YOUNG GUNS: COOPER MURRAY

Young Guns: Cooper Murray – Photos: Porsche

Teenager Cooper Murray has very quickly established himself as a 911 ace, shooting into the spotlight by taking race victories in both national Porsche categories.

Although Murray stepped into a Formula Ford for the first time three years ago, the Victorian has taken race wins in that category before adding numerous more in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge and last year in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia.

Like most drivers, Murray started the traditional pathway through karts at age 10 after some coaxing by his motorsport loving parents.

“I was never really into racing, I grew up in a racing family with Mum and Dad, Mum raced go-karts and dad raced HQs so I was always at the racetrack, I was never a fan of being a race car driver,” Murray told Auto Action.

“Dad convinced me to race go-karts and from the first race, I loved it.

“I was hooked!”

In the six years that Murray raced in karts where he bagged six state championships and two Australasian Cadet class titles before stepping up to race in Formula Ford partway through 2016, entering full-time the following year.

“I did a full season in Formula Ford just to learn how to drive a race car with a H-pattern, heel and toe and everything like that,” said Murray.

“Finished second in the Victorian Championship and narrowly missed out on a top five in the Australian Championship.”

The 18-year-old told AA that pursuing the open-wheeler path in Europe was too expensive and that it became a choice between the Supercars path or a sports car career.

“We compared the Porsche Pyramid with Supercars and the Porsche path gave us a lot more opportunities,” he explained.

“How its junior scholarship works and the support its drivers receive all the way through, young kids my age to get the chance to be a Michelin Junior driver, which also gives them the chance to win the scholarship, to create a dream career racing over in Europe.

“We thought it also gave us an opportunity for a Supercars pathway as David Reynolds and Fabian Coulthard also started off in the Carrera Cup Series. We thought Carrera Cup gave you two options, Europe or Supercars.”

So the next step was to tackle the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, the second-tier of Porsche racing in Australia with Ash Seward Motorsport and from the word go it was a natural fit.

“Everything started at that first test day, it just clicked for me driving the Porsche,” he recalled.

“I’ve just felt at one with it the whole time, it suits my driving style and how I drive a race car, every time I get in one of those cars it puts a huge smile on my face.

“We went into the year with no expectations as it was my first year in tin-top racing, so we took it as it went and the first race of the year I ended up winning it by 20 seconds.

Mid-season Murray was unstoppable winning five races in a row and led the series heading into the final race. However, a clutch failure left him stranded on the grid before he was collected by another competitor, denting his title hopes

“As soon as the lights went out, I let go of the clutch and obviously there was no clutch to let go of, no matter how much I took the clutch in and out it was like it was in neutral, so I couldn’t move anywhere,” he recalled to AA.

“In a season you need to have no DNFs and be consistent but unfortunately I had one DNF which was my fault, and then the clutch failure that was out of my hands, they ruined our season.”

This mechanical issue was enough to be overhauled by the consistent Simon Fallon and snatched the title from Murray’s grasp. Despite the situation, many positives were taken from the experience in the GT3 Cup Challenge.

“We had no expectations, to be the most successful driver in terms of race wins, poles and round wins that season, it was a brilliant year I took the confidence from that year knowing how fast I was into Carrera Cup,” Murray said.

“Staying back in GT3 Cup Challenge would have been pointless having already been to those tracks and already proved in that series that I was fast enough and that I could’ve won the championship.

“We thought it was better to step up to Carrera Cup earlier and learn more sooner rather than later.”

After the success in GT3 Cup Challenge, Murray continued to drive for Ashley Seward Motorsport in the top-tier series and started the season with a number of top five finishes, however mid-season he made the move to McElrea Racing.

“Getting the lap record at Albert Park in an Ash Seward-prepared Porsche shows it was definitely fast enough, but we thought the best decision for my career was the route to McElrea,” he said.

“They had got two Carrera Cup Series winners in the previous three years and both of those drivers have gone onto win the junior scholarship and become Porsche drivers over in Europe.”

The change yielded almost instant results, in his second round with the team in Townsville Murray took his first pole position and clean swept the weekend.

“Every team and car is different they are never going to be the exact same, it’s all the little things that make the difference, the one percenters,” he said.

“Every time I get in the McElrea car I have the confidence that the engineering team are going to have the setup on point and I can go out and drive the thing.”

In the remaining rounds, Murray finished outside the top four only once and concluded his debut season in an impressive fifth in the series.

Throughout 2019 Murray’s car lacked sponsorship and he feels it is essential for him to complete the entirety of the series this season.

“Last year having no sponsors made it tough for us, this year we need sponsors to go racing, we are working really hard at the moment because it is not easy getting sponsorship,” he explained to AA.

“Getting wins and podiums towards the end of the year ultimately has helped me a little bit, but still not enough.”

Murray hopes that in 2020 he can qualify for the Porsche shootout and follow pathway set by former Australian Carrera Cup winners Campbell and Evans to become a Porsche factory driver.

“The long term plan, give it my best this year and see how we go and hopefully we go and do the junior scholarship and obviously try and replicate what Matt and Jaxon have done,” Murray concluded.

Article originally published in Issue 1779 of Auto Action.

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