Crash Damage Rules Murphy Out of 4H Estoril

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Murphy Prototypes’ season has come to an early end, with crash damage from last month’s Four Hours of Spa-Francorchamps ruling the Irish squad out of this weekend’s European Le Mans Series season finale at Estoril.

The team’s No. 48 Oreca 03R Nissan sustained a heavy accident in the hands of Gary Findlay, which could not be repaired in time for the race.

“Unfortunately, the damage sustained to the car during the previous round at Spa has resulted in a race against time to get it ready for Portugal,” team owner Greg Murphy said.

“The turnaround to get the new parts, then to test it and set it up to be competitive is just too tight and we’ve simply run out of time.

“It’s a shame, as our annual visit to Estoril is one of the highlights of the year for the team – and for me personally – so it’s a double disappointment.

“As a team, we now look forward to 2017 – and we’ll see you on the start-line at Silverstone next April.”

Murphy said the team is exploring multiple options for next year, including running multiple Ave-Riley LMP3 cars. The team will be the European representatives for the car.

Its Oreca 03R Nissan, meanwhile, has been put up for sale.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John