Greg Murphy was an unusually subdued winner in the recent BNT V8 SuperTourer race at Hampton Downs.
The Kiwi V8 hero had won the 100km first leg of the endurance meeting in his Holden and increased his lead in the championship, the headline class in the Hankook Super Series.
But he showed no elation and instead expressed his regret that his M3 team-mate Richard Moore had not taken what would have been a well-deserved victory. Moore’s co-driver at this endurance meeting is Australian V8 Supercar driver Tim Slade.
“I’m just disappointed for Richard and Sladey,” Murphy said. “They had the fastest car and were leading by a country mile.”
Indeed Christchurch driver Moore, just 21, was 10 seconds ahead of the field after taking over from Slade when his gearbox broke.
“That’s the second gearbox for us in two meetings,” Moore lamented. “That gearbox was brand-new this morning. It’s disappointing – the class is so good but we can’t do anything about it.”
Murphy was third, after a tussle for second with Supercar driver Chaz Mostert, when he came into the pits and handed over to Australian Jack Perkins.
Perkins grabbed second with a bold but clean dive at the Dipper corner inside Hamilton driver Ant Pedersen, who had taken over from Mostert.
That was the perfect move at the perfect time, Murphy reckoned. “If he hadn’t done it then he might not never have been able to do it,” he said.
Perkins took the lead after Moore’s retirement and kept just out of Pedersen’s reach for the rest of the 38-lap race, and said oil on the track made it hard for his rival to make a real challenge.
Pedersen felt the same and decided against trying any desperate overtaking moves.
As a result Murphy increased his championship lead over Pedersen by 40 points, to 114.
The Supercar pairing of Kiwi Shane Van Gisbergen and Aussie Alex Davison started the race down in 12th on the grid, after Davison suffered a gearbox failure in his qualifying session.
Although neither was happy with the way their Ford was handling in the corners, the pair showed their class as they came right through to finish third.
“I did a good first lap, passed four or five cars,” Davison said. “We did a good driver change and made up a lot of time, and then Shane passed a couple of cars and the leading car broke down.”
The car was suffering handling problems, sliding its rear tyres. “It’s hard on its tyres,” Davison said. Van Gisbergen remains third in the championship.
Defending champion Scott McLaughlin, a multiple winner in Supercars this year, continued his run of appalling luck in the New Zealand series – the young Kiwi had to come into the pits and retire after a minor fire at the front of his Holden.
Aucklander Simon Evans achieved one of his best results as he finished fourth, sharing his Holden with former A1GP star Jonny Reid. Australian Supercar driver Nick Percat helped Aucklander Paul Manuell bring his Holden home fifth.