Former Bathurst 1000 winner Todd Kelly will undergo shoulder surgery following Sunday’s V8 Supercars endurance race at Mount Panorama.
Kelly, the 2005 Bathurst champion, will end his long stint behind the wheel of a Holden Commodore in this weekend’s race with the surgery set to end his championship campaign.
The Kelly Racing team he owns with brother Rick will be switching to Nissan next year and an injury sustained in a tug-of-war during a training camp before last month’s Sandown 500 means his year will come to a premature end.
Kelly’s surgery comes in the same year as another of the team’s four drivers, New Zealand veteran Greg Murphy, also spent time sidelined following back surgery earlier in the year.
“It has certainly been a season of contrasts for the four-car racing enterprise when these types of injuries are so rare in our sport, yet in the space of six months two of the team’s drivers are forced to be spectators,” Kelly said.
He said the surgery will have no impact on his team’s plans to prepare their Nissan Altimas for next season’s championship.