JAMIE Whincup has explained how the process of luring Will Brown from Erebus Motorsport to Triple Eight played out.
The move initially took the Supercars world by storm, given Triple Eight and Erebus are in the thick of an intense title fight, and that Brown was contracted to the latter for 2024.
But in need of a driver to replace NASCAR-bound Shane van Gisbergen, the Triple Eight juggernaut homed in on five-time race winner Brown and got its man.
“Once Shane said I’d like to go over to the US, I rang every driver and asked the question,” Whincup told V8 Sleuth.
“Drivers, team managers, I just got a clean list and went ‘who’s available and who isn’t’ and I got communicating with Will Brown’s manager, Dave Ellis, and we struck up a deal.”
Whincup heaped praise on Erebus Motorsport owner Betty Klimenko, who gave her blessing for Brown to move on.
“I think credit has got to be given to Betty,” Whincup continued.
“We had a really good conversation where we’re both in the same boat where we’ve got a driver that would like to do something different to where they’re contracted to in 2024. Betty was very understanding.
“In my opinion we would have got Will for ’25, but let’s just make it happen a bit earlier.
“She was really sensible and really genuine about the whole thing.
“We have been looking at him for a long time, we tried to get him involved with the team when he was driving in Super2 for Eggleston (Motorsport) but it didn’t quite happen then.
“We’re glad to have been able to make it happen and that’s full credit to Betty for being respectful of a young driver who has got a dream and wanted to make a change, and she allowed that, which I have got a lot of respect for.”
With Brown and Broc Feeney aged 25 and 20 respectively, it sets up Triple Eight for the long term.
Whincup was unwilling to buy in further on the matter though, keeping the focus on now.
“It’s a very simple one of telling everyone what’s going on, but all the details and everything I reckon January is the right time because right now we’re focused on Broc and SVG,” he said.
Van Gisbergen and Feeney are second and third in the 2023 drivers’ championship, with Brown’s Erebus teammate Brodie Kostecki out in front.
