Supercars: Rookie Cooper Murray set to make debut after last minute Erebus call-up

Cooper Murray has just a couple of days to get his head around a Supercars debut after a last minute call-up for Erebus to replace imminent new dad, Jack Le Brocq.

Rookie Cooper Murray will make an early debut for Erebus Motorsport at the Adelaide 500 after a last-minute call-up.

After starring in a Triple Eight wildcard in the endurance races this year, the highly-rated Murray will sub for Jack Le Brocq, who has rushed home to Queensland to be with wife Mackenzie for the birth of their first child.

Murray will graduate to a full-time Supercars drive for Erebus in 2025, but got the call-up from team chief executive Barry Ryan for an Adelaide debut with the team late on Thursday night.

“When I gave him the call about 9.45pm last night he was pretty excited,” Ryan said.

“He has got the opportunity. He is getting the seat fit up and he’s ready to go. He’s prepped as good as any driver can be and we know his talents.

Cooper Murray chats with Craig Lowndes, who he will race with in the Supercars endurance races in a Triple Eight wildcard. Picture: Supplied.

“We’re not going to tell him to hold back, we’re going to tell him to go and have a go and he’ll represent us well.

“He has been here (Adelaide) a couple of times in Porsche and in Super2, so he knows the track. So now it’s just learning the car and what the car might and might not do …. and that’s what he’s got to get his head around fast.

“He’s now a professional race car driver so that’s what they’re paid to do.”

Murray will replace the Dick Johnson Racing-bound Brodie Kostecki at Erebus Motorsport from next season.

The 23-year-old impressed in a Triple Eight wildcard alongside Craig Lowndes in the enduros, finishing fifth at the Sandown 500 and 14th in the Bathurst 1000. He also raced the wildcard at the Darwin Triple Crown mid-year.

Ryan said Erebus had encouraged Le Brocq to travel home for the impending arrival, but he had not wanted to let the team down.

“We are a family team, we want to support all the guys in our team, if it was one of the mechanics he wouldn’t be here, so Jack is no different,” Ryan said.

“It’s his first child, it’s an experience you’re never going to have again, he can drive a race car next year and hopefully years to come.

“We sort of pushed him to go home, he didn’t want to let us down, but he hasn’t let us down.”

BROWN ON THE VERGE OF SUPERCARS HISTORY AT ADELAIDE

Championship frontrunner Will Brown is on the verge of a 40-year Supercars first as he closes in on a maiden series crown.

As the spotlight shines on the finale to the 2024 title fight between Brown and teammate Broc Feeney at the Adelaide 500, Brown can create a piece of Supercars history if he finishes on the podium in either of the weekend’s two races regardless of the title result.

In what has been a super-consistent first season with Triple Eight, 26-year-old Brown has so far finished on the podium at least once at each of the 11 rounds so far.

The Toowoomba pilot has amassed 17 podiums from 22 races, including four race wins.

If he can continue his podium streak on the streets of Adelaide, Brown will become the first driver to score a podium at every round on the calendar since Dick Johnson in 1984.

But Johnson achieved his feat in an eight-round season four decades ago, which is now 12 rounds for Brown in 2024.

Supercars star Will Brown is on the verge of history at the Adelaide 500. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Brown’s best rounds this year included the season-opening Bathurst 500 when he finished second in the opening race and won the following day.

He backed up at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in the second round of the season with a win and three second placings, while he also scored wins at Taupo and at the Sandown 500.

There have been dominant campaigns since Johnson with more wins or as many podiums as Brown, but they have been unable to achieve a perfect podium record season-long.

Brown’s former Erebus Motorsport teammate Brodie Kostecki had 18 podiums from 28 starts last year, but missed out the podium in Darwin and the Adelaide season finale.

Will Brown has stood on the podium at least once at each of the 11 rounds so far. Picture: Getty Images

Triple series champion Shane van Gisbergen, the driver Brown replaced at Triple Eight, had at least one podium in each round in 2021 and 2022 before missing out in the final round of the season at Bathurst (2021) and Adelaide (2022).

It was a similar story for Scott McLaughlin in the Covid-hit 2020 campaign, claiming a trophy at every round before he finished fifth in the last-round at Mount Panorama.

Brown’s final title push comes as veteran James Courtney set the pace in opening practice on Thursday afternoon.

As several drivers had run-ins with the tyre bundle at turn one, the Blanchard Racing Team driver topped the first practice session ahead of Team 18’s David Reynolds and Matt Stone Racing’s Nick Percat, while Brown was sixth fastest and Feeney 13th.

Courtney, the oldest driver on the grid at 44, has been a three-time race winner in Adelaide in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

He was one of few drivers not to suffer damage to the front of his car from clipping the tyre bundle at the first turn during the session.

The session was red-flagged half-way through to allow track marshals to clean up a front grill from Percat’s car which had flown off of his car.

Originally published as Supercars: Rookie Cooper Murray set to make debut after last minute Erebus call-up