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Andrew van Leeuwen

Top Kiwi talent linked to Triple Eight vacancy

Van Gisbergen has found himself without a partner for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 after Garth Tander opted against extending his deal with Triple Eight.

Tander will instead jump the manufacturer divide to race a Ford for the first time in his Supercars career thanks to an enduro deal with Grove Racing.

The early contenders to land the plum seat alongside van Gisbergen at Triple Eight are his countrymen Stanaway and Cassidy.

Stanaway has long been linked to the seat should Tander not continue next season, speculation of that switch emerging immediately after Van Gisbergen and Tander prevailed in the 2022 running of the Great Race.

With the vacancy now a reality Stanaway is known to be firmly in the mix to join van Gisbergen in the #97 Camaro.

After two years in Supercars exile, Stanaway burst back onto the scene at the Bathurst 1000 this year driving the Boost Mobile wildcard entry when he qualified fourth.

T8 made its admiration of Stanaway clear during the Bathurst weekend when Tander revealed that the team had studied his on-board to learn the best lines to use at Mount Panorama in wet conditions.

One complication, although far from insurmountable, is plans from Boost to field more wildcard entries for Stanaway, including a return to the Bathurst 1000.

Another driver linked to the T8 vacancy is Cassidy.

The Formula E and DTM regular was at the Adelaide 500 last weekend and has shown interest in Supercars in the past, even taking part in a test with Erebus back in 2019.

He is associated with Red Bull, the main sponsor at Triple Eight, and van Gisbergen and Cassidy shared an LMP2 entry at the 4 Hours of The Bend in early 2020.

Cassidy will continue with Envision Racing in Formula E next season, while his DTM future is yet to be locked in.

However in both cases there are no clashes with the Sandown 500 in mid-September and the Bathurst 1000 in early October.

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