RONAN Murphy will race on the Repco Bathurst 1000 undercard next month, marking his first time competing at the Mount Panorama circuit which his father conquered.
Holden icon Greg Murphy won the Great Race on four occasions but perhaps most famous was his Lap of the Gods performance in the 2003 Top 10 Shootout at the Mountain.
Now his 22-year-old son is a fortnight away from his maiden race there.
Murphy Jr was already in line to race at Bathurst in November for the final round of his Porsche Sprint Challenge campaign – but before then, he will make a cameo appearance in the National Sports Sedans on October 5-8.
The Kiwi will drive a MARC Ford Focus, thanking Perry Bitsikas (Muscle Car Warehouse) and Geoff Taunton (MARC Cars Australia) for the opportunity.
“As much as it might be a little bit hard to believe, I’ve never been around the joint before,” Murphy told V8 Sleuth.
“I always said to myself, it would be really cool and really special, if nothing goes my way and nothing works out, that I would still at least once get the opportunity to race there.
“It’s pretty special that that’s going to be happening this year and Dad is going to be there working (on the Supercars broadcast), so it will be cool to have him there and be able to bounce stuff off him, I’m sure.
“It’s pretty cool that I get to do it in a MARC car and a car with some horsepower and probably a lot of grip as well, so it will be pretty exciting to go around the joint at a half-decent speed and see what it’s like.
“I’m absolutely buzzing and can’t wait. It’s a cool opportunity and probably not too much pressure either, just to build up and learn, in a class where there’s going to be varying speeds of cars, so it’s just going to be a matter of doing laps and that’s it.”
His first laps in the Focus will be in Sports Sedans Practice 1 on the morning of Thursday, October 5.
It has been an up-and-down first season in Australian motorsport for Murphy, who broke through for a Sprint Challenge race win at Symmons Plains but dropped to seventh in the standings after a disastrous round last month at Queensland Raceway.
Two rounds remain, at The Bend (October 13-15) and the Bathurst International (November 9-11).
Murphy says he hasn’t got anything locked in for 2024 as yet, but is making no secret of a desire to chase the Supercars dream.
It’s one which will become a reality for his housemate Ryan Wood next year, who’ll graduate from Super2 to a main game seat at Walkinshaw Andretti United.
“My focus is still just to give my all and do my absolute best for Mick and Maria (Ritter) and everyone at Sonic in the championship I’m in at the moment,” said Murphy.
“The first two rounds were really good, the last two have been pretty below average. We have got two more rounds and we still have got to do a really good job.
“I think the whole reason why I came over here and why I wanted to pursue this was to eventually try to make that step into a Supercar.
“It’s what I have grown up idolising and followed religiously since I could walk, but at the same time, things like budget and financial constraints and all of that plays a very big part.
“Right now, I don’t have anything set or anything confirmed, it’s just focusing on the job that’s at hand and make sure we maximise and do the best job this year and then hopefully some opportunities will arise.”
