Asian Motor Sports

Retired V8 champion turned television commentator Mark Skaife is to have another crack at Australia’s greatest motor race, the Bathurst 1000, in October.

Skaife, who has triumphed at Mount Panorama five times, retired at the end of last season and has been part of Channel Seven’s V8 commentary team since.

Yesterday he confirmed that he would be back at the mountain one more time, to partner another Bathurst great in New Zealander Greg Murphy in the Sprint Gas Racing Commodore.

The duo will link up for the first time in the Phillip Island 500 next month.

Between them they have had nine checkered flags at Bathurst and also hold the lap record, set by Murphy in a Commodore in 2004 in qualifying ahead of his win that year with Rick Kelly.

“Last year Sprint Gas went excellently at Bathurst to run a close second, I reckon this year the team has the potential to go one better,” Skaife said.

“It’s exciting for the team and the sponsors to have Mark Skaife join us,” Greg Murphy said.

“Experience counts for heaps at Bathurst and Skaifey’s got more of that than anyone else out there.

“Mark wouldn’t do it if he didn’t think he could do it - and do it well, that’s the kind of guy he is. If that blinker eyed focus is back - look out!”

Sprint Gas Racing came second at Bathurst in 2008.

Murphy and Skaife will be paired in the #51 Holden Commodore and Jason Bargwanna and Mark Noske in car 3 at Phillip Island and Bathurst.

Bargwanna and Noske were paired together at Bathurst in 1997 when at Holden Young Lions. The pair failed to start due to a weekend ending accident prior to the big race, while that same year they were ninth at the Sandown 500.

The L&H 500 at Phillip Island is on September 12-13 and the Super Cheap Auto Bathurst 1000 is held on the weekend of October 10-11.

In what is a dream pairing for not only Sprint Gas Racing but V8 Supercars, the highly credentialed drivers have experienced success at Mount Panorama on nine occasions between them and will be aiming for a 10th.

A win would emulate the multi-race winning heroics of past pairings such as Peter Brock and Allan Moffat in 1986 (10), Skaife and Jim Richards in 2002 (11) and Brock and Richards in 1988 (12) at the top of the list.

On joining the Network Seven commentary team this year Skaife made it no secret that he desired to return to the enduro race environment at Phillip Island and Bathurst in 2009.

With Skaife’s availability it was an ideal opportunity to pair Holden’s most successful Bathurst heroes in the one car, while it was a pointer to Skaife’s intentions when he tested Murphy’s No. 51 Commodore at Winton in early May and at Sandown last month.

“From my point of view pairing up with Murph is ideal because we both know exactly what is required on the day,” Mark Skaife said.

“No one gets around the mountain better than Murph when he’s dialled in - four wins and a long standing lap record are testament to that.”