KAI Allen has a remarkable 60-lap stint to thank for his progression into Supercars’ Sandown semi-finals.
Allen entered the Gold Coast 500 as the 10th seed after scraping into the playoffs by the skin of his teeth.
That left him with his work cut out, starting from 27 points below the cut line when the GC500 began.
He was in the box seat by the end of Saturday’s race, thanks to precision execution of a strategy gamble that vaulted him to an unlikely podium finish.
The #26 Penrite Mustang driver made his second and final pitstop on Lap 25 of 85 and managed to hang on from there – something which others including David Reynolds (#20 Tradie Energy Camaro) tried and failed to do.
Allen is now up to five podiums in his rookie season. Pic: Mark Walker
That result propelled Allen to sixth in the standings, which he maintained by the end of weekend.
The question of a potential fuel economy advantage for the Mustang popped up on Sunday after Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang) was able to jump Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) in pitlane to seize the lead and ultimately victory.
“That one certainly stings…I think we were probably the quickest car on-track then but unfortunately just probably got beaten by fuel economy at the end,” Feeney said in a post-race broadcast interview.
“They were about three seconds quicker in the pitstop.”
Grove Racing team principal David Cauchi pointed to the driver making the biggest difference when asked about fuel economy via Supercars’ Cool Down Lap podcast.
“We don’t have any fuel trim dials or anything like that, all the engine maps et cetera are fixed for every manufacturer, so the driver has the biggest influence on how much fuel they save for how fast they go,” he said.
David Cauchi. Pic: Mark Walker
“So again, Kai did an exceptional job of that (on Saturday) and I think really that is the difference.
“I can’t comment on whether there is any manufacturer difference there, I’ll stay out of that one for now.”
In fairness, Reynolds did admit that their ploy came unstuck due to a miscalculation which forced him to pit on the fourth-last lap of Race 28.
“I think we got the number wrong. The figure I was told wasn’t enough, so I had to save too much and it just became impossible,” he said.
“We had to come in and put fuel in, so a bit of a drama on the calculations.”
As for how he did pull it off, Allen admitted: “I don’t really know, to be honest.
“It was obviously just the team feeding the information and I could just stick to my numbers and just go off fuel.
“I got in a pretty good rhythm there, they gave me a lap time that I needed to try to stick to and a fuel number. It was a challenge and I was struggling there for a bit to get it going, but I got into a bit of consistency and it was just muscle memory.
“It sort of changed a bit as the tyre started going off, but I was very, very impressed how the super soft held on. I was thinking that I would get to 20 laps to go and I would just be hanging on.
“I don’t think we got lucky, we worked for it, we did a really good job and it’s a credit to the team… that race will definitely be a pretty cool to look back on in a few years’ time.”
The Groves have forged a reputation as Supercars’ strategy leaders, having masterminded several results this season from the pitwall.