The three youngest race winners in this year’s Repco Supercars Championship are in no rush to follow Scott McLaughlin out the door, although they have not necessarily ruled it out either.
After winning three Supercars titles in a row, McLaughlin is now into his third full season in the IndyCar Series, and took victory last time out at Barber Motorsports Park.
Meanwhile, doubt surrounds another three-time champion’s long-term future in Australian Touring Cars, following the revelation that Shane van Gisbergen’s “multi-year” contract with Triple Eight Race Engineering in fact includes a get-out clause should he land a seat in another category in 2025.
He is likely to contest a NASCAR Cup Series race later this year and Cameron Waters recently reiterated his interest in sampling that competition.
Still, there is no obvious shortage of talent coming through in Supercars, with the podium in the most race of the season being comprised of 20-year-old winner Broc Feeney, 24-year-old runner-up Will Brown, and 25-year-old championship leader Brodie Kostecki.
In light of the van Gisbergen bombshell, Speedcafe asked the trio if they consider the category a destination or if they might like to move on to something else one day.
Kostecki, who cut his teeth in late model stock cars in the United States and last year said he was exploring options for NASCAR cameos, quipped, “Have you seen me? I won’t fit in an F1.”
Feeney responded, “I want to win a Supercars Championship.”
Brown, who won his way into a Hyundai programme which aimed to progress drivers into the now-defunct World Touring Car Cup for TCR cars, said that the McLaughlin path would be an attractive option if it was available.
“I think we’re all pretty young, we’d probably all say the same; you want to win a Supercars Championship,” said the Erebus Motorsport driver.
“I had that in all my junior divisions. I didn’t want to move on until you won the championship, and Supercars is the highest level in Australian motorsports, so I’m really happy with where we’re at.
“But, I’m sure none of us would turn down an opportunity to race in NASCAR or anything like that, or what Scott McLaughlin’s done.
“You know, it’s obviously an awesome thing that he’s gone over and competed in.”
McLaughlin qualified 16th for tomorrow’s IndyCar Grand Prix, while van Gisbergen is this weekend competing in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, Feeney in Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS with Triple Eight Race Engineering, and Brown in the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series.
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