Murphy returning to NZGP
Kiwi motorsport legend Greg Murphy is stepping back into a single seater and will compete in the 2021 New Zealand Grand Prix.
His return to the race comes 27 years after he won it as a 21-year-old before going on to enjoy a successful Supercars career.
Murphy, pictured above, says victory in the NZGP was the most significant thing he had achieved in motorsport at that stage.
“I had won a few things but nothing that really announced myself as someone that could be a professional race car driver,” he says.
“The big thing – I can recall the feeling around it – is that it was like I had put a stake in the ground. It meant a lot. It was a progression and a key contributor with where I went next – at that point it was still a hobby I did as an amateur but that allowed me to chase a career.”
Murphy, a four-time Bathurst winner, has his name etched on the NZGP Prix trophy alongside Formula One legends such as Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Jack Brabham and Sir Jackie Stewart. Kiwi stars Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon have also taken the chequered flag in the prestigious race.
In 2021 a host of up-and-coming drivers will hope to emulate what Murphy did at the start of his career. Billy Frazer, Matthew Payne and Kaleb Ngatoa are among those who will be taking part in the 66th edition of the race, which will take place at Hampton Downs on January 24.
The event is being billed as the Race of Champions because the younger racers will be on track alongside a crop of top New Zealanders, including Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen, former NZGP winner Daniel Gaunt and world karting champion Chris van der Drift.
“It will be a massive challenge,” Murphy says. “I think perspective needs to be applied – I’m 48 and haven’t done anything serious in a car, competing for such a big trophy since 2014 really. I have done a bit of GT racing but that was just fun.
“The competitive element will kick in – none of us wants to be there making up the numbers – but I will not have it easy.
“The fact that Kenny Smith is entering his 50th New Zealand Grand Prix was a big draw card to competing. If my involvement helps grow the interest in the event then that will be a success.”
Hat-trick goal
Gaunt, a two-time winner of the event, says he intends to be a force to be reckoned with come race day.
It will be the 36-year-old Aucklander's seventh NZGP and he triumphed in the 2007 and 2009 editions of the race. If he wins a third time, he will join Kenny Smith, Craig Baird and Nick Cassidy – all New Zealanders – in achieving that feat.
Gaunt, pictured below, is keen to get his name on the trophy again after four races in the last Asian Le Mans Series aboard a LMP2 prototype car saw him share the roster with Nick Cassidy and, on one occasion, van Gisbergen.
The former single seater, V8 Supercar and GT racer explains it was his form in the series that showed him he could still compete with the best.
“Nick is world class and Formula One standard and we all know how good Shane is, so they were a great benchmark for me to see where I was in terms of my pace,” adds Gaunt.
“I was very happy with that pace and form in a car that is one of the quickest out there unless you are racing at the very top levels of motorsport.
"That's partly what has convinced me that I wanted to put together a deal to race in the Grand Prix. I won't be there to make up numbers and I fully intend to be on the pace from the first session and be a factor in the race.”
Gaunt was the first driver to sample a Toyota FT60 in New Zealand when the car was introduced for the 2020 Castrol Toyota Racing Season.
‘Bucket-list’ target
Among the favourites for the NZGP will be van der Drift, whose entry is being underpinned by the Tasman Motorsports Group team of former Indy Lights and CART team owners Steve and Christine Horne.
Van der Drift has an impressive international racing resume with three European championships to his name – in Formula BMW, Formula Renault 2.0 and International Formula Masters as well as race starts in categories such as A1GP, Superleague Formula and World Series by Renault.
He is also a three-time Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion and won the most recent Lamborghini Super Trofeo Championship.
The 34-year-old, pictured below, now lives in Hamilton and hopes to add a NZGP title to his list of successes.
“As a New Zealander I’ve never done a lot of racing here,” he explains. “I did some karting here, a little bit in Australia then went off to Europe.
“Up until this year, all I’ve done in New Zealand was one single seater race – the Grand Prix in 2006, an A1GP round and two V8 SuperTourer rounds. Covid-19 has prevented a great deal more this year.
“Just as much for me as for Steve and Christine, it’s a box I would like to tick. I’ve had just one shot at it in the past. Now to have another chance, I’m pumped.
“There are some very good drivers who are going to be out there too. I’m going for the win, this is my chance to do it, I feel good and I’m driving well. Once the entry list is finalised, I think it’s going to be quite a spectacle.”
For Steve Horne, team principal and co-owner of Tasman Motorsports Group, a NZGP win is a “bucket-list” item.
“My father George was on the original New Zealand Grand Prix committee back in the early ’50s,” he notes.
“I watched my first Grand Prix back in 1957 when it was won by Reg Parnell, that’s probably what ignited my passion for the sport.
“We’ve won some big races in the US with some great world class drivers, but we’ve never entered the Grand Prix here. To win it, would be pretty special for Christine and I – it’s a bucket-list race for us, we are excited to put a car on the grid.”
The livery of the Toyota FT60 car the van der Drift will be driving is a throwback to the heritage of the Tasman Motorsports Group team and mirrors the livery of the LCI sponsored Reynard CART chassis campaigned by the team in the mid-1990s.
Weekend of action
The MotorSport New Zealand-sanctioned NZGP doubles as the opening round of the Toyota Racing Series championship.
A joint venture by Hampton Downs and Speed Works Events, it will run over the weekend of January 22-24 with practice, qualifying and two races for drivers before the NZGP itself on the final day over 28 laps of the circuit.
For tickets, visit www.hamptondowns.com/event/nz-grand-prix.
