Cooper Murray ecstatic with first career podium
Murray started and finished third in Sandown finale
25-year-old joined PremiAir Racing ahead of Gold Coast 500
In the space of just four races, Cooper Murray and PremiAir Racing have become a combination to watch. A maiden Supercars podium for Murray at Sandown has only reaffirmed that.
For the 25-year-old Melburnian, it was a dream home round at Sandown, with the #36 Chevrolet showing strong speed all weekend, having ended Friday practice third fastest.
Finishing seventh in Saturday's opener, Murray starred in Sunday qualifying, and secured a career-best third on the grid with a fine Top Ten Shootout performance.
Whilst all the attention was on the battle for Finals positions and Grand Final berths, Murray drove a quiet race, but held his third position throughout to claim a well-deserved trophy.
"I'm very emotional at the moment, it's amazing. Second round with this team, and we're on the podium already," a shocked Murray said in PIRTEK Victory Lane.
"First of all, can't say thank you enough to my family for obviously doing everything to get me here. All the support with the team has been unreal, on to bigger and better things.
"Just got off the line and then it was a steady race from there, it was probably one of the easiest races I've ever done in main game.
"We were just out there setting the pace, cruising, and just trying to keep the tyre on there in case there was any Safety Cars there at the end."
Murray's podium was just the third podium PremiAir Racing have ever achieved in Supercars, having last climbed the rostrum with James Golding and David Russell at Bathurst last year.
However, Murray became the first PremiAir Racing driver to finish inside the top three in a solo driver event, in a breakthrough performance.
Team owner Peter Xiberras has made no secret of his desire to climb the Supercars pecking order, with the recruitment of Team Principal Roland Dane a clear sign of intent.
Rookie Jayden Ojeda has shown plenty of promise throughout 2026, however Murray has taken his side of the garage to another level since his mid-season arrival, though he wasn't expecting it to happen so quickly.
When asked if he was expecting to feature on the podium in such short time, Murray answered: "To be honest, no. I always knew I had the belief in my own ability that I could do what I could do given the right opportunity.
"Just thank you to everyone at PremiAir Racing for giving me the opportunity, RD, Pete. I've just really gelled with the whole team, and I can't wait for more success and more podiums."
