Motorsport: Drivers in two minds about reverse-grid starts

Great for the spectators, a nightmare for some of the teams and a mixed blessing for the drivers. That was the consensus yesterday of two of the most experienced V8 Supercar drivers before the reverse-grid race at Pukekohe on April 23.

The controlling body of the series has introduced the concept of reversing the start order in the third race of its sprint rounds to spice up the action.

The first of these races will be at the New Zealand round.

Greg Murphy, winner at Pukekohe last year, has been against the idea from the start and yesterday in Auckland questioned the need to introduce it.

"Some days it'll work for you and some days it won't. It's going to decide the outcome of the championship, and I don't think that's the right way to go about it.

"Reverse grids have been run in a lot of championships, including the V8 championship here, and I don't know many drivers in the New Zealand championship who like them too much ... But it's in our championship now, and we've got to accept it.

"You're going to have to have a different strategy because how you finish in the first two races is going to determine your place on the grid for the third."

Steven Richards, who drives for Larry Perkins' Holden team, said there were pluses and minuses to reverse grids.

"I'm torn between lots of things," he said. "It's going to be great for the fans. There's going to be plenty of action in those races. It's probably not going to be so good for the teams because of the repair bills they'll have.

"The drivers will love it sometimes and hate it other times. Sometimes the gaps will open and you'll race through the field. Other times you'll be sitting in 28th place and going nowhere."

Murphy and Richards will be strong contenders for the championship, won last year by Ford's Russell Ingall and in the previous two years by his teammate Marcos Ambrose, who will be racing in the US this season.

Murphy and Ambrose had a famous on-track confrontation after they collided in the closing stages of the Bathurst 1000 last October, so will there be a continuing feud with the championship-winning Stone Brothers Ford team now that James Courtney has taken over from Ambrose?

"I think he's just as good, and the difficulty is I really like the guy," Murphy said.

Murphy will have a new teammate in the Super Cheap Holden team when the series starts at Adelaide on March 24-26. Paul Weel has opted to concentrate on his business and has been replaced by Cameron McConville.