Mark Skaife: “Hard to see beyond the heavyweights”

Five time Supercars title winner Mark Skaife says he expects the fight for the 2019 title to once again come down to a battle between the DJR Team Penske and Triple Eight teams.

Scott McLaughlin saw off the challenge of Triple Eight pair Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup last season, twelve months after missing out on the drivers title to Whincup during the final meeting of the season.

The trio have now filled the top three places in the championship standings for the past three years and Skaife he felt it would be a similar story during the season ahead.

“Looking at the title fight, I can’t really see too many people who can topple the top two teams and I think that the fight between DJR Team Penske and Triple Eight will be the pivotal one,” he told TouringCarTimes.

“I think McLaughlin can win the title again as he is a driver who is a real talent. He drives with such vigour, qualifies well and gets the results to make sure he is at the pointy end of the standings. I think Jamie Whincup is going to bounce back from last year to really push him, as will Shane van Gisbergen, but I think Scott can defend the title.

“Saying that, I’m a big fan of Chaz Mostert and I’m keen to see what he and Tickford Racing can do after a tough year, and I also enjoy watching David Reynolds as someone who punches above his weight with a team that is going very well. They’ll be amongst those drivers who get involved in the battle and have their moment, but I think the heavyweights are going to be hard to beat over the season.”

Skaife’s tipping of McLaughlin comes despite that fact that DJR Team Penske go into the new campaign with the added challenge of a new car in the shape of the debuting Ford Mustang.

The Mustang signals Ford’s return to the series in a factory capacity for the first time since it withdrew full support at the end of the 2015 campaign, with Skaife saying it was very much a welcome addition to the grid.

“I think there are two things,” he said. “First of all, it is great that Ford are coming back to provide factory support as they hadn’t been as involved with the Falcon programme in recent years, and anytime you have manufacturers involved in the sport is good. For them to be involved with DJR Team Penske and Tickford is a great thing.

“Mustang is also a great brand and Australia is the second biggest market in the world for it, which is an amazing thing when you consider the size of our country. When you think about what Mustang means and the whole history of it, I think it will reinvigorate things and I’m sure it will be popular when the action gets underway.

“I fully expect the Ford teams to hit the ground running when the new season starts. From what I hear, the car has been running well through development tests and when you consider that the ZB Commodore won twice out of the box in Adelaide last year, I see no reason why the Mustang can’t do the same.”