Shane van Gisbergen has declared that Broc Feeney was “leaps and bounds ahead” of Triple Eight Race Engineering’s other candidates to replace Jamie Whincup.

Feeney will step up from Triple Eight’s Dunlop Super2 Series programme to take the seat of the retiring seven-time champion in the Repco Supercars Championship from 2022 on a multi-year deal.

The 18-year-old has just one Supercars Championship event under his belt so far, and just 12 in a Supercar in total, whereas van Gisbergen is currently undertaking his 14th full season and Whincup his 18th.

The Triple Eight stable also includes enduro driver Craig Lowndes, who retired from full-time driving after 22 such seasons in the Supercars Championship, the latter 14 of which were spent at Banyo.

Speaking about Feeney’s signing, van Gisbergen alluded to the promise which the youngster has shown in winning the 2019 Super3 Series and holding the lead in this year’s Super2 Series.

The 2020 Bathurst 1000 winner said that the Gold Coast native who made his Championship debut in that very race will have the support to perform in the top tier.

“It’s a massive change for next year having Broc join the team for next season and beyond, which is a pretty exciting addition,” said van Gisbergen.

“The team, which includes myself, believes in Broc. He’s immersed himself in the team so well this year, and he’s shown everything he can and done all the right things to show that he deserves to be in that car next year.

“So far this year he’s got the results and put in all the hard work, and he’s leaps and bounds ahead of all of the other candidates that were on the team’s radar. For sure, he’s the best person for the job.

“Broc will have the leadership and guidance of Jamie, Craig and myself to look at, and hopefully we can help bring him up to speed.

“It is a big step up from the development series [Super2], but he has all the tools he needs; the best coaching, best tools, best engineers and best team-mates.”

Feeney will make his first Supercars Championship start with Triple Eight in a Supercheap Auto-sponsored wildcard entry in this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000.