Sprint Gas deserved second place

The Sprint Gas Racing pairing of Greg Murphy & Jason Richards have driven a sensational race to finish second at the Super Cheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
Murphy & Richards never gave up and pushed Triple Eight and Ford Performance Racing to the end as they attempted to do what many thought was impossible at the start of the day, win the race.

On the first lap approaching turn two, Murphy was hit by Craig Lowndes damaging the steering arm. Murphy & Richards had to contend with this all race and then in the final 15 laps the Sprint Gas Holden was struggling with an over-heating engine.

Despite this Murphy, who drove the final stint to the finishing line, never gave up, pushing and passing FPR’s Steven Richards, and then attempted to run down Craig Lowndes.

The second placing is Sprint Gas Racing’s first Bathurst podium since 2005 and Greg Murphy’s first since his last win in 2004.

Both drivers were exuberant following the race.“This is absolutely massive,” Murphy said.

“To be up here on the podium again is unbelievable. I can’t believe we did it. Jason and the team did a sensation job.

“It was fantastic to be able to chase down the leader; it’s been a while since we’ve been able to do that. The car was fast right through to the end.”

Richard’s did more than support Murphy; he was one of the fastest drivers today, and throughout the weekend. Richards watched the final 20 laps nervously, hoping Murphy could put it on the podium.

“Watching those last 15 laps was breathtaking,” Richards said.

“We were in third, and I would have been happy with that, but Murphy fought so hard to get past Steven (Richards). When he did it a big cheer went up in the garage. Then he tried to mow down Lowndes. If we didn’t have engine problems and we had a few more laps, he might have done it. Who knows?

“But we pushed hard all day and we were supported well in the garage. It was a great team effort.

“Before the race we all thought we had the pace and the package to win, but after Lowndes hit us I begun to think we might struggle.

“We thought we might have to pit to repair the damage, but we decided to stay out as long as we could. The car was harder to drive but we managed to stay in control.

“It says a lot about the car that even with bent steering, we were able to push hard and do good lap times.”

Sprint Gas Racing had further problems late in the race with low fuel levels and an over-heating engine.

“We had just enough fuel to get us home, so when the safety cars came out it was a relief,” Murphy said.

“It was a bit touch and go. Then the engine started to over-heat and I had to nurse it. This was hard because I could see Richards and then Lowndes ahead of me. I did everything I could to chase them down aware that the engine was struggling.

“We were lucky to get it home really.”

The team believes that Lowndes impact with Murphy on the first lap cost it a win.

“We were so competitive all weekend and we knew we could win it, to be hit before the second corner damaging the steering arm cost us the race,” Murphy said.

“Second is good but first place was taken away from us by Triple Eight. I can’t believe he didn’t get a penalty.

“This forced us to make the unscheduled stop early and then there was a very real fear that we’d have to strop again to fix the damage. We were lucky we could drive through it.”