Supercars 2023: Ex-Triple Eight boss Roland Dane warns Jamie Whincup against Supercars comeback to replace Shane van Gisbergen
Former Supercars champion Jamie Whincup has emerged as option for Triple Eight to replace Shane van Gisbergen. But his former boss has warned against the move.
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Former Triple Eight boss Roland Dane has warned Jamie Whincup about the danger of “devaluing his legacy” if he was to make a shock full-time Supercars comeback as a potential replacement for Shane van Gisbergen as he urged the team to cast the net wide.
Whincup – the seven-time Supercars champion turned Triple Eight managing director and team principal – has emerged as an “awesome fallback” option for the powerhouse squad to step into the seat van Gisbergen is expected to depart at the end of the year.
Van Gisbergen confirmed on Sunday his intention to leave Supercars to race in NASCAR in 2024, but he did not want to leave the team “scrambling” to find a replacement.
The Kiwi ace’s plans leave Triple Eight hunting for a new teammate for young gun Broc Feeney, but facing a situation where many of the series’ other leading drivers are under contract for next year.
Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton last Sunday described the prospect of a Whincup comeback – as a potential stopgap for 2024 – as a fantastic “back-up plan”, but said it was not the squad’s first option.
Whincup retired from full-time racing at the end of 2021 as the V8 “GOAT” with seven titles, four Bathurst 1000 crowns and more race wins to his name than any driver in history before stepping into his management role with the team.
Dane said Whincup returning would not only be a “step backwards” for the Triple Eight business, but risked tarnishing his brilliant legacy as a driver.
“I certainly wouldn’t be recommending Jamie to do it because I don’t believe you can run a team and drive the car,” Dane said.
“That would be a step backwards and also not only bad for the team from a business point of view, but also Jamie would then stand a very good chance of devaluing his legacy, which I think would be a shame. I think it would be silly.
“If you look at some of the greats around the world who have retired at the right time and at the top of their game and then you look at others who have come back and tried to kickstart their careers when they have ended on a high, people like Alan Jones for instance who finished in Formula 1 in a really good way at the end of ‘81 and then came back and never really achieved anything, even people like Michael Schumacher coming back.
“For me, that’s to be avoided.”
Whincup will again co-drive with Feeney in this year’s endurance races at Sandown and in the Bathurst 1000 and has kept his driving sharp with time behind the wheel in the GT World Challenge Australia.
Dane said Triple Eight needed to cast the net wide, including internationally, for potential replacements, suggesting German Audi GT driver Christopher Mies as one he would have on his initial list.
“Some of the potentially favoured star drivers in Australia appear to be under contract. Triple Eight hasn’t been in this position very often,” Dane said.
“If Shane is not available … there are all sorts of options out there and there are more and more international drivers who are aware of Supercars these days who have looked at it, who have been here to do GT racing.
“So I think you have got to cast the net fairly wide at the moment to look at who might be available. You might narrow it down pretty quickly, but you have got to have a very open approach.
“If I was putting the list together, which I am definitely not …. a good example for instance would be somebody who has got very good Australian experience, albeit not in Supercars, and is quick is Christopher Mies.
“All those Audi drivers are out of work at the end of the year because the factory involvement is finishing.
“That’s just an example of somebody who has been to Australia many times. Whether he would be the best person, I don’t know, but he would certainly be on my initial list.
“There is sometimes somebody lurking somewhere in the woodwork whether it’s here or overseas, who if you don’t look very closely you will miss an opportunity.”
Dane suggested future “superstar” Feeney was not far off being ready to spearhead the team in his own right.
“Broc for me is superstar material,” Dane said.
“His ability, his commitment and his results without question are of the very highest drawer at the moment and he represents a massive part of the future for Supercars, let alone Triple Eight.
“I wouldn’t have an issue if I was Triple Eight in having Broc as my lead driver next year if that’s what it took, but I think there are a few options out there.
“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.”
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Originally published as Supercars 2023: Ex-Triple Eight boss Roland Dane warns Jamie Whincup against Supercars comeback to replace Shane van Gisbergen
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