Greg Murphy has expressed a level of sympathy for Zane Goddard after the Tickford Racing co-driver was widely pilloried for causing a big smash-up in the Repco Bathurst 1000.
Goddard made a hash of trying to pass the New Zealander for sixth on Lap 5 of the 161-lap race, locking the unweighted front and running through the muddy outfield at The Chase.
The real drama, however, occurred when he sprayed back onto the race track at the exit of that complex, close to perpendicular to track direction, and took out Brad Jones Racing’s Dale Wood before being shunted by Grove Racing’s hapless Matt Campbell.
The 23-year-old was fiercely criticised over the incident, with Wood’s primary driver, Andre Heimgartner, hitting out at those “driving like absolute losers” and calling for them to “get their shit together”.
Eventual race winner Shane van Gisbergen would lay the blame for the early chaos in the Great Race on the likes of Goddard, declaring, “It was all the co-drivers and all the people who caused it were co-drivers with something to prove; pretty simple.”
Following a post-race investigation, Goddard was fined $10,000 for an unsafe rejoin, that penalty being of the same magnitude as team-mate Jake Kostecki’s for a practice red flag breach which stewards decided was “particularly reckless and below the standard of a competent Driver”.
Nevertheless, Murphy, who came out of retirement to drive Erebus Motorsport’s wildcard entry at Mount Panorama, had sympathy for him.
“It was nuts,” said the four-time Great Race winner of his first Bathurst 1000 in eight years, in an appearance on Fox Sports at Phillip Island during the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix weekend.
“I mean, I got out of the car, my eyes were wide open… I felt like a rookie.
“I think that also not having the pressure of having to go forward… You know, you’ve got all these young guys, and I really feel for Zane Goddard because he made an error, a judgement error, and it caused what it did.
“He’s a great young driver and great young man, but the wrath of the paddock fell on top of him and I really feel for him, so I hope he’s doing okay and pulling through on it all, because it’s really tough.”
Murphy’s comments follow an apology from Goddard himself, and a passionate defence of the Queenslander from Russell Ingall.
The Repco Supercars Championship continues on October 28-30 with the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.
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