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Sprint Gas Racing's Greg Murphy and Jason Bargwanna have praised Townsville and the organisers of the Dunlop Townsville 400.

 A massive crowd of almost 48,000 people attended the first day of the newest event on the V8 Supercar calendar - with bigger crowds to follow on Saturday and Sunday.

 "What a spectacular job Townsville has done, the facilities here are first class," Jason Bargwanna said.

 "It's no wonder so many people are coming through the gates, the event has been custom built to meet the needs of everyone that is here.

 "I can't see how anyone could fault what has been created."

 Murphy was staggered to see the number of people at the track today.

 "Today was an amazing day as far as crowds go, to have almost 50,000 here is almost unbelievable," Murphy said.

 "There were people everywhere. It seriously felt like a Friday at the Clipsal 500 or Bathurst.

 "Interestingly, the Townsville 400 replaced Eastern Creek on the Motorsport calendar which got 28,000 people over three days the last time we raced there. I think someone made the right decision to come here!

 "It shows that the sport is healthy."

 In today's practice session Murphy and Bargwanna spent the early stages learning the intricacies of the new track.

 "I love the challenge of a new track, especially street circuits," Bargwanna said.

 "Once we got up to speed with the layout we got to work tuning in the cars.

 "I was pretty happy with my car, it's nicely balanced. The focus now is to get a bit more speed out of it.

 "We didn't use any new tyres today, what we did was on old rubber. Where Murph and I finished today is not truly reflective of where we are at.

 "Qualifying can't come soon enough; I think we'll be competitive."

 With 13 corners on the tight 2.8 kilometre track the brakes are going to be worked hard throughout tomorrow's 72 lap race.

 It's a fantastic track but it will work the brakes hard," Murphy said.

 "I don't expect to have much, if any, life left in the pads at the end of the race.

 "We've got a massive day ahead of us. 200 kilometres in Townsville's heat will also be tough. I feel every driver in the field will be feeling slightly exhausted after 72 laps around here."

 Jason Bargwanna finished today's practice session in 19^th place and Greg Murphy 26^th.