Young duo promoted at Perkins

The duo finished second and third respectively in their rookie V8 Supercar Development season in 2006 for Perkins Motorsport, an offshoot of the Jack Daniel's team.

Jack Perkins, son of team boss and touring car legend Larry Perkins, will use his father's famous number 11 while Price, son of former racer Drew Price, will wear number 7 on his car.

Team boss Perkins considered other drivers for the seats, but in the end opted for the impressive youngsters after considering the long-term: "Both Shane and Jack have showed considerable improvement and development in their first season and I felt they should be rewarded as such.

"They both know that the step into the main series is massive and they will need to be as prepared as they can be."

He is happy to see his son racing for his team, but won't cut him any slack because of it: "Naturally, I'm proud to see the name 'Perkins' on the side of the number 11 Commodore.

"But Jack isn't going to get a free or an easy ride. He is treated the same as Shane and the rest of the team and he's expected to perform."

Meanwhile, the younger Perkins said he was expecting another year in the development series before he heard his plans for 2007 were changing: "The drive was something unexpected because three weeks before Christmas I was doing another year in the Development Series then a day before the team went on holidays I was told I was going into the main series."

The team still intends to run in the development series in 2007, providing sufficient funding can be found. The team has already tested three youngsters, who like Perkins and Price, are second-generation racers: James Moffat (son of touring car legend Allan), James Small (son of Les) and Tim Blanchard (son of John).

Perkins and Price's announcement ends a series of driver shuffles over the last month at Holden teams. Greg Murphy moved to Tasman Motorsport alongside Jason Richards, joining team principal father Kevin Murphy at the rising Holden team.

The seat Murphy took was formerly filled by Andrew Jones, who left the team to join his team manager father Kim Jones and driver uncle Brad Jones at Team BOC, after John Bowe announced he was leaving the team.

Finally, Paul Dumbrell, who along with FPR recruit Steven Richards drove for Jack Daniel's in 2006, took Murphy's seat at Super Cheap Auto Racing alongside Cameron McConville.