The event was won by Greg Murphy for the second time in succession after rivals Mark Skaife and Marcos Ambrose incurred problems that dropped them out of contention. Teammate Todd Kelly completed a one-two for Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia for the round whilst Ambrose rounded up the top three in overall points. Despite claiming pole position and winning the first race, series champion Mark Skaife was beset with engine issues over the last two races, eliminating him from round honours.
This was the last Pukekohe V8 Supercar event to be sponsored by Boost Mobile. From 2003 onwards, the vacancy was taken over by hardware company, PlaceMakers.
Background
Mark Skaife entered the event having already wrapped up the championship two rounds prior at the Bathurst 1000.[1] Contention for second in the championship was still raging between Ambrose, Murphy and Jason Bright.
Preceding this event, Greg Murphy had remained undefeated at this circuit, in terms of qualifying, races and overall round points. The first instance being in the non-championship 1996 Mobil New Zealand Sprints and the other being in the inaugural championship event in 2001.
The start of the first race of the 2002 Boost Mobile V8 International
Drama unfolded almost immediately as the two Dick Johnson Racing cars driven by Paul Radisich and Steven Johnson collided on the approach to turn one. The incident resulted in both cars immediately dropping out of the race and with Radisich's car stranded on the side of the track, the safety car was deployed. Once the race resumed, Skaife led the race from David Besnard, Murphy, Ambrose, Bright, Todd Kelly, Steven Richards and Brad Jones. Skaife began to set a scorching pace, eventually breaking the track record multiple times over the course of the race.
By lap 8, multiple cars down the pack opted to complete their compulsory pit stops. A slow stop for Besnard would prove to be costly, being dropped out of the top ten. Cameron McConville's race was over when his engine expired at the pitlane exit On lap 15, Larry Perkins retired from the race after the power steering pump had failed. Garth Tander's race was over on lap 22 owing to a front-right suspenion failure. Rodney Forbes spun off at the hairpin, hitting the tyre barrier in the process. But was able to continue the race.
Up the front, Skaife remained untroubled throughout the entire race. In taking victory, he became the first driver to defeat Murphy at Pukekohe Park Raceway in a V8 Supercar race. Murphy and Ambrose rounded out the podium.
Ambrose bogged down off the start and dropped from third to sixth. A concertina effect on the opening lap heading into the hairpin saw Russell Ingall spin Craig Lowndes, sending the 00 Motorsport driver right to the tail end of the pack. Besnard was forced into the pits early on after his Falcon was stuck in gear and subsequently dropped two laps behind the leaders.
On lap 20, Cameron McLean's right-rear wheel parted company with his car whilst Canto veered off into the runoff area at the hairpin. He was joined by Perkins and subsequently resulted in a safety car. During this time, Skaife's car developed a misfire. As the race resumed, Skaife peeled into the pits to retire; handing the lead over to Murphy. Steven Richards struggled with tyres and dropped off the podium as the race tracked on.
Murphy held the lead until the very end. Taking the win ahead of Bright and Ambrose.
Before the race, question marks lingered over whether the Holden Racing Team could rectify Skaife's engine issues to allow him to line up on the grid. Eventually, he would. Although these issues would resurface as the race went on. Todd Kelly perfected his launch off the line and shuffled into second behind Murphy off the start. Behind them, others were less-than-perfect. Jason Richards t-boned Brad Jones in turn two, sending them both into a spin and tumbling down the order. The safety car was brought out on lap 17 after McConville spun off at the hairpin. Not long after the race resumed, Bright's engine blew up on the back straight, making it a double-DNF for the Holden Racing Team.
By mid-race distance, Glenn Seton spun at turn two, taking out the tyre bundle in the process. This exposed a sharp bracket that was holding the bundle in place and multiple drivers began to experience punctures. One of them was race and round leader, Murphy. On lap 33, Murphy was forced to pit as a result, giving the lead to Ambrose, who also assumed the lead for round points as a result. The damage for Murphy was mitigated thanks to the deployment of another safety car after Besnard hit the wall at Ford Mountain. The safety car came out for the third time just a few laps later when Steven Richards went off the circuit at turn three.
When the race resumed with seven laps remaining, Todd Kelly began to exert pressure onto Ambrose. It appeared as if the Tasmanian had everything under control. But with three laps to go, he locked up massively into the hairpin; destroying the tyre and dropping him out of the lead. He would limp around to the finish line to pick up valuable points for the championship. Todd Kelly cruised to victory while brother Rick and Larry Perkins squabbled for the podium. Perkins would end up prevailing for second while Rick Kelly finished third. Finishing fourth, Murphy took the overall round honours, keeping up his undefeated round record at Pukekohe. This race also marked the last podium appearance in V8 Supercars for Larry Perkins.
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