Dane brought Triple Eight to Australia in 2003 and led it to unprecedented Supercars success before selling his shares and stepping down as team principal at the end of 2021.
He remained tied to Triple Eight as non-executive chairman until the end of last year, vacating as the remaining owners finalised an impending switch to Ford.
Dane is now playing an advisory role for GM in the wake of Triple Eight’s shock defection, helping the US giant restructure its Supercars operations.
Triple Eight’s current ownership group, consisting of Tony Quinn, Earl Evans, Steve Blackmore and Jamie Whincup, are currently dealing with the fallout of their Ford deal.
Speedcafe revealed on Monday that long-time Dane favourite Jeromy Moore is set to leave his post as Triple Eight technical director to take a role with GM.
That’s been bookended by news that two other key Triple Eight figures, engine builder Ken McNamara and star driver Craig Lowndes, are also sticking with GM.
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While there is no direct suggestion those two moves have been influenced by Dane, there have been murmurs that other Triple Eight staff have been approached about leaving the team.
Speaking at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival on Sunday, Quinn – who holds the biggest single stake in Triple Eight at 40 percent – accused Dane of being behind a poaching raid.
“He’s trying to steal some of our staff at the moment, so I don’t know if he’s a good mate,” said Quinn on stage at the Grand Marquee.
Prompted further about his relationship with Dane, Quinn continued: “Roland is a tough master, rules with an iron fist, all of those things, has huge respect.
“But we’re sort of entering… he’s a GM kind of guy, so he’s trying to help GM, and there’s ways to help people without stealing. We’re going to have words, I’m sure.”
Dane, who was also at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival, told Speedcafe that any suggestion he is poaching staff from Triple Eight has “no basis and no foundation”.
“It doesn’t surprise me that people will try and stir the pot for their own benefit, but I’m not trying to poach anyone and I haven’t, on behalf of anyone,” he said.
“Tony knows that I haven’t tried to poach anyone. I spoke to him at length at the weekend.
“As far as I’m aware, one person (Moore) has handed their notice in at Triple Eight and that certainly wasn’t my doing.”
Dane does not deny that he has sided with GM, which felt blindsided by Triple Eight’s decision to switch brands and was thought to be contemplating leaving the sport.
GM has instead come back swinging, increasing monetary and engineering firepower for the program in a bid to continue its battle with Ford and tackle newcomer Toyota.
“For sure I’ve been helping GM,” said Dane, whose ties to GM include daughter Jessica’s role as program manager for Corvette Racing in the United States.
“I think GM have been very, very loyal to me and without GM and their role in 2020 when they gave me permission to race the Camaro, the sport in its current position wouldn’t exist.
“So yes, I’m helping them where I can to encourage them to stay in Supercars.”
Asked if he has a formal role with the organisation, he added: “No. At the moment, I’ve helped them to navigate through the surprise of what’s happened.”
Dane is known to have advocated for PremiAir Racing to become GM’s new homologation team and has been linked to a potential future role with the Peter Xiberras-owned squad.
Quinn noted in Adelaide that Triple Eight’s move had caused a significant stir in the GM camp but underlined the team’s support of the brand for the remainder of 2025.
“Basically, what happened was GM were sleeping, they were caught napping,” he said of how the situation has unfolded.
“[GMSV] were very complacent and when they had to break the news to the Americans, the Americans said, ‘what the hell have you been doing?’.
“So I think there’s a wee bit of trouble in the camp. A little bit.
“But to be fair we are committed to the GM program for the rest of this year and we’re going to do that for sure.”
US-based GM Motorsport chiefs Jim Campbell and Eric Warren are set to attend this weekend’s Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix at Albert Park.
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