News of Triple Eight’s impending defection to Ford next season came as a shock to Chevrolet Racing, which is now plotting its own path forward.

That has included capturing Triple Eight’s technical director Jeromy Moore and securing its current engine supplier KRE to an exclusive agreement.

GM has also locked Craig Lowndes into a new deal, convincing the 50-year-old to end a 21-year association with Triple Eight to continue as an ambassador and part-time Supercars driver.

Amid efforts to finalise a deal for PremiAir Racing to become its new homologation team comes with questions over whether GM will look to lift its driving stocks.

The Supercars paddock is abuzz with suggestions that GM is weighing into the market in pursuit of a championship-calibre talent.

Triple Eight appoints new technical director

GM’s executive director of global motorsports competition, Eric Warren, is at Albert Park this weekend and said such a pursuit is always part of his mandate.

“In any race series that I’m involved in, we always want best drivers we can get,” he said.

“I mean, that’s the nature of the sport. We’re always trying to recruit talent.”

Local GMSV MD Jess Bala said the manufacturer needs to understand its options in both the long and short term.

“We’ll assess every opportunity, we have to and that’s not just drivers, but it’s technical expertise and everything else at the same time,” she said.

“So, yes, talking about drivers is part of our bigger strategic discussion. It has to be, so we need to go through and look at what’s possible, both short term and long term.”

Current Triple Eight stars Will Brown and Broc Feeney are understood to be locked into multi-year deals with the squad.

The top talent up for grabs appears to be championship leader Cam Waters, who is operating on a series of one-year deals with Tickford Racing.

Triple Eight planning in-house Ford engine program

Waters passed up an opportunity to replace Shane van Gisbergen at Triple Eight for the 2024 season, at least in part due to holding ambitions to eventually move to the United States.

Bathurst winner Brodie Kostecki was pursued by PremiAir last year but opted for Dick Johnson Racing, while Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert is set to lead Toyota’s entry.