Motorsport: Murphy plans drive up the ladder

Greg Murphy: 'At Darwin we should have done a lot better.' Photo / Getty Images

The Australian V8 Supercar championship round in Townsville this weekend marks the halfway point of the series, and two-time champion Jamie Whincup looks good for a third.

He leads the race for the title by 120 points from his teammate Craig Lowndes, who in turn is 105 ahead of Kiwi driver Shane van Gisbergen.

The pack chasing Whincup will have to kick on over the second half of the season to stay in touch with Whincup and the best placed Kiwi, Van Gisbergen, is comfortably poised to build on his two race wins so far this season.

The Stone Brothers Racing driver has shown plenty of form in his SP Tools Falcon round the 2.86km Townsville street circuit in the past, qualifying fifth at the first event held in Townsville two years ago, and sixth last year.

Turning quick practice pace on old tyres early on in the weekend into consistent top qualifying pace on new tyres on Saturday and Sunday has been a challenge but a concerted effort has seen progress over the year.

Another driver to keep a sly eye on is arguably the most successful New Zealand V8 Supercar driver, Greg Murphy. By his own admission he's had a few lean years but this season, as part of Kelly Racing, the four-time Bathurst winner has steadily improved, picking up points in all but one race. Murphy sits 17th in the championship just behind defending champion James Courtney.

"Things are steadily getting better but not quite fast enough for everybody. It just all feels better and everyone is a lot more positive. It's got a much better vibe and I'm enjoying it a lot more," said Murphy.

"We've got a good feeling in the team and know there's more to do and come. We actually see some progress being made. There've been a few results that have gone astray and it's like winning your first race where we just have to get our first complete weekend."

Murphy and his Pepsi Max crew hope that with the new look they can get an extra bit out of the car and themselves and get further up the grid in qualifying.

If he and his team can get through a complete race weekend without any mishaps or hiccups, look for things to flow on from there and Murphy to haul himself further up the points table. "At Darwin we should have done a lot better.

"We qualified well for the first race but got caught up in the debacle at the end of the race that cost us a good top 10 finish, and on Sunday we just didn't qualify well enough, which was a shame, and then we got crashed into at the start of the race.

"We just need a couple of races to go to our plan and not someone else's. We're getting closer to having a good base [race car] that we understand and are learning more," said Murphy.

This weekend at the Sucrogen Townsville 400, Murphy will celebrate his 400th V8 Supercars race start today at his 177th V8 Supercar event. He is 10th on the all-time event starts list and equal 10th in all-time race wins with 28 victories.

"I didn't realise until Tuesday I had that many either. I think if I had found out earlier I might have kicked up a fuss and told them not to mention it but they kept it a secret from me," said Murphy.

The soft option tyre will be used for the first time on the Townsville circuit. Teams will be able to use a soft set in each race and will also have the use of 24 new hard sets over the weekend. History shows that you don't need to start on the front row of the grid to win in Townsville.

Whincup's the only race winner to come from the front row when he won last year's Saturday race.

In 2009, Whincup won from ninth and Courtney from fourth. Last year Mark Winterbottom won from sixth on the grid.

Qualifying and the Top-10 Shootout will be held tomorrow before the first 200km race, with another qualifying and the second 200km race on Sunday.