Holden's memorable Mountain moments: Murphy's five-minute sin bin

Mitchell Tulk
Contributor
5 Oct 2017
2 min read

The biggest penalty ever handed out in Supercar history.

This moment is one Greg Murphy would rather forget, as his chance of winning the 2002 Bathurst 1000 disappeared when his crew made a crucial error.

During a pitstop, there was a miscommunication inside the Kmart team which resulted in Greg Murphy driving off while his car was still being refuelled.

The hose broke and petrol spilled all over the pitlane, luckily the fire marshals prevented a fire from breaking out by spraying foam everywhere.

Despite all the white, this isn't exactly a winter wonderland.
Despite all the white, this isn't exactly a winter wonderland.

For the pitlane infringement, Murphy was given a five-minute stop-go while sitting in second position, which took him and Todd Kelly out of contention for the race.

Absolutely fuming, Murphy, threw colourful words left and right, pulled into the pits before leaving the car to take his rage out in a portaloo.

FIVE MINUTES!!!
FIVE MINUTES!!!

After the penalty was served, the duo were essentially two laps down and by the end of the event, their finishing position was 13th.

To this day, no other driver has recieved such a long stop-go penalty and safe to say it will never be repeated.

Despite the disappointment of the ‘02 Bathurst 1000, Murphy returned the following year determined to engineer a different outcome and while he won the event, it's mostly remembered for his 'Lap of the Gods'.

Do you think this penalty was too harsh? Let us know in the comments.

Read our other Holden memorable Mountain moments:

The Red Lion's first win

Brock's six lap win

Mitchell Tulk
Contributor
Following a passion shared by his father and grandfather, Mitchell’s love of cars really kicked off with his Godfather’s purchase of a new Mazda RX-8. Exposure to that car changed his world forever, leading to an RX-7 obsession. To feed his automotive addiction, Mitchell decided to become a motoring journalist and made his mark at several high-profile motoring publications before landing at CarsGuide. While he is a rotary loyalist, Mitchell also has a massive love for Aussie muscle cars, and dreams of one day getting behind the wheel of a Charger R/T E49 (if anyone will let him). His other passions include Queensland, and spending Saturdays with the boys.
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