Monochrome GT4 Australia will welcome a new debutant at GT Festival Sandown later this month with Jay Murray to join father Nathan in the McElrea-prepared Morris BMW M4 GT4 G82 EVO for the rest of the season.
With Nathan having tackled the opening three rounds of the 2025 season on his lonesome with the idea that Jay would join him from Sandown onwards, the teenager has now completed a number of successful tests and proven he is ready to join his father.
Not only will GT Festival Sandown be Jay’s Monochrome GT4 Australia debut, it will be his first ever drive in a car after the youngster graduated from karting only earlier this year.
Jay has had an impressive rise up the ranks since making a late start to motorsport, with a three-year junior career mostly spent in karting, highlighted by a range of top 10 finishes in the KZ2 class both within Australia and New Zealand.
Multiple tests this year under the watchful eye of Andy McElrea ended up a major success and the teenager proved his capabilities behind the wheel - giving both McElrea and Nathan the confidence he will be competitive.
Jay’s official race weekend with Nathan will be at the Shannons SpeedSeries’ GT Festival Sandown at the famous Sandown International Raceway on July 25-27.
Tickets for the fourth round of the 2025 season are available for purchase via speedseries.com.au/tickets
QUOTES
Jay Murray
“It’s very exciting that I will be making my official motorsport debut at Sandown Raceway in Monochrome GT4 Australia alongside my dad,” Murray said.
“I will admit that my journey in motorsport has been quite rapid, but obviously I have been hitting the targets set for me and I feel ready to make the step up into cars from karting.
“I don’t think there is a better category for me to begin my official racing career in than Monochrome GT4 Australia, and I am looking forward to racing alongside my dad.
“A big thank you to my parents and to Andy McElrea for having the confidence in me to succeed. I believe I will make them proud and I am keen to showcase my talent on the national stage."
Nathan Murray
“Jay is only 16 and has only been in motorsport for a couple of years, but it’s exciting to see how far he has come in such a short period of time with the right support around him, I am pumped to see that hard work put into practice,” said Murray.
“He came from an AFL background and around COVID, he decided he wanted to switch to racing, so we put him in karting to learn how to change gears and use a clutch, and both his mother and I have been blown away by his progress in both junior and senior karting. It’s highly rewarding for us as parents.
“Obviously, there is the saying that to be good at something, you have to have 10,000 hours doing it, and Jay has been spending a lot of time on the simulator, so I am extremely comfortable that he will come in and do a solid job.
“I also think Monochrome GT4 Australia is the perfect category to step in and learn the sport at a good level. I am still learning and I have done the opening three rounds, so I will continue to learn and I am sure Jay will too.
"Being with McElrea, which has a strong racing history with the likes of Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans having raced for them, fills me with confidence that Jay is going to improve dramatically and I’m excited to be alongside him.”
Andy McElrea
“We did an evaluation on Jay at Morgan Park last month in what was his first time in the car ever. He blew us away with his maturity and pace, so it was an easy decision to get him in the car,” McElrea said.
“He then completed another two test days at Queensland Raceway and it was quite spectacular to watch his progress over the course of both days.
“The kid has an old head on young shoulders and has shown extreme maturity both in and out of the car.
“We are looking forward to seeing how well he goes in the car in an actual race scenario, but I have every faith that he will surprise a lot of people, so it’s very exciting.”