Sprint Gas Racing duo down but not out

Sprint Gas Racing’s Greg Murphy and Jason Richards went into the final day of the V8 Supercar season hoping to take strong results into the off-season, but it was not to be.
The last race of the NRMA Motoring and Insurances Grand Finale, and the Championship, saw Murphy retire on lap five when impact with Jack Perkins’ Commodore damaged the steering rack.

Smoke poured from the car thanks to a major steering fluid leak.

“I was trying to get past Jack Perkins going into turn two, we touched and it damaged the steering,” Murphy said.

“There was obviously smoke pouring from the car. I had no choice but to park it as soon as I could. We couldn’t get the car back to the pits with the steering fluid leak; it would have gone everywhere and done more harm than good.

“It’s a frustrating end to a frustrating year.

“We had so much success at Bathurst and we showed a lot of promise at several other events but weren’t able to put it all together.

“We’ve made some massive inroads this year, particularly with car development, but we’re still lacking in a few areas.

“We’re working hard at these areas and I’m pretty confident we’ll get there. To win races you need everything to be spot on. We’d like us to get there sooner rather than later, but it takes time.”

Flying the flag for Sprint Gas Racing, Richards made up some ground placing 12th in the middle stages of the final race, but was unable to hold position thanks to a broken front anti-roll bar.

“I today’s first race we had a mechanical problem with the rear of the car that we fixed for the final race,” Richards said.

“This definitely gave us more pace but we damaged the front roll bar on the third lap, so when we needed to make adjustments we were unable to, which reduced our competitiveness.

“This is not the way I wanted to finish off the year. I liken this season to going to school. We have learnt so much this year and what we have learnt will put us in a much stronger position next year.

“We made a very big decision to build two new cars at the end of 2007. I love the new cars. I’ve not driven a car that is better, but they have taken time to tune and we knew they would.

“At each race we go to next year we have a better understanding of where to start which will make us more competitive.

“We’ve got a couple of weeks off over Christmas, and I’m looking forward to the break, it’s been a very long season, but I am looking forward to what I’m sure will be a very promising new season. There’s a lot of work to do, a huge amount, but we have got some very intelligent, committed people that I’m sure will help carry us forward.”

Richards finished today’s two races in 18th and 14th. Murphy crossed the finish line in 17th place in the day’s first race and was forced into premature retirement in the second.

Murphy was 16th in the Championship and Richards 17th.

Sprint Gas Racing will be at the Clipsal 500 – the first round of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship – on the streets of Adelaide on March 19-22, followed by the Australian Grand Prix the week after.