Mark Skaife may be just two rounds from drawing the curtain on his illustrious full-time racing career, but the Toll Holden Racing Team star hasn’t finished setting records just yet.

This weekend at the Falken Tasmania Challenge at Symmons Plains Raceway, Launceston, Skaife will make his 213th Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Championship start, passing Holden legend Peter Brock to move into second position on the all-time list behind John Bowe (225).

The 41-year-old, a five-time winner of both the V8 Supercar series and the Bathurst 1000, has already edged past Dick Johnson and Glenn Seton this year. He said passing Brock was not a milestone he had focused on, but took on additional significance with the death in 2006 of his former HRT team-mate and good friend.

“It’s certainly humbling any time you can surpass a record of Peter’s but, like when we beat his record for the most wins last year, it will be disappointing that we can’t share the moment with Peter – that’s one of the things that will make this event a little more emotional,” Skaife said.

“I’m certainly proud to have been able to have contested so many events, but the amount has never been a priority. That’s always been how many we could win and I’m humbled by how that’s worked out for me, it’s been fantastic.”

Meanwhile, Skaife’s team-mate, Garth Tander, said he was no longer solely focused on the championship picture after a horror round at Bahrain that severely dented his chances of defending the V8 Supercar title he won last season. Tander trails championship leader Jamie Whincup by 292 points, with a maximum of 300 points on offer in each of the last two rounds.

The two-time winner of the Tasmanian round (2005-2006) vowed to leave nothing in the garage when he hit the track at Symmons Plains this weekend.

“As far as the championship goes we’re just focusing on each race as they come,” he said. “We’re basically a round behind with two rounds to go, so rather than go there thinking about the championship, we’ll just try to finish the year off strong. If we do a good job we potentially claw back some points, but Jamie’s got it all to lose and we’ve got it all to gain.”

He said the Toll HRT cars were well suited to the unique Symmons Plains layout where they showed good pace last year.

“You have to have a car that’s got good power down and good braking,” Tander said. “We’re at a disadvantage in a straight line, but our cars put the power down well and these point-and-squirt type of circuits have suited our VE Commodore.

“I’m really looking forward to it. With the championship pressure off, we’ll just go off and do the best job we can and finish the year off with some momentum so we’re ready for next year.”

Source:V8 Latest News

2008 Rnd 7 Fujitsu Series Oran Park Race 2 pt 4

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