NASCAR-bound Shane van Gisbergen’s impending exit from the Australian Supercars series has been made official following the news that his Triple Eight Race Engineering team has signed Will Brown.
Last week van Gisbergen acknowledged that Brown was the front-runner to replace him, while Erebus Motorsports — with whom Brown had a contract with until the end of 2024 — publicly released him from his deal. However, Triple Eight moved to debunk the theory by insisting that it had a valid contract with van Gisbergen.
Now the team has not only formally announced Brown, but revealed that its eight-year relationship with van Gisbergen — which has so far yielded three championships and 67 race wins, including a pair of Bathurst 1000 victories — will be coming to an end at the conclusion of this season.
“Triple Eight Race Engineering is thrilled to announce the signing of Will Brown who will join Red Bull Ampol Racing from 2024 on a three-year deal,” the team said in a statement. “The 25-year-old is a proven race winner and one of the category’s most exciting talents, and the team look forward to celebrating this exciting new partnership in January 2024.
“The announcement comes as the team has agreed to allow Shane ‘SVG’ van Gisbergen to explore his dreams to race in overseas categories in 2024 and beyond. In the meantime, the team’s full focus is on our 2023 championship assault.”
Van Gisbergen’s desire to move to NASCAR has been apparent since he won on his debut in Chicago in July. At the time he reaffirmed his commitment to Supercars for next year at least, but his position quickly changed to where a full-time move for 2024, a year before his contract in Australia was due to expire, appeared certain.
“As we’ve made clear from the very start, Triple Eight wholeheartedly supports SVG’s decision to showcase his world class talent abroad and we look forward to watching him continue to tear up the track like we witnessed in Chicago last month,” said Triple Eight team principal Jamie Whincup. “Of course, we still have a fight on our hands to win the drivers’ and teams’ championships this season, and that remains Triple Eight’s immediate focus.”
Van Gisbergen is still chasing a fourth Supercars title this year. He has four victories so far this season, despite persistent struggles with the new Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro he’s been racing, and sits third in the points behind fellow Indianapolis road course racer Brodie Kostecki and Brown with nine races to go.
Where his future could lie in America is uncertain right now, but Trackhouse Racing, with whom he’s made his two Cup Series starts, appears to be the most likely destination.
The New Zealander returned to NASCAR last weekend, making his oval debut at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in the Craftsman Truck Series on Friday night, qualifying 28th and finishing 19th. He then backed that up with another top-10 performance in the Cup series on the Indianapolis road course on Sunday.