The annual motorsport celebration of Bathurst Day delivered again in 2021, but Mount Gambier’s Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series drivers Kai Allen and Jobe Stewart suffered contrasting journeys around the mountain.

Both teenagers entered the final round of the COVID-19 impacted national championship on the support bill of the 2021 Repco Bathurst 1000 high on confidence following unforgettable podium appearances at Sydney Motorsport Park.

They hit the track on Wednesday afternoon and both showed strong one-lap pace around the brutal Mount Panorama circuit to line up in the top five of the grid.

In his first qualifying session around the mountain Allen put his silver Norwell Motorplex machine in fourth position, just one spot ahead of Jobe Stewart.

In Friday’s opening race Allen held position, while Stewart slipped to sixth after losing out on the outside Griffins Bend.

However, a full lap of green flag action was not possible after multiple incidents brought out the safety car.

The pause in racing arrived a horrific time for Allen when a freak chain of events sent his promising race spinning out of control at Murrays Corner.

“I qualified really good and was happy with the pace, but the throttle pedal failed at the restart,” Allen said.

“It came out of nowhere, so I could not do anything and the guys behind me had nowhere to go but hit me, which was a big pain.”

Fortune was at least on Stewart’s side as he raced hard hunting down fellow Erebus Academy racer Bailey Sweeny for fourth.

The Blue Lake driver eventually made his move at the fastest corner in Australia, the Chase and made it stick to score an impressive fourth.

“It was a pretty good race because I think I was seventh coming into that safety car restart,” Stewart said.

“A couple of guys crashed in front which caused a gap to the top three which was a bit disappointing.

“Passing Sweeny down the Chase was pretty scary going 220kph side by side through a flat out corner.”

Saturday’s second race of the weekend turned out to be a nonevent after a huge crash in the “esses” brought out the red flag and an early finish.

Stewart held onto the fourth after a strong start, but Allen’s bad luck continued after he had nowhere to go after starting at the back.

“I made up a few spots on the first lap and came through the Dipper to find cars all piled up in front of me,” Allen said.

“I just went onto the brakes as hard as I could, but was just a passenger.

“It actually split the oil cooler at the front of the radiator which caused all of the oil to dump onto the exhaust and cause a fire which I could see through the bonnet.

“It was pretty intense driving on fire and I felt like Ricky Bobby.”

Although the fire put itself out in a matter of seconds, the Toyota struggled to recover.

The incident “wrecked” the engine which made it impossible for Allen to line up for the final race on Sunday.

The teenager tried to make it to the grid, but the engine covered in metal shavings shut off going down Conrod Straight.

It was a tough way to finish a challenging Bathurst debut for Allen, who certainly experienced the bite of the mountain.

However, the young driver said he has learnt a massive amount about the most revered track in the country and cannot wait to take it on again.

“It was so cool to do my first laps around the mountain because it was a childhood dream to drive around that track after watching it since I was two-years-old,” Allen said.

“It was surreal because the track is just so different.

“Skyline was pretty cool and McPhillamy Park was my favourite corner, so it was good to discover the art of it and I just learnt so much.

“I was happy to have some pace in practice and qualifying, but I cannot wait to go back because it is definitely one of my favourite tracks.”

Fortunately Stewart had a race to remember on Bathurst Day scoring another strong P4, but it could have been something even more magical.

The #30 Jobe Stewart Racing machine was on fire as the Mount Gambier youngster raced amongst the leaders in an intense battle for the podium.

Stewart made his intentions clear with a bold maneuver around the outside of the narrow Cutting to take second.

He also made a great opportunistic dive down the inside of Murrays Corner and found himself in a career-high of second place.

After some thrilling side-by-side battles up Mountain Straight, Stewart had to settle for fourth and wished he was able to score a special podium at the holy grail of Australian motorsport.

“The end result was a bit disappointing because a podium would have been nice,” he said.

“It was heaps of fun racing with those guys who are clean and fair around Bathurst.”

It was Stewart’s third trip to the mountain, but by far his most successful and he now enters 2022 on a high after great rounds at Bathurst and Sydney which made all the sacrifices to race worthwhile.

“It was always going to be tough taking three weeks off work and school just to race, but I am so glad it happened,” he said.

“I am stoked to be on the pace and the results give me a whole heap of confidence heading into next year.

“We will definitely race a Toyota next year and plan to do the whole series.”

Despite having only competed in three Toyota 86 races, Allen has big plans for 2022.

“Hopefully I come back stronger in either a Supercar, Super 2 or Super 3,” he said.

“Super 3 is what we are thinking at the moment but also a bit of talk around Super 2 so we will see what is the best option which is exciting.”