News

Sprint Gas Racing goes into race 10 of the V8 Supercar Championship with a bank of tyres that are the envy of other teams.

 Jason Bargwanna and Greg Murphy both have a set of ‘green' hard compound tyres for tomorrow's qualifying session and another set of excellent tyres, including an unused set of soft compound tyres, for the longer 200 kilometre race at Darwin's Hidden Valley Raceway.

 The team sacrificed the use of soft tyres in today's 100 kilometre race so that it would be in a stronger position in the untried longer race.

 There has never been such a long race held in Darwin and the heat will be a contributing factor to race strategy.

 "We've never done two hundred kilometres in Darwin, it's a bit of an unknown," Jason Bargwanna said.

 "Fortunately we are in a strong position when it comes to tyres.

 "I always had a set of greens put aside for tomorrow's qualifying, but thanks to the starter motor problem in qualifying today I have an extra set up my sleeve.

 "No one else has as many tyre options as I do. It was not actually the plan to be in this position but I'll turn this negative into a positive and run with it.

 "I was confident that I could have made the qualifying top ten for today's race but it was not to be, so I'll throw everything I can into tomorrow's sessions.

 "I believe we can make the top ten in both qualifying tomorrow and the race thanks to the tyres that I currently have available to me."

 Whilst Bargwanna finished 22^nd today and Greg Murphy 23^rd, the majority of the finishers ahead of them used up their soft option tyres.

 "Had I not punctured on the last corner (in today's race) I would have finished 18^th with at least 11 cars ahead of me having used up their soft option allocation, which helps us tomorrow," Greg Murphy said.

 "Like Bargs I have some good tyres remaining.

 "We've got a bit of work to do to improve the cars, but I think we both have top ten aspirations in qualifying and the race that are realistic."