Bold statement: Penalties are rewriting Bathurst history, and this year’s twist just got even bigger. But here’s where it gets controversial... a fresh shock hit Mount Panorama as a team’s six-minute penalty eclipsed the famous 2002 moment from Murphy, turning a familiar race memory into a new benchmark.
Greg Murphy, a four-time Bathurst 1000 winner, experienced a career full of peaks and valleys at Mount Panorama. Today, his reputation for dramatic penalties is joined by an even more dramatic incident in the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour GT Classic. Bayley Hall, a rising talent, and his Volante Rosso Motorsport crew were slapped with a six-minute penalty in the race’s opening half — clocking in one minute longer than Murphy’s iconic penalty from the 2002 Great Race.
Hall is anticipated to join Craig Lowndes as a co-driver in the Team 18-run, Supercheap Auto Camaro wildcard later this year for the Supercars endurance events. He competes in the McLaren 720S GT3 EVO, sharing the cockpit of the #15 entry with new Dick Johnson Racing Supercars signing Rylan Gray, fellow youngster Marcos Flack, and French driver Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer.
The six-minute penalty came after Hall’s team exceeded the maximum continuous driving time by 17 minutes. Gray was behind the wheel when the car served the penalty, which was actually the second penalty the car had incurred in the race, following a drive-through for a pit-stop rule breach. The team had relocated its refuelling tower during a pit stop because the hose couldn’t reach the car in its pit bay.
Gray later triggered a fourth Safety Car period by crashing the McLaren through the Esses toward the Dipper.
Turning back to Bathurst lore, Murphy’s infamous five-minute stop in the 2002 Bathurst 1000 is etched in memory. His Kmart Racing Commodore left its pit bay with the fuel hose still attached, spraying fuel across the pit lane until the car could be stopped. Although there was no ignition, the incident required swift cleanup by the crew and led to a Race Control penalty that parked the #51 Holden in the team’s pit box for five minutes, ending Murphy and Todd Kelly’s chance at victory that year. The moment transcended into Bathurst folklore, especially when Murphy briefly vacated the car for a portable toilet break in the garage during the race.
This afternoon at Mount Panorama, the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour continues, with BMW aiming to defend its 1-2 finish from last year. The race is scheduled to conclude at 5:45 pm AEDT today.
