Greg Murphy side-lined for three months

Greg Murphy has been ruled out of V8 Supercar competition for at least three months, as the New Zealander will undergo further back surgery this week to rectify an injury sustained in March at the Clipsal 500.

After a crash in qualifying for the second race in Adelaide, which also involved Tekno Autosports Jonathon Webb, Murphy was forced to miss the second race of the weekend and also withdrew from the Tasmanian round of the V8 Supercars later that month in order to have an operation.

This will be Murphy’s second operation since the accident, which will see him miss the next four rounds of the Championship, but hopefully fit and able to return for the first of the endurance events at Sandown on September 16th.

“Despite the discectomy procedure I had after Clipsal, the disc has continued to rupture and I’ve been in a fair amount of pain and discomfort this week,” said Murphy.

“I need to get the vertebrae fused to sort this once and for all and while it means I’ll be out of the car for the next three months, I expect to be 100% and back racing for the Pepsi Max Crew here in Australia and Mike Pero Racing in New Zealand by the end of September.”

“My medical team has assured me that I will have no lasting effects from this operation which is expected to fast track a full recovery.”

“I need to focus on my operation but I know contingency plans are already well under way for the rounds ahead and would expect announcements on who will fill in for me while I am out of action very soon.”

Team Owner/Driver Rick Kelly added:
“We will be doing everything we can to assist Greg in making a full recovery, and depending on his medical advice, get him back racing as soon as practical. Greg is one tough, hard character who will bounce back strong from this unfortunate set back to his 2012 Racing Season.”

The team plan to announce a replacement driver on Monday. At Symmons Plains, Murphy’s place was taken by the team’s V8 Development Series driver David Russell.