The Holden Racing Team's Mark Skaife will capture yet another record in his stellar career at Phillip Island's Grand Finale when he joins the elite ATCC/V8 Supercar ‘200 Club'.
Skaife joins the retiring John Bowe (225), Peter Brock (212), Glenn Seton (205) and Dick Johnson (202) as the 2007 season ends.
Skaife has also set a benchmark for the career wins/rounds ratio for drivers completing over 200 rounds with victory every 5.2 rounds over his career.
Furthermore he holds the record for most ever round wins (38) and most championships (5, together with Ian Geoghegan and Dick Johnson), plus five Bathurst 1000 victories.
“When I started out twenty years ago I never envisaged those sort of statistics,” said Skaife. “Chalking up 200 is not easy in such a competitive environment and I suppose now that John Bowe is retiring there's incentive to reel him in over the next couple of seasons.
“200 is a nice milestone and it seems that it's taken no time at all to get there.
“V8 racing being what it is, there's highlights and lowlights, but there's been some special race moments over the journey.
“The first was in '92 when I won my first Touring Car Championship in the Nissan and then being the youngest ever to do so. That same day we also won the Australian Drivers Championship in a Formula Holden open wheeler, so it was a great day.
“The second was winning the V8 Championship in 1994 with a Fred Gibson Commodore as it was Holden's first title for 14 years since Brock and HDT in 1980.
“The 2002 HRT Bathurst win with Jim Richards was also one of my favourite moments, as it sealed the championship at the same time and came 10 years after my first Bathurst success.
“The 38th victory at Eastern Creek this year was another obvious highlight in that it surpassed Peter Brock's record.
“I guess 2007 has been a memorable year, what with the 38 wins, twenty year and 200 round milestones.”
Russell Ingall meanwhile is next in line to join the 200 club with 159 rounds completed. He will need to contest another three full seasons though to reach that marker.
