Jamie Whincup is confident Triple Eight has made the right call by signing Will Brown to partner Broc Feeney next year.
That deal was signed and announced back in August after Brown negotiated an early exit from his Erebus deal, which ran until the end of 2024.
Brown was one of a number of drivers that were assessed by T8 for the seat along with the likes of quick Kiwis Richie Stanaway, Matt Payne and Ryan Wood.
Stanaway was thought to be a particularly strong contender for the seat given he was already signed with T8 as an enduro driver, as well as taking part in the squad’s Asian and Australian GT programmes.
After Stanaway’s strong performance at the Bathurst 1000, where he and van Gisbergen combined to win the Great Race, van Gisbergen publicly stated that he wished his co-driver had landed the seat full-time.
Stanaway’s Bathurst efforts weren’t lost on T8 managing director Whincup, however he remains adamant that given the timing of the decision, Brown was the best available option.
That tracks with the fact that Brown was sitting second in the points and very much a title contender at the time, while Stanaway was yet to have started a Supercars race in T8 colours.
“Yeah, a lot of it came down to timing,” Whincup told Speedcafe. “[Stanaway] hadn’t done a Supercars race [for Triple Eight].
“I reached out to all of pit lane to see who was available. And Will said he was, so yeah, I thought he was the best option.
“Time will tell. There’s plenty of people that think I should have gone another way, but at the end of the day, I thought he was our best option and I couldn’t be happier.”
Despite missing out on the T8 seat, Stanaway will be back on the Supercars grid full-time next year thanks to a deal with Grove Racing.
He will replace the Team 18-bound David Reynolds, who broke through for Grove Racing’s first win in its current ownership structure on the Gold Coast on Sunday.
