Greg Murphy
Greg Murphy during the 2022 Bathurst 1000
Nationality	New Zealander
Born	(1972-08-23) 23 August 1972 Hastings, New Zealand
V8SuperTourer
Years active	2012-14
Teams	M3 Racing
Car number	1
Starts	157
Wins	22
Poles	4
Fastest laps	11
Best finish	1st in 2013 & 2014
Supercars Championship career
Car number	51
Current team	Erebus Motorsport
Championships	0
Races	448
Wins	28
Podiums	81
Pole positions	13

Gregory Murphy (born 23 August 1972) is a New Zealand professional racing driver, best known as a four-time winner of the Bathurst 1000.^[1] 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

1994 Ralt Formula Brabham

Murphy became involved in motorsports by the age of eight, progressing through karts to saloon cars and single-seaters before moving to Australia. He 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 Craig Lowndes' return from overseas, Murphy only drove for the team in the endurance races in 1998.

In 1999 and 2000, he finished 6th 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.

He 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.^[2][3]

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.^[4] 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.^[5]

During 2005 and 2006 Murph 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.^[6]

Murphy joined Paul Morris Motorsport in 2010 to drive Castrol supported Commodore.^[7] 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.^[8]

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.^[9] 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.^[10] 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

2008 Holden VE Commodore V8 Supercar

• 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.

The Holden VE Commodore of Greg Murphy at the 2011 Clipsal 500 Adelaide

Greg Murphy at the 2006 Australian Grand Prix

Greg Murphy at the 2014 ITM Auckland 500

Career results

Bathurst 1000 results

Murphy & Richie Stanaway's 2022 Bathurst 1000 Holden

Year	No.	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
1998*	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)

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2000	Panoz Motor Sports	LMP	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S	Élan 6L8 6.0L V8	SEB	CHA	SIL	NÜR	SON	MOS	TEX	ROS	PET	MON	LSV	ADE ovr:9 cls:3	36th	24

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

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

Complete Bathurst 24 Hour results

The 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour winning Holden Monaro

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

References

External links

• Official website
• Profile at V8 Supercars
• Video of Greg Murphy's "Lap of the Gods" at Bathurst
• Greg Murphy at Pepsi Max Crew, Kelly Racing