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Second in qualifying followed by a top 10 placing by Greg Murphy in today's opening race at Tasmania's Symmons Plains Raceway showed that Sprint Gas Racing can be a force in this year's championship.

 The team's qualifying performance was the talk of the V8 paddock when Murphy put his Sprint Gas Commodore on the front row, missing out on pole by millimetres.

 Murphy was running in the top three for the first half of the race, holding his own with the fastest teams in the championship.

 It was obvious that the team has made a very big step forward since Winton.

 "I've got a great car that feels very, very nice to drive, I've really enjoyed driving it this weekend," Murphy said.

 "The car is working well, which means I have been able to do more with it. It's not fighting me, it's working with me.

 "The weekend has been pretty much issue free, so we haven't been chasing performance.

 "We made some significant changes between Winton and Symmons (Plains) which have paid off.

 "To have qualified on the front row and to have finished strongly in the top ten in today's race really is pleasing.

 "It's obvious to me that we've surprised a few people today, but we knew we could do this.

 "The team has worked bloody hard for this; everyone deserves a pat on the back."

 Murphy was running second as he stopped for fuel and tyres, finishing ninth.

 "We started on soft tyres and changed to hard so that we had something for tomorrow's race," Murphy said.

 "Unfortunately the tyres wore a little faster than we were expecting and we were surrounded by cars that ran the entire race on softs, which lost us position.

 "We had a top five car today; no doubt, we just need to get some more life out of our tyres.

 "We're also starting to get some consistency happening. For me Winton was not great but Bargs did an excellent job. We've had someone up there getting a result each round. That said, I think both of us can go well tomorrow."

 Jason Bargwanna drove an excellent race to finish 19^th, doing the entire race on the one set of hard compound tyres.

 "It's hard work racing on hard option tyres when just about everyone around you is on softs, but we held our own; I'm pretty pleased with our performance today," Bargwanna said.

 "I reckon we could be one of the cars to watch tomorrow, we've got plenty of tyres to choose from, including a set of greens for qualifying. I can't wait.

 "The car was feeling really good today, I'm chasing a little more speed, but overall I'm happy with what I have. We had the same front spring set-up as Murph today and this really improved the car.

 "A few tweaks here and there and we'll be on the money. The team is going in a great direction; it's a lot of fun being with Sprint Gas Racing at the moment."

 Engineering Manager Mike Henry was pleased with both of his drivers today and is expecting both to finish Sunday's race in the top 10.

 "Both Greg and Jason have green tyres for qualifying and yellow tyres available for the race, they've both performed well today so I'm expecting the form to carry over to tomorrow," Henry said.

 "I believe we have the ability and the cars to place in the top ten tomorrow, which would be a marvellous result for the team."