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No time for celebrating at Tasman Motorsport |
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Friday, 26 October 2007 |
There’s a growing sense of optimism within Holden V8 Supercar team Tasman Motorsport as its on track competitiveness rises, but managing director Jeff Grech says the Melbourne-based outfit isn’t popping the champagne corks just yet.
Earlier this month its drivers, Jason Richards and Greg Murphy, finished fourth at Bathurst and were the first Holden pairing home.
Last weekend on the Gold Coast, Tasman experienced its best sprint round finish ever with Richards claiming a podium in third and Murphy finishing sixth overall – their Firepower Commodores consistently amongst the fastest cars.
“There’s an extremely positive feeling within the camp, but we haven’t won any races so we’re not hanging from the chandeliers just yet,” said Grech.
“As a team, we’re continually encouraged by the improving performances; we’re still developing, finding small gains.
The progress is pleasing, but there’s some way to go before we’re challenging up front on a consistent basis.”
Grech said the Tasman team had lifted the bar in terms of its own efforts.
“There’s some encouraging signs; the pit stops have been fast, the engineers have given the drivers good cars, and Murph and Jason are working well together.
Not many teams can say they have all that going for them, especially two drivers the calibre of ours.”
Grech said next weekend’s Desert 400 in Bahrain presented Tasman Motorsport with another challenge and opportunity.
“Bahrain is a low grip circuit and hard on tyres and, with the lessons learnt during last year’s visit, our engineers have been working hard on solutions to best meet its characteristics.
“Our goal is to go over there, maintain the momentum, try the best we can and hope some good results come our way – and I’d like to think we can achieve just that.”
The Desert 400 will be held at the Bahrain International Circuit in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Practise begins next Thursday (1 November), with qualifying and Race 1 Friday. The event will conclude with two final 31 lap races Saturday.
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