Murray sheds light on Erebus/GM deal
Cooper Murray sheds light on Erebus/GM deal
Erebus quietly joined 'Team Chevy' alliance in Darwin
Erebus drivers 22nd and 24th, 11th in teams'
Cooper Murray believes the more Erebus Motorsport can “learn” while in General Motors' Supercars data sharing alliance, the better his team can get.
Erebus quietly joined GM’s Supercars data sharing alliance before Darwin, joining fellow Camaro teams Team 18, Matt Stone Racing and PremiAir Racing. Team 18, MSR and PremiAir started the year in the alliance, while Erebus opted out in a bid to maintain its independence.
Speaking to Supercars.com in January, Erebus CEO Barry Ryan said: “We've never been aligned with any team, so why start now?"
Heading to Townsville, Murray and rookie Jobe Stewart are 22nd and 24th, and Erebus 11th and last of the multi-car teams.
Anton De Pasquale and Team 18 took GM to a famous win in the Darwin finale, leading GM Supercars motorsport boss Simon McNamara to spruik the alliance.
Speaking on Supercars’ Drivers Only podcast, Murray detailed the benefits of the alliance.
“The whole Chevy camp wants to get better and I think being a part of it should help that,” Murray said.
“You’ve got four teams working together now, it’s better than just two cars. The more that we can learn, the better we can get.
“From a driver’s side of things, it’s good being able to look at, say, Anton’s data and that as well. You can see what they’re doing, then you can just improve.
“But it’s about getting better as a whole package and getting back to probably where we were in the back half of last year. We were in a really good spot then, we just need to work back towards that.”
Erebus Camaros sported new Chevrolet stickers in Darwin in a subtle nod to the new deal.
Murray admitted he is “really struggling with keeping the tyre underneath us” in races. Additionally, he said "everything needs to click a bit more” with driver and car.
On the alliance, Murray continued: “You’re not guessing if you’re in the right window to go in the right direction or you’re going in the completely wrong direction.
“Whether I’m driving it correctly, it’s all those little things you can take out of your head and just get on with what you’ve got to do.”
Ford and Toyota homologation teams Triple Eight and Walkinshaw TWG Racing also run data sharing deals, with Blanchard Racing Team and Brad Jones Racing respectively.
Penrite Racing, Tickford Racing and Dick Johnson Racing run independently of Triple Eight.
