Murphy calls time on Bathurst 1000 career

The Bathurst legend made a cameo appearance appearance at Mount Panorama last weekend as part of the Boost Mobile-backed wildcard entry.

He and Supercars outcast Richie Stanaway teamed up to spectacular effect, the highlight of the weekend a second-row start thanks to Stanaway's exploits in wet conditions.

However Murphy was able to hold his own too, the 50-year-old impressing with his pace despite having not raced at Bathurst since 2014.

In Thursday's dedicated co-driver practice session Murphy finally improved on his famous Lap of the Gods time with a personal best 2m05.871s.

Murphy and Stanaway then fought their way to a credible 11th in the race itself despite some bad luck, including Murphy being spun by Jake Kostecki at Griffins Bend.

The entry was also caught out with needing to double stack behind the Triple Eight wildcard that it was sharing a pit boom with.

The impressive showing hasn't got Murphy thinking about a comeback, though, with a New Zealand media outlet reporting that his Bathurst 1000 career is now over.

“No, definitely not,” he told stuff.co.nz when asked if he may return to Mount Panorama.

Murphy was a Great Race winner four times during his contemporary career, his first coming with the Holden Racing Team alongside Craig Lowndes in 1996.

He added a second Bathurst crown in 1999 with Steven Richards and Gibson Motorsport before leading the K-Mart Racing Team to a stunning pair of wins with Rick Kelly in 2003 and 2004.

His Lap of the Gods effort in the 2003 Shootout, a 2:06.8594s at a time when nobody had ever gone under the 2m07s, is still widely considered the greatest lap in Bathurst history.

It took seven years for anybody to go faster, Craig Lowndes eventually eclipsing Murphy's benchmark in practice for the 2010 Bathurst 1000.

Reflecting on his final Bathurst appearance, Murphy admitted that there was a sense of disappointment that he and Stanaway didn't finish further up, despite having come into the race with little in the way of expectations.

“It’s all a bit surreal. It was a funny old day, but how can we disappointed?” he told stuff.co.nz.

“Actually, it’s easy to be disappointed because when all of a sudden, when you’re competing, you want more.

“There are lots of things during the day that add up to making a difference, but it doesn’t matter."

While Murphy looks to have called time on his Supercars career, Stanaway is eyeing a full-time comeback off the back of his sensational return.