McPherson and Lowndes went close to winning the 2015 V8 Supercars title together, but with Lowndes moving to a third entry, and van Gisbergen coming into the team as a Red Bull Racing Australia driver, Triple Eight has opted to shift McPherson onto the #97 car for 2016.

That means Lowndes will need a new engineer for his TeamVortex car, which will be officially launched this Wednesday.

“Shane is one of the most talented drivers in our sport, so it is incredibly exciting to be working with him in 2016,” said McPherson.

“He is a serious championship contender, so we will be working very hard to convert him into a championship victor.

“From our early chats I feel that we will work well together, and I can’t wait to shakedown our new car and have a productive test before Clipsal.”

On the other side of the RBRA garage David Cauchi will continue to engineer Jamie Whincup’s #88 car.