Cooper Murray won't let Finalists impede podium potential
PremiAir Racing recruit starred in Friday practice at Sandown
Murray chasing maiden Supercars race victory
If Cooper Murray is in the conversation for a race win at Sandown, nothing is going to get in his way. Not even a championship battle.
PremiAir Racing recruit Murray was one of the surprise packets of Friday practice at Sandown, finishing third fastest in the final session, just 0.083s behind pacesetter Matt Payne.
It continued a strong start to life at PremiAir Racing for Murray, who was a regular top 10 feature on Sunday at the Gold Coast through both qualifying and the race before his late unscheduled fuel stop.
It was a strong day across the board for PremiAir, with rookie teammate Jayden Ojeda topping Practice 1, and Murray finishing sixth in the same session.
The former Erebus driver is daring to dream of a maiden Supercars race win given his strong start to the weekend, while a podium finish would also be a career-first, having come so close to achieving both at Bathurst last year.
"If I'm in the spot to get a podium tomorrow, I'll be doing whatever I can to try and get a win," Murray told media on Friday.
"Or even if I'm in fourth going for a podium, I'm going to do whatever it takes to get on that podium.
"Everyone's in their own race, I'm out there to get trophies."
Murray shifted to PremiAir Racing following Bathurst, with the 25-year-old getting a headstart on his tenure ahead of full seasons with the Peter Xiberras squad in 2027 and 2028.
Already the move has paid dividends for both parties, Murray immediately challenging teammate Ojeda, who has been the standout rookie of 2026.
However, while bullish on his chances, Murray was also quick to point out that the team can't afford to slip overnight should they want to cash in on the early potential of the partnership.
"Obviously it's only the second round, we had some promising signs, on the Sunday especially, at the Gold Coast with the Shootout and running up front in the race before the unfortunate incident with fuel," Murray said.
"It's only practice today, it's pay day tomorrow. We'll see what happens, but it's obviously good to roll out of the truck in a competitive window.
"I think we're a bit like Broc at the moment, qualy speed seems to be there but we have to tune up the race car a fair bit."
Supercars action on Saturday commences with Boost Mobile Qualifying at 11:20am AEDT.
