Murray and fellow Chevrolet young gun Zach Bates ploughed into Broc Feeney’s Triple Eight Mustang as it rotated wildly in the middle of the pack at Turn 1 on Sunday.
Feeney had been tagged into a spin by Kai Allen and then mashed the throttle, “lighting it up to try get out of everyone’s way”.
That resulted in a massive smokescreen and Feeney spinning directly into the path of the two Camaros, which were taking avoiding action to driver’s left.
“I’ve seen all the shunting happening ahead and went on to Astro turf and even the grass to try avoid it,” Murray told Speedcafe.
“But then Broc just did a flick-spin in front of me and unfortunately I had nowhere to go and no time to react at all.
“It’s just a gut-wrenching feeling, you know what’s coming, but to be honest, I feel sorry for the crew the most.
Secure your spot today.
“It’s not what we want when the cars need to be in the container to leave [for New Zealand] soon.”
Speaking on the Cool Down Lap Podcast, Bates had a similar story.
“I didn’t see too much, obviously. That’s why I ploughed into the side of Broc,” he said.
“I knew something was happening in front of me. I could see some smoke and whatnot. I kind of was veering as far left, nearly onto the grass as I could and I slowed it right up.
“But unfortunately, Broc kept spinning, Cooper got in first and then I came in. So very disappointing.”
It was a final hammer blow in a horror weekend for both drivers that left Bates 22nd and Murray 23rd in weekend points, ahead only of the hapless Aaron Cameron.
“Probably the toughest weekend I have had in motorsport, to be honest,” said Murray, who was the victim of a three-into-one squeeze with Will Brown and Jack Le Brocq on Saturday.
“All of those make the highest better, so let’s hope there’s a few highs around the corner.”
Matt Stone Racing rookie Bates endured incidents in all four races and did not show the turn of speed he’d managed on debut in Sydney last month.
“It’s a little bit more difficult this time to draw the positives on the weekend, but it was great to have my first taste of the Albert Park Circuit and everything like that,” he added.
“For the most part, we were reasonably speedy, but just had a pretty average few races. I didn’t make it past turn three in any of the races [without an incident].”
Discussion about this post