Richards and Murphy will drive the No.3 Sprint Gas Commodore at the L&H 500 this month and the Super Cheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in October and the duo expect to be very competitive in both races.

“The team has been working towards the endurance rounds all season. I think we’ll be fast,” Richards said.

“We’ve put a lot of work into the development of these cars. My car has qualified in the top 10 for the past four rounds and we’ve had good race pace.”

“The team has traditionally been strong at Phillip Island and Bathurst and both circuits rate as favourites for Murph and myself.”

“The endurance rounds tend to bring out our best. I think we proved at Bathurst last year that we should not be discounted.”

Murphy has won the Bathurst 1000 on four occasions and is looking forward to teaming up with Richards.

“I’m more than happy to be driving a car other than mine,” Murphy said.

“It’s not like I haven’t done this before, I drove car 15 in the 2004 endurance campaign.”

“Jason’s car has a good chassis set up and has shown strong speed. We all agree that car three gives us the best opportunity to win.”

Sprint Gas Racing Team Manager Jeff Grech remains confident that the pairing of Richards and Murphy for two of the toughest events on the V8 calendar will help the team to a top 10 finish on the Championship standings by the end of the year.

“I think that Greg and Jason are two of the most impressive drivers in the championship.

“They work well with each other, they have good ideas and they complement each other’s driving style – pairing them was a no-brainer,” Grech said.

“The team has spared no effort in completely refurbishing both cars for these main events. All componentry has been checked and double checked. The preparation by the team has been some of the best I’ve seen in my career.”

“We hope that our efforts produce results at both Phillip Island and Bathurst and that we take some good form through the final several rounds of the season.”

“The championship is close. You saw what a good round at Queensland did for Russell Ingall on the points table. I’m confident that we can gather some good points and finish the year on a high note.”