MURRAY ENJOYS CAREER-BEST WEEKEND DESPITE LATE MISFORTUNE
Cooper Murray has enjoyed a career-best weekend at the Ipswich Super 440 to close the inaugural Supercars Sprint Cup.
Cooper finished a season-high sixth in the opening race of the weekend, up from seventh on the grid, in a speed breakthrough that had him lapping on the pace of second-place finisher Kai Allen but without enough laps to close the gap.
The Erebus rookie looked poised to record back-to-back top-10 finishes for the first time this season after getting a great launch from 12th on the grid, but the start was too fast, leaving him sandwiched between Thomas Randle and Matt Payne.
The squeeze sent Cooper momentarily airborne, but though he was able to continue without damage, a subsequent melee at the first turn sent him off the road and into the gravel to avoid stray cars, dropping him to the back of the field and leaving him powerless to finish higher than 23rd.
Cooper returned on Sunday in good form, qualifying second in Q1 but dropping out in Q2 in 17th after a mistake on his final lap, but another great start had him back up to 12th by the second lap.
One lap later, however, heralded the arrival of a short but intense rain shower than jumbled the order. Cooper lose out in the madness, emerging from the cloudburst 23rd. Strong late to gain two places, he was promoted to 17th in the classification by post-race penalties for others.
Despite the misfortune, Cooper left Ipswich with 103 points, the highest weekend score of his career, as he continues to build in his maiden Supercars campaign.
“Overall it was a very positive weekend in Ipswich even though some of the results don’t show it. To get a sixth on Saturday was a really good result for me and the team.
“Sunday was looking to be another very positive day after qualifying second in the first part of qualifying. Unfortunately I made a tiny mistake on my lap in Q2 which ruined our chances of a good result.
“I’m looking forward to taking this boost of confidence and car speed into the enduro season.”