Greg Murphy has already achieved his goal for the Bathurst 1000 weekend, wiping nearly a second clean off his iconic ‘Lap of the Gods’ 2003 pole lap time on Thursday.
It’s been eight years since Murphy completed a race lap around Mount Panorama and yet he already seems to be right at home after a handful of practice sessions.
The Kiwi set a time of 2:05.871 after taking to the track in Practice 2 which is .988 faster than the famous 2:06.859 time he set nearly 20 years ago.
“Oh my goodness gracious,” Murphy said to Supercars after setting the new time.
After describing how much he was enjoying the experience, the four time Bathurst winner explained how he’s adapting to the new car.
“I keep training the brain to do things a bit differently. It’s just how good these things are under brakes, and how much speed you carry in on the trail.
“I kept telling myself not to brake so hard at the brake point I think is the point of no return.
“I got to have another run there at the finish, which was awesome, I kept trying to push the same theory.
“They hang on, you turn them in… my brain’s still trying to adjust to it.”
Going into the weekend as a wildcard, it was Murphy’s mission to beat his ‘Lap of the Gods’ time.
“It was deadset bloody buried inside,” he said when referring to trying to beat the time.
“It would be horrid if I never managed to beat that. That time is almost exactly a second faster.
“I set a new goal now, I suppose. At that pace, the car feels very easy to drive.”
Some of the fastest times of the weekend so far are in the low 2:04s with the likes of Garth Tander setting a 2:04.1359 in Practice 2.
Practice three has already gotten underway today for all drivers with the fourth session starting at 3pm (NZST).
Qualifying will start at 6:15pm (NZST).
We’ve covered everything you need to know about the Bathurst 1000 weekend which can be found here.
