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Greg Murphy is finally smiling again. The four-time Bathurst champion has had a few lean years since he last won at Mount Panorama in 2004.
But today his fellow Kiwi teammate Jason Richards shocked the big guns by clocking the second fastest time in qualifying for Holden ahead of tomorrow’s top ten shootout.
The result has pretty much come from nowhere, with both Richards and Murphy struggling all year and sitting a respective 18th and 19th in the V8 Supercar championship.
Murphy said he was just happy to be amongst it again.
“I’m enjoying this weekend more than any other in probably the last two years,” said Murphy, whose last round win came in 2005.
“(Bathurst) means a hell of a lot but we’re more in the frame this year than I’ve been since 2004, when I last won with Rick (Kelly).
“This is the best car I’ve had since then by a long stretch and it makes a huge difference.
“It’s been like trying to learn to drive the car all over again because of how well it’s responding.”
Murphy, 36, handed Richards, 32, the honour of qualifying for the Great Race and was confident his teammate was capable of securing pole in tomorrow’s one lap dash.
“We’re just over the moon at the moment, we’re absolutely rapt because we know we’re in the top ten come Sunday and Jason’s fired up for tomorrow,” Murphy said.
“Jason’s pretty confident and I’m confident he can do the job but who knows what will happen? We’ve still got to string it all together.”
Murphy said it was amazing how big a difference a good car made.
“Regardless of how good you are, if your car’s not up to it these days then you’re not going to achieve what you set out to achieve and that’s been the biggest problem all year,” he said.
“We just haven’t been able to get on top of things but hopefully that’s behind us now.”
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