Ford rookie Kai Allen experienced a dramatic debut at the Repco Bathurst 1000, coming dangerously close to what would have been one of the most shocking moments in Mount Panorama history.
Allen narrowly avoided a high-speed collision with a kangaroo that leapt onto the track as he sped down the 1.9 km long Conrod Straight at nearly 250 km/h.
The incident, which wasn’t broadcast to the record audience of 5.129 million watching the race, has since surfaced in post-race footage. The video shows just how close the 20-year-old Penrite driver came to disaster in the final stages of the race.
A collision at such speeds would have had catastrophic consequences for Allen’s race.
“Gee, what a race,” a shocked Allen said on the Supercars broadcast post-race.
“The only thing that I didn’t hit was a little kangaroo that blew straight past the front of my car at 250 down Conrod, and I just missed it.”
Starting from 22nd, Allen and co-driver Dale Wood fought hard to bring the car home in eighth! While the race was won by the sister Ford Mustang driven by Matt Payne/Garth Tander.
