There may be 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 Jason Richards and Greg Murphy sealed the honour of being first Holden home when they finished fourth in the legendary Bathurst 1000. Following on from that, Tasman then experienced its best-ever sprint round finish at Surfers Paradise with Richards claiming a podium in third and Murphy winding up sixth overall – their Firepower Commodores consistently amongst the fastest cars on-track.
“There's an extremely positive feeling within the camp,” Grech confirmed, “but we haven't won any races so we're not hanging from the chandeliers just yet. As a team, we're continually encouraged by the improving performances; we're still developing and finding small gains. The progress is pleasing, but there's some way to go before we're challenging up-front on a consistent basis.”
Looking ahead to the Desert 400, Grech acknowledged the particular challenge and opportunity the weekend would represent, while insisting the entire team had lifted the bar in terms of its own efforts.
“There's some encouraging signs,” he underlined. “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'.
“Bahrain is a low-grip circuit which is 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.”
