Mark Skaife joined the great Peter Brock at the top of the all-time winners list in Australian touring car racing history with victory in round two of the V8 Supercar Championship Series in New Zealand today.

Five-time Champion and five-time Bathurst winner Skaife equaled Brock’s 37 career wins when he finished ahead of a great second to Ford racer Mark Winterbottom and reigning V8 Supercar Champion Russell Ingall from Caltex Racing.

“It’s quite humbling,” Skaife said.

“Over a long period of time Brock is the guy we have epitomised as the king of touring car racing so it’s fantastic. It’s one of those ones you don’t think about too much in our sport but to win as many races as Peter Brock is a great career milestone for me.”

A New Zealand event record crowd of 103,426 – 15,000 more than the same race this time last year - watched Skaife take victory and the successful debut of the reverse grid format in the second of the three races of the weekend.

As a result of the weekend Ingall leads the Championship from Rick Kelly and Garth Tander.

Skaife was a fan of the reverse grid format which didn’t contribute to any incidents during the race even though there was a lengthy break in the middle of the race following a big accident caused when Team BOC’s John Bowe suffered a jammed throttle and crashed heavily.

“The reverse grid race was fine, there were no dramas,” Skaife said.

“Russell and I were together through both segments of that race and we were having heaps of fun. You have got to position the car well, read the traffic and stay out of strife.

“We all know up and down pit lane that the pit stops and the strategies make an incredible difference. That was great racing and that’s what this sport is all about.”

It was a great return to form for Skaife who failed to finish the first round in Adelaide and had to completely rebuild the car he crashed there.

“The guys worked very, very hard. The preparation from Adelaide has been a huge workload. It’s a real credit to them and a massive effort to get here,” he said.

“It’s a long, long season. We know we have got to make some ground up after Adelaide and we can’t afford to have another poor round. This is certainly a fantastic victory.”

Ingall was also happy with the reverse grid race format.

“I don’t believe in luck in motor racing – you make your own luck,” he said. “You have to think on your feet and that’s when the more experienced guys will come through.”

The story of the weekend was Winterbottom who held his own amongst his much more experienced rivals in all three races for the weekend.

“The cars were at a point where they were going to start the season very strong. I was confident we could get inside the top ten but I didn’t know how quick we could get on the podium,” Winterbottom said.

“I didn’t know we had so many team members until now. They’ve been looking for a podium for a while and now we’ve got one.”

Bowe, in his 200th start, slammed into the wall resulting in a lengthy delay as officials repaired the damage to the armco barrier. The race was restarted with a revised 46 laps.

“That wasn’t a result of the reverse grid,” Bowe said. “It was the effect of poor decisions from other drivers in an earlier incident, simple as that.”

The reverse grid race was won by Toll HSV Dealer Team’s Tander from Tasman Motorsport’s Jason Richards and Winterbottom.

The reverse grid format did deliver what it promised – passing.

Before the restart there were major movers through the field. Holden Racing Team’s Skaife (27-5) and Caltex Racing’s Ingall (26-6) ploughed through the field with incredible performances. But the best of all was Winterbottom (24-3) as the young gun showed his wares.


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