The Australian drivers have struck back in New Zealand courtesy of Kai Allen taking his maiden Repco Supercars Championship victory in the category’s first race at Ruapuna.
An undercut strategy left Allen in the lead by 5s once the pit stops were concluded, but a determined Brodie Kostecki had Ryan Wood in-toe to chase down the margin with six laps to go.
Despite a six lap advantage in tyre life, Kostecki was unable to make a move on the Penrite Ford Mustang and instead lost ground as the race entered its final laps.
It was the same story for Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing’s Wood fresh from taking Toyota’s first Supercars victory, the New Zealander was unable to do anything about the duo in front.
The race started in dramatic margin when David Reynolds in his 500th race tangled with Brad Jones Racing duo Macauley Jones and Cam Hill resulting in damage for all three.
At the front, Kostecki held the advantage after pole-sitter Matt Payne had a slow start to allow Wood through as well.
In response, the yellow flags and safety car boards came out in the mid-sector of the opening lap sparking chaos as the race remained green.
Kostecki, Wood, Payne and Allen all built a margin in the chaos leaving a group led by Anton De Pasquale to squabble once the green flag situation had been worked out.
One of the biggest losers was Broc Feeney from ninth to 12th and Aaron Cameron was hit by Thomas Randle to struggle for the remainder of the event.
Allen started his journey to victory by demoting his teammate to third, then pitted at lap 16 to turn the race on its head when Kostecki and Wood completed the stop cycle.
On fresh rear tyres, Allen was able to work the undercut perfectly when Kostecki and Wood had 5s to make up in the closing stint.
Although it appeared Allen needed a miracle to remain in front of Kostecki, the young gun was able to balance his tyres to hold off the advances of the previous champion.
This left Allen to take his maiden win from Kostecki, Wood, Payne, Anton De Pasquale, James Golding, Cam Waters, Chaz Mostert, a first top 10 for Zach Bates and Broc Feeney.
Back-to-back qualifying sessions kicks off Saturday’s action at Ruapuna at 10:05am NZST/8:05am AEST.