Motorsport: Holden must 'do it for Brock'

Greg Murphy

Four-time winner New Zealand's Greg Murphy says a win for Holden in the Bathurst 1000 at Mt Panorama this weekend is important for the memory of Peter Brock.

"I think that it would be a more fitting tribute for a Holden driver to win," said Murphy, who is all but counting out his own chances.

"His memory, his exploits at Bathurst and the trophy in his name makes it pretty important for all Holden teams to do a good job this year."

Murphy said Brock, who died in a race crash last month, held a special place in the sport for drivers and fans and his untimely death would add to the drama of the event.

Murphy won back to back Bathurst titles in 2003 and 2004 and set the current lap record of 2mins 6.85secs in 2003.

He is hoping that Bathurst may turn around a difficult season for his Supercheap Auto Racing team.

"It's been horrible really. And there are certainly a lot of cars going quicker than us," Murphy said.

"In fact we were probably quicker at this time last year here than we are now. That's not to say our team are not working really hard to get us back on track."

Murphy has only once finished in the top-10 this season -- a 10th placing at Queensland -- and he is currently back in 23rd placing.

"This year has been a disaster and we can't go up to Bathurst thinking we can win. There are too many others going better than us."

No New Zealand drivers are among the hot tips for success in this weekend's 47th running of the race.

V8 supercar championship leader Craig Lowndes with Jamie Whincup along with Sandown winners Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom carry the Ford hopes of denting Holden's grip on the race.

The cross entries from the Holden Racing and Toll/HSV teams that pit defending champion Mark Skaife with Garth Tander and the Kelly brothers Todd and Rick are tipped to be the pacesetters this week.

Mt Panorama has historically been Holden territory, with 12 wins in the last 20 occasions compared with just four for Ford.

Brock had nine Bathurst wins over 16 years.

Team Kiwi Racing believe they have a strong race car for Sunday's race, which will double as the 100th V8 supercar championship start for Paul Radisich, who is partnered by young New Zealand talent Fabian Coulthard.

They are among a handful of New Zealand drivers in the field for what is considered one of the most demanding and unforgiving circuits.

"It is such a unique circuit and such a demanding test," Murphy said. "To be successful there you must take risks. At the same time there's no other circuit that penalises you so severely for mistakes. So the line between success and failure is very thin at Bathurst."

Practice is set for Thursday and Friday with qualifying and top-10 Shootout on Saturday and 1000km race on Sunday, which will be preceded with a series of tributes to Brock.

- NZPA