Contrary to other reports, Holden Motorsport Manager Simon McNamara has denied that Holden has approached Ford contracted driver James Courtney to race for The General.

An emphatic “no” was the response McNamara gave when asked if Holden had approached Courtney, but he would not comment further.

His answer follows speculation that Holden Racing Team driver Mark Skaife would retire and Courtney, whose contract is up at the end of this year, would replace him.

McNamara said Holden would not comment on “pure speculative journalism”.

“Mark's got a long history with Holden and he's made it clear that he's not retiring,” he said.

Skaife, a five time series champion, dismissed media reports that he was retiring.

“I have absolutely no plans to retire next year,” the Holden icon said.

“Tom Walkinshaw and I with our key partner Holden have not discussed my exit from driving and we certainly have not discussed a replacement for me.”

Skaife said the team did keep an eye on upcoming talent, but said Courtney was talking himself up.

“He's trying to raise his stakes,” Skaife said.

“For a few years we have been looking for younger blokes to take over from me.

“We would be derelict if we didn't look at good, young talent.”

Skaife said he was his biggest critic and would know when it was time to hang up his racing boots.

“When people have asked me I've said I could drive for another five years if I wanted to,” he said.

He said he would stop racing when he stopped enjoying it or when he felt someone else could do a better job for the team.

When asked how he coped with mounting speculation of his retirement, Skaife said he kept in mind his past track record and the fact he was driving with a leading team.

He said the rumours were negative and “not conducive to me”.

“Sometimes a bit of that criticism I understand because people do these things to create or maintain a headline...but you need balance,” he said.

At the moment, Skaifey said he loved driving against the young drivers in the field.

“I love giving it a red hot go against the younger blokes,” he said.

It was a controversial weekend for Skaife, whose Commodore suffered substantial damage in a crash with Ford Performance Racing's Steven Richards during race two at Barbagallo Raceway.

The crash put Skaife out of the last race three of the round.

Author:Briar Gunther
Source:BigPond Sport

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