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Greg Murphy feels his Bathurst 1000 wildcard appearance earlier this year was a “proper ending” to his time racing in Supercars.
The New Zealander came out of retirement to share the Boost Mobile-backed wildcard with Richie Stanaway in October’s Great Race.
Following that, Murphy signalled that would be his last time competing in the Bathurst 1000.
The Kiwi felt it was a far more fitting way to close out his Supercars chapter compared to the last time he called it quits.
Having retired from full-time driving at the end of 2012, he returned as a co-driver for the Holden Racing Team in 2013 alongside James Courtney.
However, the pair’s enduro campaign was riddled with incidents.
“When I finished full-time in the game in 2012 as a lead driver I suppose, it was a pretty rubbish end to it all,” the four-time Bathurst 1000 winner said on the KTM Summer Grill.
“A rubbish end to my career in 2012 and certainly not a memorable end as far as my last Bathurst as a main game driver.
“The two years after that weren’t much chop after that as a co-driver with James Courtney — we didn’t get much from two events and you don’t get much from it when you stick the thing in the fence either.
“I did that in 2013 and not memorable.
“This year doing the wildcard, it feels like a more proper end to my stay as a driver and as a professional driver and I did get the chance to reflect that knowing the last couple of laps of my third stint at Bathurst that it was soon going to be over.
“I got the chance to take in what it actually means to actually have the chance to drive at that place, and I was very thankful for that.
“It definitely did feel like a proper ending to my time as a Supercar driver and also a suitable sign off to competing at Bathurst.”
Murphy said he is still coming to terms with the significance of the Bathurst weekend in his career.
The Kiwi duo took the chequered flag 11th, still on the lead lap.
“Monday after was quite surreal just trying to actually compute what had actually happened and the fact that it was now done,” added Murphy.
“The significance of coming back after so long out of a car and actually pinching myself to realise I had actually just competed in another Bathurst 1000 which was just so far out of my thinking ever since I stopped racing in 2014.
“Reflecting on it all afterwards, Richie and I were having conversations about how it unravelled and really how successful the whole thing was just to finish.
“I think I’m still actually coming to terms with it a couple months after.”
CLICK HERE to watch the full Bathurst wildcard special episode of the KTM Summer Grill.
