Family first for Erebus

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 15 November 2024

Barry Ryan said Erebus Motorsport are fully supportive of Jack Le Brocq missing the Adelaide finale for the birth of his first child, having started plans a fortnight ago.

After taking part in opening practice on Thursday, Le Brocq flew home to Queensland to be with his wife as they await to welcome their first child.

As a result, Brodie Kostecki’s replacement for 2025, Cooper Murray, will make his Erebus debut a round earlier than expected.

Ryan revealed Erebus Motorsport owner Betty Klimenko told Le Brocq to be prepared to make the call and Erebus is filly behind it.

“Betty predicted it two weeks ago and said to Jack ‘you need to be ready to be home with your wife and see your kid’ Ryan told AUTO ACTION.

“She is due to be induced on Monday, but looks like it could be coming early so as soon as we heard that we all said ‘Jack you need to go’. The whole team is supporting him.

“Up until quarter to 10 last night when he rang me and confirmed he was going, Jack just felt bad and did not want to leave the team, But we are fully supportive.

Cooper Murray will take over Jack Le Brocq’s #9 Camaro at Adelaide. Image: Peter Norton

“It is family and this is just motor racing. You can race again for the rest of your life, but you cannot miss the birth of your first child.

“That is what we put to him and everyone is behind him.

“Hopefully it is a good, happy birth and a healthy child.”

Having been signed up for 2025, already made his Supercars debut and skipping the Super2 finale, Murray is the perfect substitute for Erebus.

Murray already has three Supercars rounds under his belt with Triple Eight in the wildcard.

His first drive was a solo appearance in the Darwin Triple Crown, where he turned heads by making the Shootout.

Murray also shared the #888 in the enduros with Craig Lowndes where they finished fifth in the Sandown 500.

Adelaide is the perfect chance for Murray to get accustomed to life at Erebus ahead of the real thing next year.

“It is a good opportunity for Cooper,” Ryan said.

Cooper Murray ready to step up at Adelaide. Image: Erebus

“He is prepared and ready to go. He was already preparing himself because that is what race drivers do.

“He is a smart kid. We are not going to tell him how to drive the car because he knows how to do that and that is why we have employed him.

“He will work into it today and tomorrow and by Sunday I am sure he will be ready to have a crack just like Darwin.

“He just wants to make sure he can get the whole experience, there is no point putting it into the wall in first practice.

“We won’t push him into doing anything he is not ready for.”

In the Thursday practice Kostecki led the way, finishing seventh.

Ryan said Erebus has started on the front foot, but the focus is on race pace after failing to convert both poles last year.

“It was positive for both cars,” he said.

“They only ran the one set of used tyres and just focused on the race.

“We learnt from last year when we got two poles, but the race car was not as good as we needed.

“We just need to make sure we do what we did at Bathurst and the Gold Coast, focusing a lot on the race car.

“Brodie is really happy with the race car and knows he can qualify good. We will be ready to go.”

VAILO Adelaide 500 Supercars schedule

Practice 1: 1: J. Courtney 1:19.6835 2: D. Reynolds +0.1553 3: N. Percat +0.3242

Practice 2 – Fri 13.10-13.40

Qualifying – Fri 17.35-17.50

Practice 3 – Sat 10.00-10.30

Top 10 Shootout – Sat 12.35-13.05

Race 23 (78 laps) – Sat 15.20

Qualifying – Sun 10.20-10.35

Top 10 Shootout – Sun 12.35-13.35

Race 24 (78 laps) – Sun 15.15

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Family first for Erebus

“Betty predicted it two weeks ago and said to Jack ‘you need to be ready to be home with your wife and see your kid’ Ryan told AUTO ACTION.

“It is family and this is just motor racing. You can race again for the rest of your life, but you cannot miss the birth of your first child.

His first drive was a solo appearance in the Darwin Triple Crown, where he turned heads by making the Shootout.

“He is prepared and ready to go. He was already preparing himself because that is what race drivers do.

“We won’t push him into doing anything he is not ready for.”

“We learnt from last year when we got two poles, but the race car was not as good as we needed.

VAILO Adelaide 500 Supercars schedule

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