Greg Murphy was happy to lose the last race of the 2014 BNT V8 SuperTourers championship at Pukekohe today.

Murphy had already claimed his second straight championship and the final race was one of the best of the season as he and team-mate Richard Moore fought tooth and nail for the victory.

Moore squeezed inside Murphy going into turn five, the start of the new chicane, but a little later the young Aucklander overshot the same corner and dropped to third.

Then just before the end of the 16-lap race Moore forced his Holden inside Murphy’s similar car at the railway corner leading on to the back straight, and held on for a narrow victory – his first as a solo driver, although last year he won an endurance race with Australian V8 Supercar driver Tim Slade.

After the race Murphy clapped his team-mate on the back and said he was not upset to suffer only his second defeat of the season.

“It’s about racing and entertaining, that’s what people love to see,” he said. “It’s not about me winning all the races.

“It was fun to race with Richard, he’s been driving absolutely superbly.”

It was great to see young drivers like Moore, Simon Evans and Ant Pedersen develop and come to the fore, which was one of the ideas of the category.

Murphy reckoned success in the BNT V8 SuperTourers could be a route into V8 Supercars for fast young Kiwis.

Moore had been getting frustrated at not achieving a solo victory and he put it all on the line for the final race.

“It got a bit stressful at one stage, I got carried away [when he made the mistake],” he said. “It was so loose.”

The victory was a milestone in his career, Moore said.

Murphy wrapped up the championship yesterday with two more victories, and he also won today’s first race.

Another young Aucklander, Simon Evans took second with a fine drive in that race, after starting fifth and dropping to sixth early in the race before moving relentlessly forward with some cleanly executed overtaking moves.

Evans, who was robbed of a probable victory yesterday when he was hit by Ant Pedersen, took third in the final race and finished second in the championship; he has really clicked this season.

Moore was third in the championship and Hamilton’s Pedersen, who had a bad day yesterday in his Ford, fourth.

Auckland teenager Andre Heimgartner had been in strong contention for a top placing but today but his Holden stopped in race one and he did not start the final, which dropped him to fifth.

Australian Steve Owen raced his Holden to third in today’s first race but went off the track next time out.

Final championship points: 1 Murphy 1155, 2 Evans 836, 3 Moore 821, 4 Pedersen 817, 5 Heimgartner 732, 6 Tim Edgell (Auckland, Holden) 564.