trouble as Cameron McLeod got stuck in the Hell Corner gravel trap.

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When the session resumed from that red flag stoppage, it was Allen’s Eggleston Motorsport teammates lighting up the leaderboard: Cooper Murray going purple by 0.0387s and Cameron Crick making it a top three lockout.

There was plenty more still to come, with Erebus Academy youngster Stewart lowering the marker to 2:05.4932s.

But Allen wasn’t done yet, and his answer was enough to wrestle back pole by the tune of 0.0822s.

Stewart’s time stood for second, with Zach Bates, Murray and Brad Vaughan rounding out the five.

The latter did blot his copybook late though, impeding Tickford Racing teammate Rylan Gray who was the only driver shaping to improve after the chequered flag flew.

That left Gray to settle for eighth, just ahead of Lochie Dalton in the third Tickford Mustang. Dalton was the last of the nine drivers to record a 2:05s.

This afternoon’s 40-minute race will start at 1:40pm AEDT.

RESULTS: 2024 Super2 Qualifying for Race 2, Bathurst Round 1