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The team is thought to have a development deal of some sort in place with highly-rated teenager as it looks to grow its own talent.
Part of the tie-up between DJR and Allen was a wildcard appearance at the 2023 Bathurst 1000, Allen teaming up Simona de Silvestro in a third Shell-backed Mustang.
Allen impressed during that Bathurst weekend, particularly in Thursday’s co-driver practice session when he was fourth fastest.
He and de Silvestro then got the car home 20th in the race.
According to DJR CEO David Noble, Allen did all the team asked of him throughout the wildcard campaign.
“Massive tick,” he told the KTM Summer Grill.
“I think he’s ticked all the boxes, internally, for what we were looking for. Before I got here, [team manager] Benny Croke had had him in an evaluation day, and Benny was really impressed with him.
“We spoke to him in detail at the beginning of this year. I guess it was like a full interview around him as an individual, his background, what his aims and aspirations were.
“For us it was about Kai getting his backside in the seat, getting some experience, getting around the Mountain safely. He showed some reasonable speed. He had a great partner in Simona, they brought the car back clean.
“It was great experience and he’s a rising talent, there’s no doubt about that.”
In terms of what the future looks like for DJR and Allen, those are discussions that are happening now – however Noble is happy to admit that he wants Allen as part of his team.
The details of how that looks, amid speculation Allen will shift into one primary entries for the enduros as soon as 2024, are part of the discussions.
“We’re in that discussion at the moment, what that looks like for him, what that looks like for us going forward,” Noble explained.
“It would be silly for us to have invested in him in that wildcard without having some aspiration of where that’s going to look like going forward.
“What it looks like in the next 12 months to two, three, four years? We’re probably still in the early points of discussion. But we’d like to think that there’s some connectivity that we can work with Kai in the future, for sure.”
As for next year, Noble has a clear idea on what he wants to see from Allen.
While he is already a Super2 champion, it could be argued that Zak Best and Ryan Wood were the fastest drivers in the second tier during 2023.
Next year, Noble wants Allen to be setting the pace.
“Improvement; you want to see him continue to grow,” he said.
“We’d like to see him win the Super2 championship again, at a greater level. Try and get to the stage where he’s the dominant driver in that category.
“For me, talent goes in four stages – developing, emerging, established and consolidated. He’s very much in that early phase of development, and with development you have those peaks and troughs, they bounce up and they fall over.
“It’s about what they learn to continue to be challenged to move forward. That’s the main thing. For him to continue to find that edge to how far he can push it.”
For more from David Noble, watch the full episode of the KTM Summer Grill.
