Greg Murphy

Gregory David Murphy (born 23 August 1972) is a New Zealand professional racing driver, best known as a four-time winner of the Bathurst 1000. Greg Murphy joined Jeremy Clarkson and James May presenting Top Gear Live, when it had its first international Live show at ASB Showgrounds in Auckland from 12 to 15 February 2009, and again when the show returned in 2010.

History

Murphy became involved in motorsports by the age of eight, progressing through karts to saloon cars and single-seaters before moving to Australia.

Murphy first competed at the Bathurst circuit in 1994. The following two years, he drove for Brad Jones Racing in the Australian Super Touring Championship and the Holden Racing Team (HRT) in endurance events, winning the Bathurst 1000 with Craig Lowndes in 1996. He drove for the HRT full-time in the 1997 Australian Touring Car Championship and placed fourth. Due to Lowndes' return from overseas, Murphy only drove for the team in the endurance races in 1998.

In 1999 and 2000, Murphy finished sixth in points driving for Gibson Motorsport. He paired with Steven Richards to win the Bathurst 1000. In the 2001 V8 Supercar season, Murphy joined the newly formed K-Mart Racing team and had two Bathurst 1000 wins with teammate Rick Kelly, in 2003 and 2004. Murphy had two championship runners-up while at K-Mart Racing, in 2002 and 2003. In 2001 and 2004, he finished fourth in the championship.

Murphy is one of the best known V8 Supercar drivers (car No. 51 since 2001) and has won four rounds at his home circuit at Pukekohe, near Auckland (2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005). At the Mount Panorama Circuit at Bathurst, Murphy has the third best record for a Kiwi with four wins, compared to Jim Richards' seven, and his son Steven Richards' five.

Murphy's 2003 pole position of 2:06.8594 at Bathurst stood as the fastest lap ever recorded at Mount Panorama Circuit until eclipsed seven years later. It is known colloquially as "The Lap of the Gods" and widely regarded as one of the finest moments in Bathurst folklore.

In November of 2003, Murphy won the Bathurst 24 Hour race in the Garry Rogers Motorsport built, 7.0 litre V8 Holden Monaro 427C alongside Peter Brock, Jason Bright and Todd Kelly. Murphy qualified the #05 Monaro in second place behind the 2002 race winning Monaro of teammate Garth Tander. The two Monaro's led the race throughout with Murphy in the car finishing only 0.3505 in front of Tander after 527 laps of racing.

During 2005 and 2006, Murphy competed for Paul Weel Racing (PWR) where he initially had good results until changing to the Perkins engines. Since then Murphy has never really had any outstanding performances. Murphy joined Tasman Motorsport in 2007 where his lack of results continued.

Murphy joined Paul Morris Motorsport in 2010 to drive Castrol supported Commodore. While the partnership looked like it was to reignite the "old murph" his performances and a poor car failed to produce results thus the announcement came in November 2010 that the partnership would split.

Murphy joined Kelly Racing for 2011 in a late deal with major sponsor Pepsi Max. Throughout the year the Pepsi Max Crew car has undergone four different paint schemes all with a graffiti theme. Murphy has had varying success throughout the year and as he has become more comfortable with his car and the team he has had some good performances, including pole position at the Bathurst 1000.

2013 saw Murphy return to Holden Racing Team on a part-time basis, co-driving with Car #22 driver James Courtney in the endurance events. However, Bathurst saw Murphy involved in a heavy crash at Reid Park, therefore ending his chances of finishing the race. The bad luck didn't end there, with yet another serious incident bringing Car #22 down (this time involving Paul Dumbrell from Triple Eight Race Engineering) in Race 1 at Gold Coast.

In 2021 Peter Adderton from Boost Mobile floated the idea of running a Wildcard entry for Murphy and fellow retired Kiwi racer Richie Stanaway in the upcoming Bathurst 1000. The idea gained massive fan support, helping to convince Murphy and Stanaway to return for the first time since 2014 & 2019 respectively. On 8 June 2021 it was confirmed that the two would return in an Erebus Motorsport run Boost Mobile supported entry. On 12 November 2021 the wildcard was postponed due to travel restrictions between Australia & New Zealand. In late April 2022 Erebus Motorsport confirmed that the Wildcard would be revived for the upcoming Bathurst 1000. There were plans to run Murphy & Stanaway in solo events prior to Bathurst but those plans fell through, the two will get three test days prior to the 1000 with the first set to be run at Winton Motor Raceway on 7 June.

Notable career events

1994 – Won the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild driving a Reynard 90D 1996 – Second in the GT2 Class at Le Mans 1996 – Won Bathurst 1000 and Sandown 500 with Craig Lowndes and the Holden Racing Team 1999 – Won the Bathurst 1000 with Steven Richards 2000 – Third at Bathurst with Steven Richards 2001 – Helped to create Kmart Racing after Gibson Motorsport turned to Ford and Craig Lowndes. Finished third at Bathurst with Todd Kelly 2002 – Was given the biggest penalty (five minutes) in V8 racing history because of a pitlane infringement by his team. His car was released early, rupturing a refuelling hose and spilling fuel in the pit box 2003 – Set the fastest lap ever on the 6.213 km (later eclipsed in 2010 by Craig Lowndes and then again in 2017 by Scott McLaughlin) Mount Panorama Circuit during the Top 10 Shootout, with a time of 2:06.8594 dubbed 'The Lap of Gods'. Won Bathurst 1000 with Rick Kelly. Won Bathurst 24 Hour with Peter Brock, Todd Kelly and Jason Bright 2004 – Won Bathurst 1000 again with Rick Kelly 2008 – Finished second at Bathurst 1000 2011 – Got pole position for the second time at Bathurst and finished 3rd in the 2011 Bathurst 1000 2012 – Won the first ever V8SuperTourer race at Hampton Downs, then eventually finished Runner-up for the Season. 2013 – Greg Murphy Won the V8SuperTourer Sprint Series and Overall Championship, his first Championship Win in 17 years. 2014 – Murphy Won the V8SuperTourer Sprint Series and Overall Championship for the second year in a row. Greg also finished second in the Sandown 500 with James Courtney. 2016 – Murphy returned to circuit racing for the first time since the Gold Coast 600 in 2014. He joined Tony Quinn in an Aston Martin for the Highlands 101 race where they finished second place.

Personal life Greg was born and raised in New Zealand, where he attended Havelock North High School. After being based in Melbourne, Victoria for most of his racing career he now lives in New Zealand with frequent trips to Australia.

Career results Career highlights Season Series Position Car Team 1992 Nissan-Mobil Series 3rd Ford Sierra RS500 Mark Petch Motorsport 1993/94 New Zealand Gold Star – Single Seaters 11th Audi TT VLN Golden Homes2022 Repco Supercars Championship Holden ZB Commodore Erebus Motorsport North Island Endurance Series - 1 Hour 4th Renault Sport R.S. 01 Golden Homes North Island Endurance Series - 3 Hour 7th Renault Sport R.S. 01 Golden Homes

Complete V8 Supercar results

Bathurst 1000 results

Year Team Car Co-driver Position Laps 1994 56 Bruce Miles Toyota Carina James Kaye 23rd 136 1995 015 Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VR Craig Lowndes DNF 10 1996 1 Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VR Craig Lowndes 1st 161 1997 15 Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VR Craig Lowndes DNF 38 * 80 Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Vectra Russell Ingall DNF 83 1998 50 Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VT Mark Noske DNF 86 1999 7 Gibson Motorsport Holden Commodore VT Steven Richards 1st 161 2000 7 Gibson Motorsport Holden Commodore VT Steven Richards 3rd 161 2001 15 HSV Dealer Team Holden Commodore VX Todd Kelly 3rd 161 2002 51 HSV Dealer Team Holden Commodore VX Todd Kelly 13th 159 2003 51 HSV Dealer Team Holden Commodore VY Rick Kelly 1st 161 2004 15 HSV Dealer Team Holden Commodore VY Rick Kelly 1st 161 2005 51 Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore VZ Paul Weel DNF 144 2006 51 Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore VZ Cameron McConville DNF 104 2007 51 Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore VE Jason Richards 4th 161 2008 3 Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore VE Jason Richards 2nd 161 2009 51 Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore VE Mark Skaife 4th 161 2010 51 Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore VE Allan Simonsen 6th 161 2011 11 Kelly Racing Holden Commodore VE Allan Simonsen 3rd 161 2012 51 Kelly Racing Holden Commodore VE Owen Kelly 13th 161 2013 22 Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF James Courtney DNF 85 2014 22 Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF James Courtney 13th 160 2022 51 Erebus Motorsport Holden Commodore ZB Richie Stanaway 11th 161

Super Touring race

Complete American Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps Overallposition Classposition 1996 New Hardware Racing Parr Motorsport Bill Farmer Robert Nearn Porsche 911 GT2 GT2 313 14th 2nd

Complete Bathurst 24 Hour results

Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps Overallposition Classposition 2003 Garry Rogers Motorsport Peter Brock Jason Bright Todd Kelly Holden Monaro 427C A 527 1st 1st

V8SuperTourer In 2011 it was released that in New Zealand they were making a new touring car series, Murphy was instantly interested and after talks with Paul Manuell they decided to make M3 Racing which Richard Moore, Paul Manuell and Greg Murphy would drive their three cars. As soon as Murphy confirmed he would be racing in the 2012 season, New Zealand Businessman Mike Pero signed up to be his major sponsor for the season.

In the 2012 season Murphy had a successful year claiming a pole, 5 race wins and 2 round wins and also the Endurance Championship but because he had to miss two rounds because of back problems he missed out on the overall championship but managed to finish 2nd overall.

The 2013 season Murphy redeemed himself after missing out on the title due to back problems, Murphy managed to win 6 races and finished on the podium 14 times out of 21 races, and after a thrilling final race battle with Ant Pedersen, Murphy won his first SuperTourer title.

Complete V8 SuperTourer results

TCR New Zealand