Wildcard Debutant Cooper Murray Shines in Supercars Debut

Cooper Murray’s wildcard debut in the main game produced one of the video highlights of the weekend.

In his second qualifying session in Supercars, Murray surprised the field with the fifth-fastest qualifying score, which he converted to 10th on the grid in his first shootout. However, his Sunday race was cut short when Andre Heimgartner’s Camaro mounted his #888 Supercheap Auto Camaro on the opening lap.

“It’s not what you want, especially when you’re at the front, but unfortunately that stuff happens,” Murray said. “I thought qualifying up the front would keep me out of the shit, but I was proved wrong.”

Despite the setback, Murray was pleased with his progress throughout the weekend, learning to save his tyres and adapting to the car. He even managed to set the fourth-fastest lap time with a damaged steering system.

Cooper Murray’s car suffered extensive damage in the incident.

Murray was full of praise for the Triple Eight team, saying he felt at home and was made to feel like he belonged. He’s looking forward to the next race, where he hopes to showcase his top-five pace.

“I felt at home right away. The Triple Eight team welcomed me and took my input. All the engineers helped me and just made it feel really, really special.”

With the Sandown 500 and Bathurst on the horizon, Murray is confident that he and Craig Lowndes will be a force to be reckoned with.

“If we have the speed at Sandown and Bathurst, which I’m sure we will, this is only the beginning. It’s my first race in the main series and only the second time in the car, really. So we’re only going to get better and better, and we’re going to go out with a bang at Bathurst.”