WILDCARDS TAME THEIR RETURN

While it was Triple Eight’s wildcard that finished best of the one-off entries in the Great Race, it was the third Erebus car that made the biggest splash.

The Boost Mobile-backed wildcard pairing of Richie Stanaway and Greg Murphy was an intriguing prospect heading into the weekend, given four-time Great Race winner Murphy hadn’t raced at Bathurst since 2014, and Stanaway had walked away from the sport entirely after a tough 2019 season.

It was hard to tell if they’d be up to it, and not just from the outside. Murphy himself was nervous that he’d be too slow. The relief in his voice when he set a respectful 2m05.871s in Thursday’s co-driver practice, a full second faster than his famous Lap of the Gods, was obvious.

However it was Stanaway that really starred, particularly in the wet. He qualified the car fifth (which later became fourth once Shane van Gisbergen took his penalty) on Friday and had the Shootout taken place in the wet, he would have been a contender for pole. The fact that he was one of the few drivers that criticised the cancellation spoke volumes.

From that second row start a conservative Murphy lost ground in the first stint, as expected, while the car suffered a more significant setback when Murphy was punted into a spin at Griffins Bend by Jake Kostecki on lap 61. Still, the pair battled their way to a respectable 11th place at the finish.

The comeback now has Stanaway contemplating a sensational full-time return to Supercars competition: “I would consider coming back if the opportunity is right. I definitely qualified ahead of some people I shouldn’t have, after three years on the couch. I pulled my cool suit out, which I haven’t used since my last race, and it smelled like the inside of a museum.

“I don’t think there will be anyone else on the grid with that sort of situation…”