Mark Skaife: Newcastle result shows Supercars could be entering thrilling new phrase with Gen3

Like all sports in this hyper-competitive Australian landscape, the Supercars evolution was always happening. But it will always be the fierce rivalry from behind wheel which drives it, writes Mark Skaife.

The arrival of Supercars Gen3 in Newcastle is the biggest vehicle change the sport’s made in 30 years — and I’m genuinely excited about what’s on the horizon.

News broke this week from General Motors in the US that the current Chevrolet Camaro will cease manufacturing in 2024.

This has led to questioning around the direction of Supercars’ new era, but Chevrolet has cleverly said “this is not the end of the Camaro story”.

I’m from a diehard General Motors family that spans generations. Holden’s first Bathurst-winning car was actually from my local garage in Wyong where I grew up. And I’ve represented GM the majority of my working life.

But the choice to build Camaro Supercars was because we wanted to maintain the DNA of the sport while giving GM a platform to market their vehicles in Australia.

Same goes for fans of the blue oval. Ford fans were rejoicing with the worldwide motorsport debut for the seventh-generation Mustang, celebrating the world’s No.1-selling sports car.

The Newcastle 500 provided us with two different winners in Cam Waters and Shane Van Gisbergen (above).

I can see how this may boggle minds of those with the “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” mantra, derived from the 1960s. But sports have to evolve in this hyper-competitive Australian landscape. Look at how other issues — namely concussion — force rule changes in football codes. Just watch a game of NRL or AFL from the 1970s and the style of play is almost unrecognisable.

So what is our sport evolving into? It’s a priority we provide an entertaining broadcast product, which at its core, comes from building stories from great racing.

The Newcastle 500 provided us with two different winners in Cam Waters and Shane Van Gisbergen, two different pole sitters in David Reynolds and Brodie Kostecki, all from different teams, plus Erebus sitting on top of the teams’ championship with their Coca-Cola Camaros.

Relatively unknown young gun James Golding, aboard a custom-built Triple 8 Camaro, even out-qualified reigning champion Shane Van Gisbergen.

Van Gisbergen drove an incredible race through the narrow and tight streets of the Newcastle circuit to send a message to his rivals that he’s still the man to beat this year.

Next up is the Melbourne 400 at the Australian Grand Prix. This wide, fast and flowing 5km layout will give us a real show of where Gen3 is at on a different layout across the four sprint races.

V8 legend Mark Skaife is excited about the new generation of racing.

Last week I watched Formula One in Saudi Arabia and my jaw dropped at the speed the Red Bull went past Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes on the straights, rendering a seven-time world champ defenceless.

The discussion has shifted towards Red Bull potentially winning every race, but it seems strange there isn’t much backlash from fans.

Like any new generation of racing cars, the Gen3 Supercar will develop over time with tyre life, fuel economy and driver comfort/ergonomics. These are all things that teams will work on, based on driver feedback.

A modern evolution of Supercars is that the competitiveness of the series has to be genuinely credited based on the development of legitimately world-class drivers.

Through this breeding ground, three-time series champion Scott McLaughlin is now mixing it with the best in IndyCars: racing against F1-experienced drivers Montoya, Grosjean, Magnussen, and Bourdais, as well as Nascar’s greatest Jimmie Johnson. Not to mention Antipodean greats Will Power and Scott Dixon.

And Van Gisbergen entered the World Rally Championship as a one-off in New Zealand last year and holding his own.

Much has been made of my post-race comments in Newcastle about how I felt Van Gisbergen conducted himself in the press conference.

Shane van Gisbergen Van Gisbergen was noticeably quiet when addressing the media in Newcastle. Picture: Getty Images.

Passionate discussion about our sport is a great thing and you only have to look at how AFL360 and NRL360 on Fox Sports help set the agenda every week for the leading football codes.

The NRL has household names such as Latrell Mitchell, Tom Trbojevic, James Tedesco. AFL has got Buddy Franklin, Max Gawn, Jack Riewoldt to name a few. These athletes all understand their obligation to their respective sport and their critical fanbases … it’s the lifeblood of sport.

The show rolls off the back of their profiles and allows sponsors a proper link to engage with their codes, ultimately cutting through to mainstream Australia.

This is exactly where Supercars needs to be concentrating its efforts.

Even when the tide isn’t going their way, they all front up to the questions and understand how the media is a vehicle to speak to the fans and ultimately a platform to give their own version of events.

As a driver I’ve had to attend some pretty average press conferences over the years, the Russell Ingall incident in 2003, Bathurst in 1992 after Jim Richards made his infamous comments on the podium, there is a minimum expectation as an athlete to inform fans of what happened on the day.

Supercars/motorsport rely principally on the person from their team, and that person is the driver.

Van Gisbergen could be one of the greatest drivers our sport has seen — Jim Richards-like in comparison. He can help take Supercars to the next level with what he can provide off the track to match his incredible driving feats.

Genuine rivalry is the foundation of sport, it can’t be fake. When I watch Van Gisbergen against Chaz Mostert, Waters, Reynolds, Anton De Pasquale as the leading Ford protagonists it makes me feel our sport is in really good shape.