Price, Perkins graduation confirmed.

Jack Daniel's Racing has promoted both Shane Price and Jack Perkins to full-time drives in the senior V8 Supercar Championship for 2007, having been impressed with the young duo during their sporadic outings last season.

The pair only debuted in the Development Series in 2006, but enjoyed immediate success, finishing second and third overall respectively before handling endurance duties at Sandown and Bathurst, and then being rewarded with one-off individual rides at the season ending Bahrain and Phillip Island events with the Sirromet Wines team.

They will line up in a pair of all-new VE Commodores that are currently under build at the Perkins Engineering workshops in Melbourne. Perkins Jr will assume the famous #11 plate run by father and team boss Larry, while Price will sport the #7.

The youthful combination replaces the more veteran combination of Steven Richards and Paul Dumbrell, who campaigned the distinctive black Jack Daniel's Commodores through the majority of 2006. Team boss Perkins admits that he had considered other more experienced drivers for the outfit before opting for youth, which he feels is a strong long-term strategy.

Perkins Jr was all set to return to the Development Series for another season year, before receiving the news that he would be driving in the main series from his father a day before the team went on its Christmas break.

"The drive was something unexpected because, three weeks before Christmas, I was doing another year in the Development Series," the 20-year old confirmed, "Then, a day before the team went on holidays, I was told I was going into the main series. It was never a sure thing by any stretch of the imagination, so I got stuck into the training and, while plenty of other drivers were into the Christmas pudding, I was out running!

"I don't think we can make any predictions just yet as to whereabouts in the field we will be running, but there's a clear focus in our workshop at the moment on having two brand new VE Commodores ready to run for the first round and we'll progress from there. It will be a little humbling to line up full-time alongside guys on the grid who I've watched for so many years, and I don't expect them to cut me any slack at all. That's not how the game works."

Price, who turned 20 on Boxing Day, was the stand-out in last year's Fujitsu Series, finishing second overall in his debut year in a V8 Supercar, after putting together five consecutive runner-up round results. A strong 'senior' debut alongside Perkins Jr in the Sandown 500 was followed by the disappointment of not getting to drive at Bathurst when his co-driver was involved in an opening lap crash.

"It's fair to say that I have a fair few nerves and we're still two months away from the first race of the year at Adelaide!" the youngster admitted, "But this is an opportunity you don't get very often. It's quite rare for a team to have two new drivers to start a season with. I'd like to think that we can give a good account of ourselves and put into practice what we've learnt over the last twelve months.

"Having all new cars as well will give it that added feeling of something special, but I'm not going to get too carried away. We have a job to do and that is why Larry and Jack Daniel's Racing have placed their trust in us."