Fresh proof of Super2's proven breeding ground status

The Dunlop Super2 Series’ standing as a breeding ground for new stars has never been more obvious when looking at the 2022 Supercars grid.

There will be eight Super2 champions on the grid in a full-time capacity in 2022, including all Super2 champions between 2015 and 2021.

Broc Feeney and Thomas Randle, the 2021 and 2020 Super2 champions, will make their full-time Supercars debuts this season.

Teenager Feeney has been tasked with replacing the retired Jamie Whincup at Red Bull Ampol Racing.

Feeney, who will turn 20 in October, became the youngest ever Super2 champion when he clinched the title last month.

It came a year after Randle won the 2020 title in a truncated season. Randle won the title while fighting testicular cancer.

The Victorian earned a full-time place at Tickford Racing for 2022 aboard a Castrol-backed Mustang.

On Thursday, it was confirmed 2018 Super2 champion Chris Pither will return with the new-look PremiAir Racing.

Randle won in 2020

Pither, who last raced on a full-time basis in 2020, replaces Fabian Coulthard at the team formerly known as Team Sydney.

Feeney, Randle and Pither take the Super2 champions quota from five in 2021 to eight in 2022.

In 2021, there were five former Super2 champions on the Supercars grid; Mark Winterbottom (2003), Cameron Waters (2015), Garry Jacobson (2016), Todd Hazelwood (2017) and Bryce Fullwood (2019).

Winterbottom was freshly 22 when he won the 2003 title, less than 12 months after Feeney was born.

There will also be some former Super2 runners-up on the 2022 grid; Will Brown (2020), Jack Le Brocq (2016) and Scott Pye (2012).

Fullwood celebrates in 2019

Waters also finished second in 2014, the year before he won the title.

The trend provides extra incentive for Super2 drivers in 2022 to chase the title and secure a seat on the 2023 Supercars grid.

Who will begin the 23rd Super2 season with aplomb when the new campaign starts on the streets of Newcastle.

The six-event 2022 Dunlop Super2 Series will commence in Newcastle in March. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

The six-round draft calendar was released during the Repco Bathurst 1000 weekend.