Kiwi driver Greg Murphy has capped his first year in the Kelly Racing stable with an 11th place finish in the final race of 2011 at the Sydney Telstra 500 at the weekend.
Mark Winterbottom won the race ahead of Craig Lowndes and Shane van Gisbergen, with eighth place enough to secure the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship title for Jamie Whincup. Murphy was inside the top three in the middle stages of the weather-affected race, but slipped outside the top 10 as a result of dry track pace and several on-track incidents in the latter part of the 74-lap race.
Murphy finished the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship in 13th place, his best points finish since 2007, in a season highlighted by his pole position and third place at Bathurst aboard the number 11 Pepsi Max Commodore.
"We ran on slicks at the start but they held us too long, which cost us a bit of an advantage," said Murphy.
"Some of the things we have been trying to make better were still not quite right so we got hit all over the place but ended up 11th, so it could be a lot worse."
