Boost Mobile boss Peter Adderton believes Broc Feeney and Brodie Kostecki are in with a serious shot of joining Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2022.
Feeney and Kostecki both carry backing from Boost Mobile in the Dunlop Super2 Series and Repco Supercars Championship respectively.
Feeney, who is in the midst of his second Super2 Series campaign, currently competes under the Triple Eight Race Engineering umbrella.
Kostecki, meanwhile, is in his first full season of the Supercars Championship with Erebus Motorsport.
Adderton has added his voice to a growing chorus suggesting one of the young guns might take soon-to-be-retired Jamie Whincup’s seat in 2022.
Amid a shift in the set-up at Triple Eight that will see Whincup move into a team principal role and incumbent boss Roland Dane step into a background advisory position, Adderton believes there is scope for a shake-up in the driver ranks.
While Feeney “fits the mould” of Triple Eight, Adderton believes Kostecki has similar hallmarks to Whincup’s current team-mate Shane van Gisbergen.
Asked by Speedcafe.com whether he thought Feeney and Kostecki were in with a serious shot of replacing Whincup, Adderton replied, “I do.
“If you think about Triple Eight, they have a certain look and feel, and I always wonder whether they’re going to continue that look and feel.
“If it is then Broc kind of fits that mould, that role, as opposed to Brodie who’s a more hardcore, raw racer.
“I’m not saying that they’re going to make the decision, but you would just think that Broc fits that image that Triple Eight’s created for themselves.
“Brodie fits more of an image around what we’re doing at Boost. So we’re happy to support both of them.
“I think that they’re a clean cut. I’m sure Roland gets up there and irons their shirts every morning, make sure the crease on their pants are perfect. That’s not really where I think Brodie is.”
To date, Triple Eight has given a handful of hints as to who might take Whincup’s place.
Earlier this year, van Gisbergen indicated the team was looking for a “fresh-faced” driver.
Recently, Dane indicated there were six drivers in the running for the seat, with Feeney and Kostecki believed to be on that shortlist.
Adderton conceded Kostecki might not fit the Triple Eight brand and was probably a better fit at his current home, Erebus Motorsport.
However, he noted van Gisbergen had been able to come out of his shell in recent years.
“They moulded him quickly, how he speaks, how he talks,” Adderton said of van Gisbergen.
“I used to say DJR and Triple Eight were boring and predictable because you always knew what they were going to do.
“They’re either going to get one, two or three, and when they got on there they were basically going to thank the whole team and just say how lucky they were, and then they would move on.
“Now Shane’s become a little more Shane, right? Which I really like. I like the fact his personality’s coming out more.
“If I had that team I’d be encouraging Shane to be himself. I think that’s fantastic. But they have had a fairly predictable approach to how they run motorsport.
“It’s just whether they can fit that style of driver into that style of team,” Adderton said of Kostecki.
“It’s not just about how fast you are, it’s whether you fit into that style. Betty [Klimenko] and Barry [Ryan], they let him be who he is, and I think that that’s why that team works really well for them now.
“Again, that could change, but again, it’s kind of like the guys who wear the jeans and the guys who wear the pressed shirts, right?”
In any case, Adderton is keen to follow his proteges wherever they go.
Boost Mobile currently has naming rights backing on Kostecki’s #99 Holden ZB Commodore at Erebus Motorsport as well as Feeney’s #888 Holden VF Commodore in the feeder series.
“We’re obviously about bringing young drivers in, with Brock and Brodie, even following the guys’ careers through,” he said.
“So that’s very, very important to us. But yeah, there’s no doubt that it’s important to us to bring guys like Brodie and Brock through.
“I also want to make sure that we don’t just lap around. They’re not my kids, right? So I’m not funding them because they’re my kids, and if I don’t, I’ll look like a deadbeat dad. I’m doing this professionally, because we want to make sure that it works.
“So that’s why I think you look at the credibility of Brodie and Brock and they get a good sponsor like ours because we want them to be successful and we want them to win. But the rest of it’s up to them.”
In recent months, Feeney has been rumoured to be the heir to the throne at Triple Eight.
Those suggestions have grown amid an increased on-track presence for the 18-year-old, who will make his second Bathurst 1000 start later this year alongside Russell Ingall in a Triple Eight-run wildcard.
Recently, Feeney stood in alongside Prince Jefri Ibrahim of Johor at the latest round of GT World Challenge Australia at The Bend Motorsport Park.
If Triple Eight was to pick up Feeney, it would mark a departure from the team’s history of driver signings.
Since 2006, the team has had just three full-time drivers in its ranks – Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes, and Shane van Gisbergen.
Whincup was the least experienced of the trio when he arrived at Triple Eight with just two full Supercars seasons under his belt.
If Feeney was signed, he would come to the team as a rookie while Kostecki would have the benefit of a championship season under his belt.
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