Why Murray isn’t panicking despite nightmare start to 2026

A quick glance at the results of the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship, and it spells a tale of woe for Cooper Murray and Erebus Motorsport.

Through seven races, both team and driver have captured just one top 10 finish, recorded in the opening race of the Melbourne SuperSprint. However, results have deserted him this year.

A power steering failure in Sydney, and getting swept up in three separate incidents he had no fault in at the Melbourne SuperSprint, writes a story of poor luck.

"It's not the way myself and the team wanted to start the season. We came in full of optimism and hope with how we ended the back half of last year being consistently around the 10," Murray told Supercars.com.

"These things happen, it's motorsport, but we're continuing to push as hard as we can, and we know the speed and results can be there, so we've just got to put it together.

"Grand Prix was more disappointment than anything, because we knew we had at least a top six car, just things ultimately didn't fall our way.

"It's no secret that we struggled for speed in Sydney, so to go to Grand Prix and have the speed there was really positive for us. We know the direction we've got to go in now moving forward."

Having been on the wrong end of on-track incidents three times in as many races, Murray admitted that he wasn't surprised to see the aggression that was on display, though it didn't make the feeling of what could've been any better.

"We've seen how the driving standards were at the Grand Prix last year, so we knew it was going to be crazy going into it," Murray said.

"Unfortunately we were caught on the wrong end of the stick three times, but for the last race we shouldn't have been in that position anyway.

"I made a mistake in second qualifying which put us down the back, and ultimately I ended up in a crash, so you create your own luck as well.

"But it was unfortunate to be taken out in the other two races as well when we were running sixth and seventh."

Murray also insisted there was no hard feelings towards former Erebus star Will Brown, who was involved in both the Friday and Saturday incidents that saw the #99 beached in Albert Park's Turn 11 gravel.

"Look, we're racers, we're hard racers, these things happen," Murray said of Brown.

"It affected him as much as it affected me, so we talked it out, got over it, and continue on with racing cars."

A Finals berth is already 168 points away already in the space of two rounds, meaning the Victorian will likely have to go one better than his Ryco Enduro Cup heroics of last year to steal a last-gasp berth.

For Murray, there is no panic, though he has vowed to take a more aggressive approach in order to claw his way back into the Finals picture.

"I will [be more aggressive], but there's still a long way to go until Bathurst when the Finals get cut off, and anything can and will happen, but we know what we can achieve if we put it all together and get the package right," Murray said.

"We'll just keep focussing on ourselves and doing that, and get Jobe [Stewart] up there as well and hopefully we can start getting some decent points from New Zealand onwards."

To get his season back on track, Murray has a simple goal in mind when Supercars hit the track again in just under a months's time, and it's one that he feels is more than achievable given both current and previous speed.

"I think we can do what we set out to achieve at Grand Prix, and that's come home with three top 10 finishes. That would be a box ticked," he continued.

"We had some decent speed at Taupō last year, qualifying 10th and running in the 10th before we were unfortunately taken out, so we know we're capable.

"If we can come away from Taupō with three top 10s, that would be job done and a good base moving forward."

Supercars' inaugural ITM New Zealand Double Header begins at Taupō from April 10-12. Tickets for the event are on sale now.