Supercars 2024: Supercars great Mark Skaife picks his top driver pairings to watch at the Sandown 500

Supercars great Mark Skaife has picked his top driver pairings to watch and his tip for the team to beat in the opening enduro race plus, he reveals why a starting change could enhance some combinations.

Supercars great Mark Skaife has tipped Triple Eight young gun Broc Feeney and his team boss Jamie Whincup as the pairing to beat for the start of the endurance campaign at the Sandown 500 this weekend.

Skaife nominated the rising star and the seven-time series champion as the top pick of his leading pairings to watch in the opening endurance race, backing them to defend their Sandown 500 crown.

Feeney, 21, became the youngest winner of the 500 km classic last year to claim his first endurance win as Whincup triumphed in the event for a sixth time.

Skaife said the pair’s form at Sandown Raceway last year coupled with Feeney’s need to fight back in the title battle after taking a hit at the last round in Symmons Plains and Whincup’s strength as a co-driver made them the clear favourites.

He added the mandate for the main drivers to start the endurance races this year enhanced the pair’s standing with Whincup providing an experienced option behind the wheel to finish the race if strategy required.

Here are the five-time Supercars champion Skaife’s top driver pairings to watch.

SKAIFE’S TOP DRIVER PAIRINGS TO WATCH

1. Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup (Triple Eight)

“You have got to start with Feeney and Whincup as favourites,” Skaife said. “Winning last year is a real indication of where they are at, they did such a good job last year. Feeney has obviously got a bit of work to do in terms of the championship. But because of the starting change, you do have to look for combinations where they could do almost half the race each, and you might end up a little bit out of kilter in terms of the way the strategies are going to unfold. Driver changes at Sandown – because of an anticlockwise track – getting out of the car on the right-hand side with where the garages are …. the driver has to contend with the garage side as they get out. Although it is still reasonably easy to do a driver change in the fuel windows, it’s still one that if you were a race team, you would minimise the amount of changes that you made. Therefore, you have to look at some of the combinations that you could put the co-driver in and be happy to finish the race and a seven-time champion probably fits that bill. So I put that pairing at the top.”

Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup are a pair to lookout for.

2. Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth (Walkinshaw Andretti United)

“I know that Lee Holdsworth hasn’t been doing as much driving in recent times, but in the past when Holdsworth and Mostert have joined up, they have been really strong,” Skaife said. “They like the car the same. The way Lee drove last time with Chaz was outstanding. In fact, you couldn’t separate their speed. So for me a Lee Holdsworth, Chaz Mostert combination, especially given that Walkinshaw has been going better and better as the season has gone on, they look like a very strong combination.”

Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth pose with the Peter Brock Trophy after winning the 2021 Bathurst 1000. Picture: Getty Images

3. Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood (Erebus Motorsport)

“The other pairing that has got a bit more impetus now and it looks like its coming good for Erebus, is Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood,” Skaife said “For Brodie as champion to be out early (in the season) but looking better and better as the season goes on, teamed with a guy that is one of the most recent to step away full-time at this point – not that he won’t ever comeback full-time – and for him to be doing quite a lot of driving, I think that is actually a really good combination. And one that if you put your hat on to say could Todd Hazelwood finish the race for instance after Brodie starts? 100 per cent. So they are very high on the pecking order for me.”

Brodie Kostecki will team with Todd Hazelwood.Picture: Getty Images

4. Matt Payne and Garth Tander (Grove Racing)

“The other one that stands out in that way is Matt Payne and Garth Tander,” Skaife said. “Obviously Matt has had a very impressive season, the team look like they’re going better, the car is more consistent, Garth is obviously a proven performer. And under the realm of having to finish the race …. GT could do that no problem. That’s another combination that I think is a very powerful one. And simple stuff like the ergonomics and having two guys that are a similar stature makes it so much easier.”

Penrite Racing's Matt Payne will have Garth Tander as his co-driver. Picture: Mark Horsburgh/Supercars

5. Cam Waters and James Moffat (Tickford Racing)

“I think James Moffat has always been semi-underrated. I have always been a fan of the way that he goes about it. They were unlucky last year, when the wheel came off Tander’s car and it landed on the back of that car, you couldn’t do the probability or the odds for that, even for a wheel landing on a car, let alone tearing the rear wing off. That was so unfortunate last year. Cam’s pace has been really impressive this year, the team seems like they tune it very well at each place and they have driven together quite a lot now so there is some stability and understanding between them. One of the things that I really like about the way that James Moffat goes about it is he never looks like he’s there as an audition, like ‘Watch me go’ and gets his role out of kilter with what the real role is for the team and I’m impressed with the tradesman like way he goes about that.”

Cameron Waters and James Moffat. Picture: Getty Images

6. Will Brown and Scott Pye (Triple Eight)

“I think Brown and Pye are a very strong combination. Jumping out of the car so recently and his immediacy to driving plus the miles that he has done in testing, Scott Pye will be one of the fastest co-drivers, no doubt. And probably, to be fair, he has always been a better racer than qualifier, so when he doesn’t have to get involved in qualifying and do all that stuff, his race pace has always been really sound. If you put that argument together and put him with the bloke that has done a really good job this season and leads the championship, they are obviously a pretty cool couple.”

Originally published as Supercars 2024: Supercars great Mark Skaife picks his top driver pairings to watch at the Sandown 500