Greg Murphy will not be a full-time V8 Supercars driver in 2013, the Kiwi legend confirmed today.
The 40-year-old has been left out of a drive after being dropped from the soon-to-be Nissan Motorsport squad at the end of this year.
Murphy has been in discussions with several Holden teams, including Tekno Autosport, about options for 2013 but has made the decision to focus on an endurance drive for next year.
Dunlop Series star Nick Percat is now being linked to the second Tekno seat, alongside Jonathon Webb.
Murphy has been linked to the Holden Racing Team to partner Garth Tander in the #1 Holden Racing Team Commodore VF.
An announcement regarding Murphy’s endurance drive is expected to come in January.
He did confirm, however, that he will continue to drive in his Mike Pero-backed New Zealand V8 SuperTourer.
Murphy missed five events of this year’s championship due to two back operations and is disappointed that he will miss his first full season of V8 competition since 1998.
“It’s been a challenging six months with my back operation, the news that Kelly Racing was switching to Nissan and the annual race to secure one of the last remaining seats available in the championship,” Murphy said.
“While the option to consider another manufacturer presented itself, I was always going to remain loyal to Holden who have been incredibly supportive of my career since I first entered the series as an enduro driver with Craig Lowndes back in 1995.
“The facts are that the right full time Holden seat has not appeared for me despite some encouraging discussions along the way.
“I know I’m still capable of being very competitive as a full time racer but am comfortable to turn my attention to the right endurance seat for Sandown and Bathurst next year.”
Murphy has had 15 seasons full-time in the V8 Supercars Championship since he made his full time debut in 1997 when he raced with the Holden Racing Team finishing fourth in the championship. He only raced in one round in 1998 when HRT debuted the VT Commodore at Calder and has been an annual drawcard for the championship since then.
He has won the Bathurst 1000 four times from 20 starts and made international headlines when he broke the Bathurst lap record during his Top 10 qualifying run in 2003, creating what is known as the ‘Lap of the Gods.’
Murphy was runner up in the V8 Championship in both 2002 and 2003 and dominated the early championship races in his home country of New Zealand winning four events at Pukekohe.
