Injured V8 Supercars driver Greg Murphy will not compete in this weekend’s Tasmania Challenge at Symmons Plains, but hopes to be fit to drive in the second round of New Zealand’s V8 SuperTourers Championship over Easter.
Murphy will undergo surgery to his lower back to repair a disc in Melbourne this afternoon. The injury was aggravated after his qualifying crash with Jonathon Webb at the Clipsal 500.
The surgery has put the Kiwi hero in doubt for the V8 SuperTourers event at Powerbuilt Raceway in Ruapuna next weekend, but after winning the opening round at Hampton Downs in February, Murphy is hopeful of being fit enough to defend his championship lead.
“I’m hopeful of being there,” Murphy told Speedcafe.com this morning.
“I haven’t ruled it out at this point. I’ll have to wait and see how I recover from the surgery today.”
CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s breaking news story on Murphy’s injury.
While Murphy will miss this weekend’s V8 Supercars event in Tasmania, he says that he will be able to drive at the final-ever Hamilton street race (April 20-22).
“I’ve got no doubt about that at all,” Murphy said of being ready for Hamilton.
“The doctor is very confident that once we take care of this issue, it will fall back into place nicely and we can carry on.
“I’ve had no grief, no issue since the (first) operation in 2010, my back’s been fantastic and I haven’t had any problems. There was no issue leading up to Adelaide or even the week or so after Adelaide, it’s occurred some time after that.
“I expect it to go back to the way it was and to be racing as planned in Hamilton. But this has put a bit of a spanner in the works for Tassie this weekend.”
