Greg Murphy Teams up With 'Enforcer' Ingall

Murphy was today to be announced along with Russell Ingall – nicknamed The Enforcer – as one of the new Castrol Edge V8 drivers for the 2010 Supercar Championship entered by Paul Morris Motorsports.

Murphy, who finished runner-up in the series in 2002 and 2003, has struggled in the middle or back of the trans-Tasman championship in recent years and at the Hamilton 400 has not been able to assert the dominance he was able to when the New Zealand round was based at Pukekohe.

He expects that all to change now he's in the new Triple Eight Race Engineering built car.

"It's been a while since I've been a serious contender at home and that's been quite frustrating," Murphy said.

"This puts me back on to a level playing field, so I'm pretty excited about Hamilton."

Triple Eight have won three Bathursts and two championships in a row.

Murphy is still a crowd favourite in New Zealand and his pits at the two Hamilton 400s have been by far the most visited and watched by the punters.

But this year he did not finish the first race and then battled his Tasman Motorsport Commodore to a disappointing 11th.

One of Murphy's most endearing qualities has always been his aggression, sometimes controlled and sometimes not.

But one of his biggest rivals, and someone Murphy has not always seen eye to eye with, is now his new team-mate.

Ingall is the other Castrol Edge V8 driver and the pair make one of the feistiest teams in the competition, but Murphy hopes it will be one of the most competitive ones.

"I am very lucky to be in this position to be driving a Castrol-backed, Triple Eight-built Holden Commodore for one of V8 Supercars leading teams, Paul Morris Motorsports.

"2010 is extremely exciting for me," Murphy said.

"With the closure of Tasman Motorsport, this is a case of me being in the right place at the right time and I am very thankful to everyone who has helped put this deal together."

Castrol Lubricants marketing director Andrew Johnson said he was excited about the new partnership with PMM and Murphy.

"This is the best total V8 package we've signed up for in many years," Johnson said.

"The look of the Castrol Edge Commodore, the engineering arrangements, the first class team.

"Then you add in a top class driver like four-time Bathurst winner in Greg Murphy.
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"We couldn't ask for more," he said.

Testing for next year's V8 Supercar Championship Series will begin in early February with the first two rounds, a double-header in the Middle East, in Abu Dhabi from February 18-20 and Bahrain from February 25-22.

The ITM sponsored Hamilton 400 will be raced on April 16-18.

Source: www.stuff.co.nz