POLL: Who should replace Shane van Gisbergen?

With Shane van Gisbergen now more likely to leave Supercars at season-end than not, his replacement at Triple Eight Race Engineering is the focus of this week’s Pirtek Poll.

The two-time Bathurst 1000 winner has confirmed now that it is his intention to race in NASCAR next year.

That would not necessarily be full-time initially but, either way, he would be unable to race in Supercars if he does head to the United States in 2024.

It is a challenging development for Triple Eight, which was cognisant of his overseas ambitions when it drew up van Gisbergen’s new contract.

However, said contract was supposed to kick in next year, with the get-out clause applying for 2025.

Instead, the Banyo-based squad finds itself in a hurry to fill the hotseat that is one of the two Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaros, at a time when the best alternatives are apparently already spoken for with respect to 2024.

We will thus exclude Brodie Kostecki, Will Brown, Chaz Mostert, Andre Heimgartner, and Cameron Waters from consideration in this poll.

That leaves Jamie Whincup and Richie Stanaway as the next most obvious names that come to mind.

Whincup won seven drivers’ championships and it was just two years ago that he was denied an eighth by van Gisbergen only.

However, the ‘GOAT’ is now Triple Eight’s Team Principal.

Whincup had lost little when he paired up with his replacement, Broc Feeney, for last year’s Bathurst 1000 – to the point where he was handed the keys to Car #88 for a wet qualifying session – and he also keeps his eye in with semi-regular appearances in the team’s GT World Challenge programme.

However, there are drawbacks to a J-Dub comeback.

His former Race Engineer and current Triple Eight Team Manager, Mark Dutton, cited the risk that Whincup would spoil his legacy as a driver.

That is indeed a possibility, especially when one considers the change from Car of the Future to Gen3 this year.

But, the bigger issue is arguably what effect making him not just an owner-driver, but a Team Principal who drives, has on Triple Eight broadly.

The Banyo-based operation is more than a powerhouse Supercars team; it is also a transcontinental GT3 squad and an engineering company, as the name suggests.

For a cautionary tale, look no further than former Holden Racing Team boss Mark Skaife.

Stanaway, too, would be a risk, but for different reasons.

Co-driving is a different game to spearheading an entry, and the Kiwi is unproven in the latter role in Supercars.

He is open to the prospect of filling the breach if one is indeed left by his countryman, but is concentrating on his enduro gig foremost.

In Stanaway’s favour is the fact that he has multiple GT3 starts for Triple Eight this year, on top of Supercars testing, meaning the team has had a firsthand look at how he goes about his craft and an indication of how he would fit in if full-time.

However, it is worth noting that Whincup’s soft deadline for a van Gisbergen decision on Supercars in 2024 is prior to his NASCAR race at Indianapolis on Sunday, August 13.

That being before the enduros, one has to question how serious an option Stanaway would be for Triple Eight.

The same can be said for two drivers of the Supercheap Auto wildcard entry.

49-year-old Craig Lowndes could very well retire after this year’s Bathurst 1000 anyway, and Zane Goddard arguably needs more runs on the board before he might get back into a full-time drive.

Looking to the Dunlop Super2 Series, Ryan Wood is in the sights of Walkinshaw Andretti United while Kai Allen now has ties to Dick Johnson Racing, but series leader Zak Best and Cooper Murray are also promising steerers who could be in play.

Still, that WAU has seemingly not secured Wood yet, with speculation rife that it might prop for Fabian Coulthard as a replacement for Nick Percat, means the younger of those two Kiwis may be available.

Or, with that endorsement of Coulthard from Clayton, could he even be an unconventional option for the Eights?

Could Nick Percat, with whom Coulthard will drive in this year’s enduros, even be worth a look?

His run back at WAU has been poor, to say the least, but Percat did his best work at Brad Jones Racing when his Race Engineer was Andrew Edwards.

Edwards, of course, now fills the same role on van Gisbergen’s Triple Eight entry, a partnership which immediately yielded a Bathurst 1000 win and a championship title.

However, the general consensus from the paddock is that Percat is not a particularly easy driver to work with, which counts against him.

Jayden Ojeda is worth throwing into the mix too, given the endorsement he received from Whincup’s predecessor as Triple Eight boss, Roland Dane, earlier this year.

The other key consideration in all of this is what exactly Triple Eight wants.

Does it want a long-term signing, or is it satisfied with a serviceable seat-filler for a year?

If the latter, Whincup carries higher expectations than Stanaway as a driver, but appointing the GP2 race winner would be easier on the Triple Eight business.

Who do you think should replace van Gisbergen if he does leave for NASCAR at the end of the 2023 Supercars season?

Cast your vote below in this week’s Pirtek Poll.