But the 26-year-old ended his two-event campaign alongside Cam Hill at Matt Stone Racing with a pair of top 10 finishes to his name and the unofficial top rookie honours in the Great Race.

It was a tough run for the rookie class that also featured Cooper Murray (14th after a penalty), Ryan Wood (15th), Cameron McLeod (19th), Aaron Cameron (23rd) and Brad Vaughan (25th).

Crick endured a shaky build-up to the Great Race when he crashed at Forrest’s Elbow in co-driver practice on Friday morning.

The part-time Super2 racer stayed out of trouble during a taxing double stint on Sunday to hand lead driver Hill a straight car to fight to the finish.

“Unbelievable to be in the top 10 at my first Bathurst 1000 — stoked with that,” said Crick, who also finished third in the Bathurst round of the V8 SuperUtes Series across the weekend.

“In my stint I just plugged away, logged the laps; probably made it easier for some guys but I did what I had to do and gave it back to Cam in one piece.

“I was knackered after my double stint so I don’t know how he did a triple — we got through it and his stint at the end was great to get us back into the top 10.

“To be top 10 at both Sandown and Bathurst is awesome.”

The result restored some pride to MSR in what was otherwise a tough weekend that failed to deliver on the promise created by its speed at Mount Panorama in February.

Nick Percat and Dylan O’Keeffe finished 17th after being forced to undertake an extra pitstop to close a troublesome passenger side door.

O’Keeffe had crashed in the same session as Crick on Friday and neither MSR Camaro progressed from that afternoon’s qualifying to Saturday’s prestigious Top 10 Shootout.

“The door coming loose in the pit stop was pretty annoying and just something that shouldn’t happen,” reflected Carrera Cup racer O’Keeffe.

“I don’t know if it stemmed on from the accident or just wasn’t shut hard enough but obviously we’ll analyse it.”