Greg Murphy is set to miss three months of the V8 Supercar Championship after a relapse of his recent back issues.

Murphy will undergo further surgery in Melbourne next week, the second operation since his qualifying crash at the Clipsal 500 in March.

“Despite the discectomy procedure I had after Clipsal, the disc has continued to rupture and I’ve been in a fair amount of pain and discomfort this week,” Murphy said.

“I need to get the vertebrae fused to sort this once and for all and while it means I’ll be out of the car for the next three months, I expect to be 100 per cent and back racing … by the end of September.”

“My medical team has assured me that I will have no lasting effects from this operation which is expected to fast-track a full recovery.

“I need to focus on my operation but I know contingency plans are already well under way for the rounds ahead and would expect announcements on who will fill in for me while I am out of action very soon.”

The operation is likely to sideline Murphy from four V8 Supercar rounds, starting with the June 15-17 event in Darwin.

The four-time Bathurst winner, who set a memorable lap record at Mount Panorama in 2003, will be hoping to return at the Sandown 500 on September 14-16, or if not the all-important Bathurst 1000 in October.