Murph might still be driving the Castrol Edge Commodore at the L&H 500.
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By Gordon Lomas 4:42 PM Tue 31 August, 2010
Source: BigPond Sport
Daniel Gaunt ran almost 500km in Greg Murphy’s #51 Castrol Edge Commodore at Queensland Raceway testing today but is not guaranteed to replace the four-time Bathurst champ at Phillip Island.
Team owner Paul Morris confirmed that Murphy remains firmly in the running to hold his drive and recover from a recent back operation.
Murphy will drive his Commodore in morning practice at the L&H 500 on Friday week where his fate will be sealed one way or the other.
“Murph will be in the car on the Friday and from there we will make an assessment and see where we are at,” Morris said from the team’s pit stall at Queensland Raceway.
Murphy rates himself about 75 per cent right and has never ruled himself out of taking part in the enduro at the high-speed island circuit.
Daniel Gaunt did some exhaustive running in the striking green and red liveried Commodore today.
“He’s done plenty of laps and is probably in a position he’s not quite used to,” Morris said.
“We have until 5.30pm before nominating our final driver list on the Friday at Phillip Island so it will be a last minute decision.”
DJR patriarch Dick Johnson oversaw the Jim Beam entries in a smooth and trouble-free test.
Jim Beam driver James Courtney went into the break with a 120-point lead over TeamVodafone star Jamie Whincup, psychologically a sound position to be in but the team remains acutely aware it is far from comfortable.
“We have been working long hours and have had a chance to replace a lot of stuff on the cars in preparation for the long distance races,” team co-owner Johnson said.
“I don’t know if anything has changed with other teams speed-wise in the break but I hope they haven’t had time to re-gather their pace,” he smiled.
Stone Brothers completed its first of a two-day test today coming out of the winter break and will return to Queensland Raceway on Thursday.
