Skaife off RACE board
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 23 September 2024
Racing Australia Consolidated Enterprises (RACE), the owner of Supercars, has confirmed Mark Skaife is no longer on its board of directors after stepping down ahead of the Bathurst 1000.
Skaife has stepped down from his position as a director of RACE and its Supercars subsidiaries, with the big change to take place in coming weeks ahead of the Bathurst 1000.
With TV rights negotiations coming up due to the current deal with Fox Sports and Seven, the five-time Supercars champion felt the timing was right to step back.
However, RACE will still use the knowledge of the 90-time race winner in an advisory role.
Skaife has been calling Supercars ever since his retirement in 2008 as an expert on the Supercars TV broadcast beamed by Fox Sports since the pay TV network took over in 2015.
A Supercars statement confirmed the news and stated that Skaife decided to “remove any perception of conflicts” due to his role behind the microphone, although Auto Action first heard of this possibility as far back as March (EXCLUSIVE: SUPERCARS OWNERS BOARD BATTLE LOOMS – Auto Action).
Supercars’ statement read:
“Racing Australia Consolidated Enterprises Ltd (RACE), the owner of Australasia’s premier motorsport category, the Repco Supercars Championship, today confirmed that Mark Skaife OAM will step down from his position as a director RACE and its Supercars subsidiaries, with the change set to take effect in the coming weeks.
“RACE is due to enter negotiations for the television media rights of the Repco Supercars Championship (and the Bathurst 12 Hour) in light of the expiry of the current deal with the Foxtel Group and Seven West Media at the end of 2025.\
“Given his continuing role as the face of the Sport on Fox Sports Australia/Kayo, Mark Skaife OAM has decided to step down to remove any perception of conflicts during this important process.
Mark’s work to date on the Board has been invaluable, with his stewardship of the Gen 3 Project in particular creating the pathway for the recent announcement of Toyota’s entry into the Repco Supercars Championship from 2026.”To this end, RACE will continue to utilise Mark’s expertise in an advisory role.”
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