MOTORSPORT: Murphy's NZ success an omen for Lowndes?

Murphy claimed the NZ title in a Holden at the Pukekohe circuit south of Auckland where much of his reputation was forged in the early days of V8 Supercar racing there in the 1990s and early 2000s. Having earlier won the sprint crown in the seven-round SuperTourer series, the Kiwi veteran was partnered by Aussie Jack Perkins in the endurance races which concluded at the weekend.

Murphy took the overall title in the second season of the NZ series by 28 points from Hamilton part-time racer and accountant Ant Pedersen, who had led going into the final round. Pedersen was partnered in his Ford in the NZ enduros by young Australian star Chaz Mostert, who had never raced at Pukekohe.

NZ’s SuperTourers are similar to Australia’s V8 Supercars but have a generic Corvette-based engine.

Four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Murphy was runner-up in last year’s first season of the NZ category to teenager Scott McLaughlin, who has been a sensation in the V8 Supercar Championship this year with Garry Rogers Motorsport.

McLaughlin, who will be in a Volvo with GRM next year, won the third and final race of the Pukekohe weekend in his Holden partnered by Nissan V8 Supercar driver, James Moffat.

McLaughlin had overtaken Murphy 12 laps from the finish of the 70-lap race and held off the ultimate champion despite smoke billowing from a damaged hub.

Murphy needed to finish at least two places ahead of Pedersen in that final race and duly did, with the Ford driver dropping to fifth as battled in the closing stages with worn tyres that at one point had him spearing off the track.

Pedersen and Mostert had the consolation of winning the endurance section of the championship while McLaughlin and Moffat were the overall winners of the final round, which had included a 35-lap race on Saturday and another 70-lapper on Sunday.

Shane Van Gisbergen, driving a Falcon in NZ even though he switched to a Holden with Tekno Autosports in the V8 Supercar Championship this year, was still in contention for the SuperTourer title on Saturday night after winning the shortest of the Pukekohe races. Alas, his car’s engine failed just two laps into Sunday’s first race with co-driver Alex Davison at the wheel.

Van Gisbergen still wound up third in the series but all the glory went to his older countryman who took the title.

Murphy is no longer a full-time racer in the V8 Supercar Championship, was never a season champion, famously crashed a Holden Racing Team Commodore during this year’s Bathurst 1000, then was crashed into by Paul Dumbrell at the Gold Coast 600.

But Murphy is a legend of V8 Supercars and particularly Bathurst, where he won the Great Race four times. He’s revered especially for his 2003 qualifying “Lap of the Gods” at Bathurst’s Mt Panorama.

Murphy and Lowndes scored their first victories in the Great Race there as Holden Racing Team partners in 1996.

Lowndes has won Bathurst four times since and this weekend at the Sydney 500 will be vying with Triple Eight Race Engineering teammate Jamie Whincup to claim his fourth V8 Supercar series title – and first since 1999.

Ford Performance Racing’s recent Bathurst victor Mark Winterbottom is the third title contender and his departing teammate Will Davison remains an outside chance but needs a miracle to overhaul the other three.

Murphy had a one-point lead in the NZ series starting the final day after he and Perkins finished second on Saturday and Pedersen and Mostert fourth. But Murphy lost the lead back to Pedersen when he and Perkins finished fifth in the first of Sunday’s 70-lap races, won by Aussie Lee Holdsworth – a Mercedes driver in V8 Supercars – and Kiwi Tim Edgell in a Falcon ahead of McLaughlin-Moffat and Pedersen-Mostert.

Perkins had started second but had slipped to fourth when he handed the Holden over to Murphy after 33 laps.

Murphy then lost another place and finished two places behind Pedersen, before the tables were turned in the final race.

“It was a stressful weekend, but it finished off very nicely,” Murphy said.

“It’s been a long year and it’s a relief to get the job done – it would have been nice to have been in a more comfortable position going into the last race, but to have such a close finish was great for the series.

Perkins took the lead from Moffat during refueling in the final race, allowing Murphy to begin his final stint ahead of rival Pedersen.

“I knew I had to finish two places ahead of Ant to win the championship,” Murphy said.

“Scott McLaughlin overtook him, but then Scott overtook me as well. Fortunately, Ant’s car started to go off near the end and he lost a few more places. I was watching Ant in my mirrors. I never relaxed until I saw the chequered flag!”

Erebus cuts back to two Mercedes V8 Supercars
Mercedes V8 Supercar team Erebus will field only two E63s next season following South Australian businessman James Rosenberg’s decision to take his licence to Walkinshaw Racing for Nick Percat to drive a fourth Holden Racing Team Commodore.

The Erebus drivers will be Lee Holdsworth and Will Davison, although it may be weeks yet before the latter’s switch from Ford Performance Racing is officially confirmed.

European driver Maro Engel will lose his V8 Supercar seat after just one disappointing season, although he is likely to be retained by Erebus for its GT racing program – including the Bathurst 12-Hour in February.

The Betty Klimenko-owned Erebus already was losing Tim Slade to HRT as the replacement for retiring veteran, Russell Ingall.

New sponsors are needed for the two Mercs that will remain in the series but Erebus Motorsport chief executive Ryan Maddison has said that “it’s been a proud few days for us on the commercial front” and that announcements will be made after the Sydney 500.

Maddison also has said that Erebus will do more of its own development work to cut down on freight – especially its M159 engines - to and from Mercedes-Benz’s performance turning division AMG and its motorsport partner HWA in Germany.

“Our expectations with every piece we are putting together is we will have front-running vehicles as at practice day one at event number one in 2014 [Adelaide’s Clipsal 500],” Maddison said.

Schumacher brands Red Bull F1 driver gap ‘shocking’
Michael Schumacher has called the gap this year between Sebastian Vettel and his retired Red Bull Racing teammate in Formula One, Aussie Mark Webber, “shocking”.

“He [Vettel] won all those races – 13 this year. Mark Webber, he won none. That is pretty shocking. I’m glad I’m not his [Vettel’s teammate],” seven-time world champion Schumacher said in a season review posted on YouTube by the Mercedes team for which he raced - without a win – in 2010-2012.

Webber has been replaced by 24-year-old West Australian Daniel Ricciardo, promoted from Red Bull-owned junior team Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Meanwhile, the Lotus F1 team has confirmed that Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado will partner Frenchman Romain Grosjean next season following Kimi Rakkonen’s return to Ferrari.

Maldonado brings huge sponsorship from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA that is much needed by Lotus following the failure of the US and Middle Eastern syndicate Quantum to come up with the promised money to buy 35 per cent of the team.

Highly-rated German Nico Hulkenberg is now expected to join the Force India, perhaps with McLaren’s discarded Sergio Perez as his teammate. Adrian Sutil, another German, may move from Force India to Sauber to replace Hulkenberg.

Scotsman Paul Di Resta, looking to be out of his drive at Force India, is increasingly likely to switch IndyCar, perhaps in place of his recently-retired cousin Dario Franchitti at top team Chip Ganassi Racing.

Martin ends sports car season on high
Queenslander John Martin shared the sports car that finished third in the final round of the World Endurance Championship in Bahrain at the weekend.

It was the 29-year-old 2006 Australian Formula Ford Champion’s second season in sports car racing and his co-drivers in the G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan 03 were Englishman Mike Conway and Russian Roman Rusinov.

They won the LMP2 category of the six-hour race as well as taking third outright.

Three ex-F1 drivers – Sebastien Buemi, Antony Davidson and Stephane Sarrazin – won the race in a Toyota TS030 hybrid, 70 seconds ahead of an Audi A18 e-tron Quattro driven by Frenchman Benoit Treluyer, Swiss Marcel Fassler and German Andre Lotterer.

It was Toyota’s first full-length race win of the year against the might of Audi.

Toyota had been awarded a farcical win in a rain-shortened round at Japan’s Fuji circuit in October.

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