Why replacing Supercars' GOAT with a teenager is worth the risk for T8

“Honestly, we’re fortunate enough that if you put every driver in Australia in a room and made them put their hand on a lie detector, and asked what team would they like to drive for, they would say DJR Team Penske or Triple Eight. That then means that, hopefully, if we wanted to go and talk to someone else we could.”

That was Triple Eight boss Roland Dane speaking in early 2018 about a looming generational shift within his team.

At the time Craig Lowndes was already in his 40s and Jamie Whincup was talking about hanging up his helmet (which, to be fair, he’s been doing for much of his career). The point Dane was (rightly) making was that, for a team like T8, having a finger hard on the young talent pulse wasn’t critical to future success. A well-funded and successful outfit enjoys a lot of freedom when it comes to signing a new driver, when needed.

However, there was a ‘but’ in his very next breath.

“Having said that, of course we’re keeping an eye all the time on who’s coming up,” Dane continued. “If you go back to the lead group of drivers in 2012 in the development series, that group of Scott Pye, Nick Percat, Scott McLaughlin, and Chaz Mostert, they’ve all become full-time drivers. Two of them at a very high level, Chaz and Scotty McLaughlin are in the top four or five drivers in the category.

“You never know who is going to come through the development series, so we’ll be watching that.”

As it has played out, T8’s next driver wasn’t in the development series at that point. A 15-year-old Broc Feeney hadn’t even properly transitioned from karts to cars. He was about to embark on what would be an interrupted Toyota 86 campaign; he had to sit out the Bathurst round because he wasn’t old enough to race at Mount Panorama.

Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering

Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics

While Feeney couldn’t possibly have been on Dane’s radar when he made those comments, they directly relate to T8’s sensational rookie signing as Whincup’s replacement for 2022 onwards.

Form and funding bring freedom. The freedom to take a risk.

Under the guidance of Dane’s good friend Paul Morris, Feeney has been through Super3 (which he won in 2019) and become the form man in Super2, now driving for Triple Eight. It all bodes well for a successful Supercars career, but given his tender age and lack of experience, there’s a clear element of risk. Whincup, who will take over the team boss role from Dane next season, said as much as part of the announcement.

“I think some people will look at this decision and think we would have gone in an ‘established driver’ direction, but we’re not a team that takes things conservatively,” he said. “We take risks at Triple Eight, we’re on the front foot and we have a crack and lead with our gut feel, and it seemed right to give Broc the opportunity.”

This isn’t a win-or-spin signing and T8 wouldn’t take this risk without fully expecting it to pay off. Dane and Whincup clearly believe that in the fullness of time, Feeney will reward them with wins and titles

So how big is the risk?

Whincup’s proclamation of a ‘life on the edge’ attitude at T8 sounds impressive, but it’s a little far-fetched. The team has signed two drivers in 15 years. One was Whincup himself which, admittedly, was a roll of the dice to some extent. The other was proven winner Shane van Gisbergen, who promptly won the title in his first season as a T8 driver. Hardly a risky move…

In other words, this isn’t a win-or-spin signing and T8 wouldn’t take this risk without fully expecting it to pay off. Dane and Whincup clearly believe that in the fullness of time, Feeney will reward them with wins and titles.

Interestingly, it seems that their confidence is based as much, if not more, on what he’s doing outside the car than in it.

Broc Feeney, Triple Eight Race Engineering

Photo by: Bam Media

“Broc has done everything he can in the last six months to earn this position,” explained Whincup during Feeney’s official unveiling as his replacement. “And he has 100 per cent earned this role. He hasn't waited for the opportunity, he wasn't looking around for someone to give him something for free. He had his head down, worked with his family and earned this position.

“It's fantastic to see a young Aussie kid go out there, give it everything, and get the best seat in pitlane.

“He needs an adequate amount of skill, but it was all about having a kid with the right morals, the right ethics, the right drive and attitude to be a competitive athlete in this country. He ticked all of those boxes. He speaks well, he's got the right attitude, he’s an awesome team player.

“And I’ll be giving him all my IP from the last 15 years, I’ll be giving him everything I can to increase his skill level. Once he’s got the right skills, with that attitude, no doubt he’s going to go on to bigger and better things.

“I don't want to throw any numbers or put any expectations on that he’s going to do. I think he can let the driving do the talking there. But he’s got all the ingredients to win a lot of races.”

Dane made a similar point, albeit a little more matter-of-fact in terms of what Feeney brings outside the car.

“He handles himself very well,” said Dane, who will continue his involvement with the team as a part-owner and advisor from 2022 onwards.

“This is an immensely corporate world, elite sport in Australia. You’ve got to be able to look after all the partners who enable us to go racing. To look after the demand of media, and fans – you’ve got to be able to handle all of that. And he’s shown that he’s exemplary in that area, as well as being a great driver.”

Russell Ingall and Broc Feeney, Triple Eight Race Engineering

Photo by: Bam Media

As good as Feeney clearly is, there’s learning to be done. In pretty handy Tickford Racing hardware last year, Feeney was out-classed by the likes of Thomas Randle, Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown in Super2. That’s not to criticise, you would expect that to be the case given how experienced those guys were in the second-tier by that stage. This year Feeney is the class of the Super2 field… but so he should be, driving a Triple Eight car against a field somewhat depleted by Randle, Kostecki and Brown all moving up in the motor racing world.

Next year Feeney will be up against those guys again. Plus Cam Waters, Chaz Mostert, Anton De Pasquale, Will Davison, Mark Winterbottom and all the rest. There won’t be a single driver with less experience than Feeney.

Modern Supercars is a competitive business and there aren’t many bad cars in the field. You don’t have to miss by much to look average, particularly in qualifying. Driving the best car in the field will help, but it’s hard to imagine there won’t be a few tough days for Feeney during his rookie season in 2022. That’s not something lost on Dane.

“He’s going to have to respond to being in one of the top teams in the category, being able to carry that and the expectations of people,” Dane explained. “He’s going to have some pressure, we’ll just try and make it as easy as possible for him to handle that pressure.

Whincup was fired off the back of a tough rookie campaign with Garry Rogers Motorsport back in 2003. It proved to be quite the misstep for renowned talent spotter Rogers, with Whincup now retiring as the most successful driver in the category’s history. He is living, breathing proof that good things can take time

“If you look back to the parallel I like to draw with Jamie's first season with us in 2006… he won on his first weekend with us in Adelaide, but his season was very much up and down. He finished 10th overall in the championship that year. He had some races that were great and some races not so great. That’s part of learning.

“Broc knows the cars, knows the team. Honestly, I wouldn’t be taking him on, and handing him over to Jamie as the future, if I didn't believe he could do the job.”

Feeney will get the time he needs as well. For starters, this is a multi-year deal (with no specific end date, as is the trend at the moment). And that’s no surprise given that way back in June, when Feeney was hotly rumoured to be T8-bound but well before any formal confirmation, Whincup told the press he believed in young drivers being given a chance to find their feet.

Feeney's only Supercars start to date came alongside James Courtney in a Tickford Ford at last year's Bathurst 1000

Photo by: Dirk Klynsmith / Motorsport Images

“I’d be really pushing for any newcomer to try to do a two-year deal because, the first year, you’re learning the other competitors, you’re learning the circuits, you’re learning the car… there’s a lot to learn in the first year,” he said. “So, I’d encourage every team owner, if you’re going to take on a new guy or girl, at least give them two years just to find their feet first and just start firing, if they’ve got the potential, in the second year.”

That’s a somewhat personal crusade for Whincup, who was fired off the back of a tough rookie campaign with Garry Rogers Motorsport back in 2003. It proved to be quite the misstep for renowned talent spotter Rogers, with Whincup now retiring as the most successful driver in the category’s history.

Whincup is living, breathing proof that good things can take time. And that’s great news for Feeney.

The other wrinkle worthy of consideration is impending introduction of the Gen3 and how much of the prototype development work – which T8 will be heavily involved in – will fall to Feeney in a bid to give him a leg up on his main game rivals. But, with so many questions marks over both the testing timeline and when the new rules will actually be introduced (mid-2022? Start of 2023?), it’s very difficult to properly judge how much of an advantage that could prove to be.

What T8 has done is sign a driver it believes can be a Supercars champion and for a fraction of what it would have cost to bring in a Waters or Mostert type. It’s done so knowing full well that while Feeney gets up to speed, van Gisbergen will be right there, probably winning a bucket load of races.

And, if after a few seasons it turns out that the Feeney gamble didn’t pay off, there will still be a field full of established drivers more than happy to sign for Triple Eight. There’s nothing to lose, really.

It all comes back to freedom. The freedom of being a Supercars powerhouse.

Broc Feeney, Triple Eight Race Engineering

Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics