Murray happy to confront 'tough' main game racing

Cooper Murray may be debuting in a year the on-track aggression has been dialled up a notch, but the Erebus Motorsport rookie believes it will make him a better driver.

The Victorian has already had a taste of both ends of the spectrum through two rounds in 2025, from qualifying at the front to being tipped into a spin in Sydney, and taken out in Melbourne.

Already, Murray has claimed a top 10 race finish, and has qualified in the top five — the only rookie to achieve both feats this season of far.

Murray’s season qualifying average is 13.71, putting him 16th overall. However, he turned a 21.0 average in Sydney into a 8.25 average in Melbourne, courtesy of qualifying fifth and third for the final two races.

He also charged from 14th to ninth in Race 5, providing a bright spark for Erebus on a day teammate Jack Le Brocq crashed out.

Being a rookie in Supercars, there have been unsurprising pains, such as being penalised over a Sydney clash with Broc Feeney, before crashing out of Race 6 in Melbourne after a collision with Macauley Jones.

All told, Murray is “having fun” amid the wild action, and feels the baptism of fire is making him a stronger racer.

"I'm finding my feet,” the 23-year-old said.

"It's just at the moment the racing's very tough as you've seen on TV. It's providing some really good racing, all the door-to-door racing and contact.

“It all makes you a better race car driver and I'm having fun out there, which is the main thing.”

Murray impressed in Melbourne to qualify fifth and third, but only had a DNF to show for it. The #99 Camaro was shuffled down to 10th in the early laps of Race 6, before Jones ended his day early.

Come Sunday, and Murray was third in the queue as heavy rain lashed Albert Park, seeing the race abandoned and leaving Erebus with a what-could-have-been scenario with their young driver raring to get racing.

For Murray, there’s plenty of confidence in the #99 crew heading to New Zealand, with the rising star determined to roll out strongly at Taupō to give himself a better chance at fighting at the front.

"Coming out of Grand Prix, we've got some really good confidence,” Murray said.

“The car was strong there, so come away fifth and third in the last two qualifyings really proved where our speed can be when we get the car in the window.

"So, eyes forward to New Zealand now and make sure we roll out with a strong car there and continue our good form.”

Tickets for the ITM Taupō Super 440, on April 11-13, are on sale now.