‘No pressure’ on rookie Allen in Sandown Semi-Final

The Sandown round of the Finals Series will trim the contenders from seven to four ahead of the title-deciding Adelaide Grand Final at the end of the month.

That has pressure mounting on the category heavyweights including reigning champion Will Brown, who is currently fifth in the standings and therefore below the elimination line.

Any Finals driver who wins a race at Sandown automatically transfers to Adelaide, while the remainder of the four spots are awarded on points.

Grove Racing rookie Allen narrowly snuck into the Finals Series amid a chaotic finish to the Bathurst 1000, before a fifth podium of the year on the Gold Coast again helped him through.

“It’s massive,” said the now Melbourne-based 20-year-old of making it to the Sandown Semi-Final, which he enters ranked sixth in the standings..

“We did not expect it at all, and I think a lot of people didn’t really expect me to go to the next leg. I’ve heard a lot of media say that I’ve proved them wrong, which is pretty cool.

“It’s exciting heading into Sandown… hopefully we can have a good result there.

“It’ll be the same mental approach we had at Gold Coast, where we just crept in, like we did from Bathurst, we crept into the 10.

“We’re now sixth, so there’s no real pressure on me. Just go out, have fun, enjoy it, and hopefully get some really good results. Whatever happens, happens.”

Grove Racing is one of three teams with two drivers still in title contention.

Its Bathurst-winning spearhead Matt Payne enters Sandown ranked third after a mixed Gold Coast that included a penalty for an unsafe pit release in the Saturday race.

The Grove team has been among the fastest Ford squads at Sandown the last two years, albeit outpaced at the high-speed venue by the quickest Camaros.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty intense weekend. It always proves to have really good racing there at Sandown,” said Payne.

“I feel like our speed there in the past has been pretty good. It’s probably one of the tracks I feel like that suits us a bit better.

“But for sure, we’ll be putting everything in it to make sure we can roll out as strong as we can. It’s going to be really important to just have pure race pace.

“Certainly, qualifying speed is going to be crucial to make sure you can start up the front and stay there during the race.”

This year’s Sandown 500 will consist of a pair of 250km races, with practice to begin on Friday.

2025 Supercars Finals Series standings ahead of Sandown 500