EREBUS Motorsport star Will Brown will replace Shane van Gisbergen at Triple Eight next year in a shock silly season development.
Brown is in the thick of the 2023 Supercars title fight, sitting 41 points behind teammate Brodie Kostecki and just ahead of Triple Eight duo van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney.
The topic of who’ll replace van Gisbergen next year has been red hot for some time now, especially after the Kiwi confirmed his intentions to exit Supercars at the end of 2023 in favour of NASCAR.
Van Gisbergen though indicated he wanted to ensure Triple Eight wasn’t left in the lurch by his earlier than expected departure, given he is contractually tied to them through 2024.
A surprise full-time driving comeback for Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup had been touted as a last resort, but industry speculation recently started swirling around Brown being poached.
The 25-year-old had not previously been publicly mentioned as an option for Triple Eight, given Erebus has both himself and Kostecki under contract for next year.
However, V8 Sleuth understands the deal is done for Brown to make a stunning switch from the current form team to the powerhouse of the past 15 or so years.
Intriguingly, former Triple Eight supremo Roland Dane hinted at such a possibility in comments published late last week by NewsCorp.
“I think there are a few options out there,” said Dane.
“You never know who might come out of the woodwork, who not necessarily Triple Eight want to buy out of a contract, but maybe a driver wants to buy himself out of a contract.
“When you shake the tree, sometimes things fall out that are unexpected.”
There is no indication that Brown or Triple Eight has actually taken that step in this instance.
Van Gisbergen said on the Sunday night of the Sydney SuperNight: “I love this team and when I leave, I want to make sure there’s someone here to replace me that’s going to do a good job.
“I don’t want to leave the team with nothing, scrambling to find someone.
“There are a lot of the good drivers here signed up, so yeah, I want to leave with the team in a good spot, so hopefully the team have someone soon.”
With Triple Eight getting its man, that opens up yet another subplot to the silly season story, with a vacancy suddenly at championship-leading Erebus.
Triple Eight has not commented on the matter as yet, while Erebus tonight provided V8 Sleuth with the following statement: “Will currently has an ongoing contract with Erebus, which extends until the conclusion of 2024.”
