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Got this from a mate this morning and Jezza & I and a few others (Holden lovers) are having an email discussion on the matter. 
Sprint Gas Racing’s Greg Murphy, who with teammate Jason Richards finished second at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, says a lap-one incident cost him a chance of winning the race.
The incident was between him and TeamVodafone’s Craig Lowndes, who went on to win the race with teammate Jamie Whincup.
Immediately after the race, a fuming Murphy said he was “a bit pissed” about the incident, which saw Lowndes’ Falcon and Murph’s Commodore collide after the TeamVodafone car drifted across half of the track.
“The damage was to the front of the car and we ran with a bent steering arm for 161 laps and it damaged the first tyre and that’s what ended up causing the off and me having to come in early,” he explained.
Officials deemed the contact as a racing incident and subsequently, no penalty was warranted.
Late last week, Murphy said he had “absolutely” calmed down about the clash, but was still less than impressed with the lack of action by officials on the day.
“I think it was pretty quickly overlooked and it upset our race big time,” Murph said.
“And I know he (Lowndes) passed over it pretty quickly.
“We had to have an extra stop and it made the car not 100 per cent.”
Murphy said the unpredictable nature of Bathurst meant he could not guarantee that Sprint Gas Racing would have won had the #3 Commodore escaped damage from the incident.
“I don’t think we definitely would have won, but considering where we finished I think it put us in a lot worse position,” he said.
“You can’t say anything would have certainly happened, but it undoubtedly put us on the back foot and didn’t help us any.”
Lowndes said he and Murphy discussed the incident after their first stints in the race.
“Murph came and found me after our stints and we had a chat about it and we got on with racing,” he said.
“The one thing that you don’t want to do around here (at Bathurst)… is have contact because you can jeopardise your whole race.”
Sprint Gas Racing’s Greg Murphy, who with teammate Jason Richards finished second at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, says a lap-one incident cost him a chance of winning the race.
The incident was between him and TeamVodafone’s Craig Lowndes, who went on to win the race with teammate Jamie Whincup.
Immediately after the race, a fuming Murphy said he was “a bit pissed” about the incident, which saw Lowndes’ Falcon and Murph’s Commodore collide after the TeamVodafone car drifted across half of the track.
“The damage was to the front of the car and we ran with a bent steering arm for 161 laps and it damaged the first tyre and that’s what ended up causing the off and me having to come in early,” he explained.
Officials deemed the contact as a racing incident and subsequently, no penalty was warranted.
Late last week, Murphy said he had “absolutely” calmed down about the clash, but was still less than impressed with the lack of action by officials on the day.
“I think it was pretty quickly overlooked and it upset our race big time,” Murph said.
“And I know he (Lowndes) passed over it pretty quickly.
“We had to have an extra stop and it made the car not 100 per cent.”
Murphy said the unpredictable nature of Bathurst meant he could not guarantee that Sprint Gas Racing would have won had the #3 Commodore escaped damage from the incident.
“I don’t think we definitely would have won, but considering where we finished I think it put us in a lot worse position,” he said.
“You can’t say anything would have certainly happened, but it undoubtedly put us on the back foot and didn’t help us any.”
Lowndes said he and Murphy discussed the incident after their first stints in the race.
“Murph came and found me after our stints and we had a chat about it and we got on with racing,” he said.
“The one thing that you don’t want to do around here (at Bathurst)… is have contact because you can jeopardise your whole race.”
