SUPERCHEAP AUTO RACING TWEAKS LIVERY FOR ENDURANCE SEASON

MEDIA RELEASE/Triple Eight Race Engineering – Photos: supplied

Triple Eight Race Engineering and Supercheap Auto are super excited to reveal a tweaked Supercheap Auto Racing livery for this year’s endurance races: the upcoming Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.

Launched on a stunning morning at Queensland Raceway in front of passionate and excited Supercheap Auto team and partners, the #888 Chevrolet Camaro LTZ features a swash of a dark navy and grey lines across lower sections of the car, on its roof, and across the rear spoiler, in a nod to the recently launched Supercheap Auto Trade platform.

Young gun and #888 driver, Cooper Murray undertook his first major assessment in a Gen-3 supercar at the Darwin Triple Crown, where he turned heads up and down pitlane with impressive speed across the event, becoming only the fifth driver in Supercars history to set the fastest lap in his maiden race.

Despite 22nd and 25th place race finishes, Murray’s weekend was headlined with a blistering fifth fastest lap to make the Top Ten Shootout in the Sunday qualifying session. Despite a disappointing coming together with another car on the first lap of Race 12, Murray was still able to post the fourth fastest lap with a damaged Camaro. 

After a promising solo debut at Darwin, the focus now switches to the two driver events with Murray partnering Supercars legend and all-time fan favourite Craig Lowndes. This follows a continuation of the “master and apprentice” theme with the Supercheap Auto Racing wildcard where young up-and-comers have previously made their case for full-time seats in the Supercars Championship.

The wildcard program began in 2021, where Broc Feeney was paired with legend Russell Ingall, and more recently, Declan Fraser and Zane Goddard alongside the seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner in Craig Lowndes. 

The new livery went public today at Queensland Raceway with its next on-track showing on September 2 for a full test day at Queensland Raceway, in preparation for the Sandown 500, 13-16th September and the prestigious Bathurst 1000, 10-13th October.

Cooper Murray, Supercheap Auto Racing Driver

“I’m super stoked on the enduro livery. It’s neat how some minor updates can change the look and feel of the car, and somehow, they’ve made it look faster than the previous ones! I’m a pretty lucky guy to have support from Supercheap Auto with this wildcard program. Looking at the event here today, the turnout of their staff, and how they presented it all, it makes me feel super lucky. I can’t wait to provide the team and supporters of the program with some good results over the next two races!

“I learnt a lot from my pretty incredible main-game debut in Darwin. It was a nonstop weekend of learning, and it was awesome to be able to put our true pace together on Sunday and get into the shootout, which was really cool. Unfortunately, we had a car run over us in the race, but it’s all fixed now and ready to go. It was cool to show that the car’s fast, I’m fast and that we could be out the front.”

“Considering I’ve already driven a Super2 car at both Sandown and Bathurst, it’ll be a bit easier than going into Darwin where I’d never driven a supercar there before, only a Porsche Cup car. It was a bit of learning on the go and had me probably a bit behind the eight-ball compared to the others. But going into Sandown and Bathurst, I’m quite confident that I’ll be able to be on the pace, straight away.”

“It’s every kid’s dream to be able to share the car with Lowndesy for Sandown and the Bathurst. He’s got a lot of experience behind him. To have someone of that calibre at my disposal, I’m going to be a sponge, learn as much as I can off him and hopefully, I can teach him a couple of things, but I doubt it! “

“I think if we can get through the weekend and complete every lap in the race, that would be the goal. But if we could come away with potentially a top 10, that would be pretty cool. I personally think we can do a bit better than that, but let’s just see how it goes and hopefully, we come away with a good result!”

Craig Lowndes, Supercheap Auto Racing Driver

“It’s spectacular to see the kind of effort and determination Supercheap Auto, alongside Triple Eight, is displaying to uncover these liveries. The setup here at Queensland Raceway is exceptional, and I really enjoy the way they’ve brought their team and partners out here to support not only Cooper and myself but also the entire Supercheap Auto Racing program and everyone behind it. It’s super cool.”

“Cooper is a great young talent and I think that he needs the opportunity to showcase what he can do. And Darwin showcased that. He was in the Top Ten Shootout for the first time in an event, which was incredible. Unfortunately, the race didn’t go to plan, but that’s motor racing. But he is a bright young kid, really enthusiastic about it and is extremely methodical about how he goes about his preparation.”

“To be honest, what we’d like to achieve, and I’ve said it the last couple of years, I’d like to be on the podium at these races. I think that’s the style of racing I really enjoy. The endurance side of racing in Supercars, I really love it.

“For Cooper, he’s done many laps around Sandown in a Porsche. He was extremely quick at Bathurst early this year in his Super2 car. So, for both races, we are really excited. Even personally, I’m really excited and looking forward to trying to achieve a strong result, not only at Sandown coming up, but Bathurst very soon!”

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