It’s 19 years since Greg Murphy first raced in the Bathurst 1000, 18 years since he made his V8 Supercars debut, 17 years since his first win, 10 years since his Lap of the Gods and nine years since his fourth and most recent victory.
And 2013 is shaping as one of his best chance in years to add a fifth win in the Mount Panorama classic.
The Kiwi superstar heads into Sunday’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 co-driving a Holden Racing Team Commodore VF with James Courtney, who runs fifth in the Championship, 238 points behind Red Bull Racing Australia’s Jamie Whincup.
The pair is among the favourites to take the race, following on from their eventful run to a fifth at the Wilson Security Sandown 500, the opening round of the PIRTEK Enduro Cup.
This is the first year since 1998, when he also drove for HRT, that Murphy has not had a full-time seat in the V8 Supercars Championship.
His first win in the 1000 came in 1996 for HRT with Craig Lowndes, when he was also not a full-time Championship driver.
“Funny how some things line up,” Murphy said. “Craig Lowndes had already got a drive at HRT and I was very fortunate to be the next experiment I suppose. It (the 1996 win) was a catalyst for me to get a full-time gig.
“HRT has been through a few lacklustre periods of late but there is no question they are now back as a genuine contender for the Championship. I am rapt to be there as part of it, with a guy going so well and a team on the up.”
If he does win on Sunday, it will be Courtney’s first at Mount Panorama. He broke through for his first V8 Supercars win for HRT since early 2011 at the Winton 360 in August. He has had one second and two third in eight starts in the 1000.
“I know I don’t have to prove anything,” said Murphy. “I just have to support James by giving him a car that is in a good position when I get out of it so he can get in and go and do the hard yards to the finish line.”
Boosting Murphy’s confidence is his belief that Wilson Security Sandown 500 winners Whincup and co-driver Paul Dumbrell and their Triple Eight Holden Commodore VF won’t be dominant at Bathurst.
“I think the Sandown surface and the way the track is there they had an advantage and they did a great job to have that,” said Murphy. “I know the amount of issues with bits and pieces we had with our car, and also the fact that it’s a totally different track, Bathurst will suit us better.
“It will also aid a fair few other cars as well. So I just don’t think that gap or advantage will be there.”
Murphy, now 41, has accrued an enormous amount of experience at Bathurst – claiming four other rostrum finishes on top of his four wins – and can reel off the key factors in having a winning chance.
“You have got to be fast, you have to have the reliability, you have to be consistent and you have to have the patience to wait and know how to read the race around you. If you can’t read the race around you and just rely on the guys in the pits to do it all then I don’t think you can win it.”
Murphy’s 2003 pole time of 2min06.8594 in a Kmart Commodore remains the fastest qualifying lap ever at Bathurst and has still to be bettered in the top 10 run-off or the race itself. Craig Lowndes went faster in 2010 in a Triple Eight Commodore VE, but that was in free practice.
Murphy debuted at Bathurst in 1994, driving a Toyota Carina with Englishman James Kaye.
His four wins in the 1000 have come in 1996 with Lowndes, 1999 at Gibson Motor Sport with Steven Richards and 2003-2004 with Rick Kelly in for the Walkinshaw satellite team Kmart Racing.
