As Murphy Prototypes draws its fifth consecutive season of international level competition to a close, Team Principal Greg Murphy sums up what has been another memorable year for his endurance racing operation:
“This year has seen us bring on some great up-and-coming young drivers to the European Le Mans Series, uncover new talent and bring together a team of skilled engineers, mechanics and supporting personnel. I’m therefore happy with what we have achieved this year.
“We knew from the start of the season it would be difficult to challenge for the ELMS title, so we adopted a different strategy in order to make the most of our participation in the championship. Our quest to introduce competitors – both young and more experienced – to endurance racing has been successful. In fact, we’ve had a total of 12 different drivers racing with us this year.”
The team is disappointed to confirm that it will be unable to take part in the sixth and final round of this year’s European Le Mans Series at Estoril next week, as Greg explains:
“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. 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. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the whole team, our drivers and our followers from around the world for all of their support this year. As a team, we now look forward to 2017 – and we’ll see you on the start-line at Silverstone next April!”
The team confirms that it’s currently looking at a number of options for 2017 and is considering all of them. One of its projects involves the LMP3 Ave-Riley and, whilst the new car made an appearance in the middle of the season, there was a certain amount of testing and development work that was still to be carried out. Consequently, the Ave-Riley will be ready for the start of next season, with Murphy Prototypes the official European representatives for the new LMP3 challenger.
The team has now put its Nissan-powered Oreca 03R up for sale. The well-known and successful LMP2 car made its endurance racing debut in 2012 and since then, has competed at Le Mans five times, contested five seasons in the European Le Mans Series and has also raced in the Asian Le Mans Series. It is being offered in its vibrant green Gas Monkey 2016 Le Mans livery.