Murphy predicting epic battle
New Zealand motor racing legend Greg Murphy says mind games will be in play between Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen next weekend.
The two Kiwi drivers will be fighting it out for this year’s Supercars championship in Newcastle and as the season has gone on, a rivalry has emerged between the two of them.
Van Gisbergen is looking for his second Supercars title, having previously won it in 2016, while McLaughlin is out to make amends from last year, when he blew his chances of winning the championship, being given three penalties in the final race in Newcastle.
Murphy says next weekend is set up for an epic battle after nothing could separate the drivers in the previous round in Pukekohe.
‘‘It’s an interesting situation that changes so quickly and we saw that at Pukekohe,’’ Murphy, a four-time Bathurst winner told Stuff.
‘‘Scott started with the upper hand by grabbing another pole position, but then we saw Shane really dominate in the race and lay down a hell of a challenge.
‘‘At that point on Saturday afternoon, I really didn’t think Scott was going to be able to respond to it on Sunday.
‘‘But the manner in which he did respond was with such strength and maybe more mental strength than anything else. It completely blew me away.
‘‘The ability for him to do that and so convincingly, puts them back on level pegging.
‘‘The circuit we’re going to, I don’t think it benefits one or the other and they’re both so strong in just about every facet of the sport.
‘‘So it will come down to what we saw in Pukekohe, to the teams providing each driver with the car, with the best set up and speed that will make the difference.
‘‘With 14 points separating them and 300 up for grabs, you don’t have to do the maths to work out it’s anybody’s and all it’s going to take is one of the smallest mistakes to turn things on its head.’’
Depending who you believe, van Gisbergen laid down the first marker in the mind games on Saturday at Pukekohe, when he parked his car so close to McLaughlin’s after winning the race, that his rival couldn’t get out.
Van Gisbergen tried to play down the incident afterwards, saying it was a mistake, but many observers thought it was a way of showing McLaughlin who’s boss.
‘‘That was a big upper hand for Shane,’’ Murphy said.
‘‘He can say whatever he likes, but I believe it was fairly guided and he made a fairly definitive decision to do what he did.
‘‘That’s OK, I don’t have a problem with that and good on him for having a go.
‘‘But what he didn’t do was follow on with it. As soon as he got out of the car and said he made a mistake, he didn’t sell it at all.
‘‘What he should have done was own it and use it to his advantage.
‘‘But he backed off, then it got uncomfortable and everyone was thinking what was it all about if it wasn’t on purpose?
‘‘A guy that drives his car so beautifully and on the limit for such long periods of time, doesn’t misjudge where he parks his car.’’