The team opted to roll the dice and run a three-stop strategy on both cars.

However, Murray was forced to pit for a fourth time late in the going while Le Brocq ran dry on the final lap, falling from 17th to 20th.

Murray had qualified 15th and ended the race a lap down in 22nd position.

Le Brocq started 22nd and set the fastest lap of the race midway through – speed that Ryan said was a contributing factor in the downfall.

“We misjudged it,” Ryan, who is both the CEO of Erebus and Le Brocq’s race engineer, told Supercars Trackside.

“We planned the three stopper and then he went so fast it burned more fuel than we expected, and I just miscalculated.

“My old brain’s not as sharp as some of these young blokes, so I’ll learn, but I’m sorry to everybody.

“And on [team owner] Betty [Klimenko]’s birthday… it’s not a good present for her, but we’ll be right, we’ll bounce back. We always have.”

Ryan added that the speed shown by Le Brocq during the race added to a sense of missed opportunity.

“Jack had a ball because he could drive as fast as he wanted to drive and he had no traffic,” he said.

“We tested the car out and he said it was the best it had been all weekend, so that’s the thing that’s a shame…

“If we qualified like we did yesterday, we would have had a speedy race.”

Le Brocq and Murray sit 15th and 23rd in the championship standings respectively.