After a terrifying 56G crash at around 180km/h wrote off Will Brown’s #9 Boost Mobile Commodore at Pukekohe, the race was well and truly on for his Erebus Motorsport team to repair the Supercars young gun’s drive ahead of Bathurst.
The terrible crash, which followed a collision with Mark Winterbottom, saw the race red-flagged due to the hefty damage to the concrete barrier at the pit entry.
It also sparked a bust-up in the Erebus garage as Winterbottom came to apologise, only to cop a frosty reception.
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Luckily for Brown, Erebus believe they can completely rebuild his destroyed chassis in time for the great race, with action at Mount Panorama beginning on the sixth of October.
CEO Barry Ryan on Thursday told Supercars.com that the car would be repairable, after returning to Melbourne from New Zealand on Wednesday.
The heavily damaged car is already on the jig in Mount Gambier.
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“The guys have had a proper look at the car and we believe we can fix it in time for Bathurst,” Ryan said.
“We’ve got it to Mount Gambier and on the jig this morning, the whole rear of the car is getting cut off and we’ll replace it all.
“Once it’s done, we’ll get it to paint and then back in the workshop and start to replace all the componentry and bodywork.
“Almost every tube in the back half of the car has either been torn, twisted or bent. Items like our gear box, fuel tank housing, drive shafts and suspension components also need to be repaired or replaced.
“We knew there had been substantial damage, though you always find more as you start to pull parts and panels off it.”
Plan B was to scrap the team’s Bathurst wildcard and shift Brown into the backup car. But the news means Greg Murphy and Richie Stanaway will race as scheduled – or at least, one year after they were originally meant to take on the mountain together.
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“I was positive about a solution being found, no matter what that was and it’s great news to hear that the team are going to be able to repair car #9,” Murphy told Supercars.com.
“The crews really are the unsung heroes of the game, they’re so passionate and committed to the sport, the jobs they do and when something like this happens they’re really forced to dig deep.
“It’s going to take a lot of hard work but the team knows what they’re doing, they’ve done it before and to know that it’s all under control is great.
“It’s not new but it still shouldn’t go unrecognised, it’s amazing and deserves a lot of praise and acknowledgment.”
The duo make up one of three wildcards for this year’s Bathurst 1000, and sees Murphy starting for the first time since 2014 and Stanaway since 2019.
“Everyone wants to see Murphy at Bathurst one more time and we are excited to see how Richie goes in an Erebus car,” Ryan said.
