25 best Supercars drivers since 2000: #10 Greg Murphy

As 2025 gets underway, Supercars.com is ranking the top 25 drivers of the last 25 years, continuing with Greg Murphy, who comes in as our #10.

Arguably the first true Supercars superstar to hail from the other side of the Tasman Sea, Greg Murphy carved out a reputation in the early to mid-2000s as one of the top drivers in the championship.

Having risen to prominence alongside Craig Lowndes as the second of the Holden Racing Team's rising stars in the late 1990s, Murphy's peak would come in the early to mid-2000s.

After two seasons at Gibson Motorsport in 1999 and 2000 brought a second Bathurst win in the former, a move to the second of Tom Walkinshaw's teams in 2001 brought the most profitable years of the Kiwi's career.

In four seasons at Kmart Racing, Murphy was a consistent front runner and championship contender, with his fiery, heart-on-sleeve approach winning him legions of fans, especially on home turf at Pukekohe.

Greg Murphy's key stats since 2000

Years active: 2000-2014, 2022

Rounds: 177

Races: 380

Best championship position: 2nd (2002, 2003)

Best finish: 1st (20 wins)

Top three finishes: 59

Best start: 1st (9 pole positions)

Best Bathurst result: 1st (2003, 2004)

The highlight

What many consider still to be the greatest single lap ever completed at Mount Panorama, Murphy's electrifying pole run in the Top Ten Shootout for the 2003 Bathurst 1000 is the clear standout from an already illustrious career.

Having just watched John Bowe take a Brad Jones Racing Falcon to a 2:07.9556s - the first driver to go under the 2:08s barrier in the event's history - Murphy needed something mythical to claim pole.

What followed when Murphy took the track was 126 seconds of pure magic that sent all who had gathered on the mountain on that Saturday afternoon into a frenzy.

0.4055s up at the end of the first sector, 0.6944s up out of Forrest's Elbow, 1.0962s up at the control line.

It didn't take long for Murphy's 2:06.8594s to be hailed as the 'Lap of the Gods', and the reaction from teams along pit lane who emerged from their garage to applaud a wildly celebrating Murphy encapsulated how historic a moment it truly was.

Although the marker has since been beaten several times by newer, faster machinery, Murphy's Lap of the Gods is still viewed by many as the peak of Supercars' golden age, and it's hard to disagree.

Why we picked him

Brilliantly fast on his day, when everything was going his way, Murphy was simply untouchable, as best demonstrated by his utter dominance of the first Supercars events held in his native New Zealand.

Murphy's Pukekohe dominance drew Kiwi motorsport fans into an absolute frenzy, and ensured that the venue just outside of Auckland remained well attended until it dropped off the calendar for the Hamilton Street Circuit in 2008.

However, it was on the sport's biggest stage that Murphy truly shone (read below), pairing with young phenom Rick Kelly to claim two Bathurst wins in a row in 2003 and 2004.

There were further podiums in 2000 (with Steven Richards), 2001 (with Todd Kelly), 2008 (with the late Jason Richards), and 2011 (with the late Allan Simonsen), with the latter two coming in midfield machinery from Tasman Motorsport and Kelly Racing respectively.

Whilst his inconsistencies across the balance of a full season mixed with some bad luck ultimately scuppered any chances of a championship, his ability to turn on a big performance on any given day were richly rewarded at Bathurst.

The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of Supercars, teams or drivers.