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Erebus Motorsport seriously considered running its renewed Bathurst 1000 wildcard pair of Greg Murphy and Richie Stanaway in one additional Supercars sprint event each this year.
To assist with preparations for the Great Race in October, plans were mulled to field Stanaway at the Sandown SuperSprint and Murphy at the following event in New Zealand.
Both drivers have history with those locations, Stanaway having spectacularly won the 2017 Sandown 500 with Cameron Waters, while Murphy is known as the king of Pukekohe.
The now 49-year-old, who has not competed in a solo Supercars event since 2012, won nine of the championship’s first 15 races held at Pukekohe Park Raceway.
Murphy and Stanaway had been touted to team up for the 2021 Bathurst 1000 before travel restrictions cruelled that plan. Their place in this year’s edition of the Mount Panorama enduro was confirmed on Saturday.
And now Speedcafe.com can reveal there was even more in the pipeline.
“[Entering Murphy at Pukekohe] was one we asked about and it would have been pretty cool, and even Sandown for Richie because of his history there with Waters,” Erebus CEO Barry Ryan confirmed to Speedcafe.com.
“There was talk around those but it just didn’t eventuate unfortunately.
“It’s off the table now.”
Both Boost Mobile-backed New Zealanders last drove a Supercar in 2019, Murphy in an additional driver session at The Bend Motorsport Park for Dick Johnson Racing, and Stanaway at the Newcastle season finale.
Murphy has not competed in any form of Supercars Championship race since 2014.
The 2022 Auckland SuperSprint in any case has now been surrounded in doubt, due to cost and logistics issues around the global freight sector.
Supercars says it is still working to protect that event on September 10-11, the last round in the build-up to Bathurst across October 6-9.
