Murph/Skaife Denied 10th Bathurst Crown

The team’s strategy was perfect; it only needed to put 22 seconds of fuel into Murphy’s car in his final pit stop and he would have re-entered the race eight seconds ahead of Garth Tander – the eventual winner.

With a combined nine Bathurst wins between them, they should have been celebrating a 10th.

Mark Skaife rued the win that got away.

“If we were ever going to win Bathurst with 20 laps to go, this was it,” a shattered Mark Skaife said.

“Absolutely unbelievable, we were the fastest car on the track in the final stages of the race; we could not have been in a better position.

“It was a rock solid strategy. Throw in 22 seconds of fuel and be in front of Garth by eight seconds.

“We would have been well in front, with the speed to take it home.

“It’s a cruel, cruel sport.”

Murphy and Skaife were in contention all day but Murphy thought his podium chances had ended thanks to the safety car on lap 140.

“I’ve never seen a race like that,” Murphy said.

“We went from hero, to zero to hero to zero. It was great fun and those on the podium deserve to be there. We gave it our all and just fell short

“It’s the best fourth place I’ve ever had.

“The car was tremendous. We struggled on wet tyres, we just couldn’t get temperature into them, but when it dried we were very fast.

“I knew that our day was over with that safety car. I missed the pit entry by five seconds. Had the safety car come out five seconds later I could have made it in the pits and I would have been right.

“It’s unbelievable to think that we were still in with a shot for a podium given what transpired.”

Murphy and Skaife finished fourth and the second Sprint Gas Holden was two spots back in sixth.

Where Murphy and Skaife’s podium chances were ruined by the safety car on lap 140 Jason Bargwanna and Mark Noske benefited.

Bargwanna came out of his final stop in fourth place and fought for a place on the podium only to be denied by some wayward Jamie Whincup driving.

“I’m shattered, I can’t believe it, we had Whincup’s measure and were as fast as he was,” Bargwanna said.

“Sixth is a good result but it could have been so much better, we should have been on the podium.

“I’m a little lost for words, from where I stood it was pretty obvious that he (Whincup) took me out, and to rub salt into the wound I get blamed for blocking. Sorry, I was racing hard and he couldn’t get past. That’s called racing for the Bathurst podium in my books.

Sprint Gas Racing Sporting Director Jeff Grech could not have been prouder of the team.

“It was a champion effort by everyone,” Grech said.

“Our preparation was perfect, I couldn’t be prouder of the team.

“We are all so disappointed not to have won the race, and have another car on the podium, that we forget that we have done something pretty impressive – two cars in the top six is impressive.

“Unfortunately luck didn’t go our way today, but all drivers gave it their all. It was definitely the one that got away.

“I want to thank all the sponsors for their support, we couldn’t have done this without them and thanks to the drivers, they were all outstanding.

“Hopefully we can have the same driver line up at Bathurst next year.”

Source: www.sprintgasracing.com