Lowndes impressed by Murray's robust Waters defence

Craig Lowndes has hailed Cooper Murray's efforts in keeping an "aggressive" Cam Waters at bay in a thrilling conclusion to Sunday's Penrite Oil Sandown 500.

Lowndes and Murray powered their Supercheap Auto Chevrolet from 18th to fifth, marking the best result by a Triple Eight wildcard at a Supercars endurance race.

Rookie Murray, who will race for Erebus Motorsport next season, had it all to do in the final third of the race, having to hold off a racy Waters after an earlier run-in at Turn 6.

Before the final stops, Waters fell into the clutches of drivers behind, with 23-year-old Murray capitalising with a bold move on the Tickford Racing star at Turn 6.

After the penultimate Safety Car restart of the race, Waters nerfed Murray off through the Turn 3 grass, with the latter hanging onto fifth before the race was neutralised by the Safety Car again. Murray ultimately beat Waters to fifth by 0.47s.

Lowndes said the young Victorian's wildcard debut in Darwin in June paved the way to his ability to challenge the stars of the main game, saying: "The Darwin event early on in the year, he really came out of that with a lot of confidence.

"It really sort of gave him that experience that he needed, especially that restart with Cam Waters right behind him. [After the race] he got out of the car and he goes, ‘Yes!’

“He was just rapt to hold Cam off.”

When asked if he was proud of Murray, Lowndes replied: "I am. What [Peter] Brock did with me was off-track stuff. When you put a helmet on these kids, they're great.

“He proved that today, he's really developed. He's blossoming. He's doing a great job and we're both now really looking forward to Bathurst."

For Murray, who finished second in the earlier Super2 race, the result carried the weight of a victory: “That feels like a win, to be honest.

"An amazing day with the whole Supercheap Auto Racing wildcard crew, Craig did an amazing job and gave me a really good spot and really good position with our strategy and just had to conserve the tyres and bring it home.

"It was a little bit chaotic at the end, it was fine until the Safety Car came out. That's when I knew it was going to get hectic because I knew Waters was behind and he's very aggressive.

"So just had my eyes forward and focused on the job and got it home.”

Murray and Lowndes will reunite at the Repco Bathurst 1000 on October 10-13. Tickets are on sale now.