Jim Beam Racing achieved two top ten results in a dramatic race 5 of the V8 Supercars Championship at the ITM400 Hamilton in New Zealand today.
Steven Johnson appeared to relish the wet conditions, gaining provisional pole in the showery qualifying session.
Coming out last in the Top Ten Shootout, Johnson missed out on pole to Jamie Whincup by just 1/10 of a second.
The rain had eased by race time, with teams able to start on dry tyres.
Johnson held second place for the first two laps, before slipping back down to sixth position by lap six.
"We didn't start with dry tyres that had quite enough pressure in them," said Johnson.
"They just didn't come up to pressure fast enough and we lost four places as a result.
"Once they came up to pressure, we were hanging in behind Lowndes and it wasn't a problem at all."
While most of the field pitted around lap 15 and stayed on the dry tyres, Johnson held off until lap 21. By this time the rain had settled in and Johnson changed to wets.
He moved up to P2 when the front runners made anothet stop for wets.
Johnson continued in second place until he was pushed back to P6 after the restart at lap 53.
"Strategy didn't play out our way," he said.
"There were quite a few guys who took the second last safety car as a bit of a gamble.
"Even though we were about 3 or 4 laps short of fuel to get home we didn't do it and lost quite a few spots as a result.
"We probably should have been in the lead but cam out in about 8th or 9th position and we gained and lost a couple after that."
Johnson went on to finish out the race in 6th position however he was promoted to 5th due to a post race penalty being imposed on 5th finisher James Courtney.
"Our results were respectable but we had a car that was probably fast enough to win today or to be at least on the podium," said Johnson.
"We didn't quite have the run we would have liked so in that regard we are disappointed.
"But the car was fast and it's great to get a good solid result on the board."
Team Mate James Moffat notched up his first top ten finish in his maiden Championship season.
Moffat started P12 on the grid, his highest starting position to date.
"Qualifying was ok," said Moffat.
"I was a bit frustrated because we had the potential to be in the top ten.
"Having said that it's a big improvement on our previous best qualifying and it was nice to start a bit further up the field.
Moffat's crew also opted to take a late first pit stop, a move he said helped dramatically.
"The race was pretty chaotic with the weather and we just made the right call to stay out a bit longer on the dry tyres when it was starting to rain quite heavily over the back of the track," he said.
"We just wanted to hold out as long as posiivbe and make sure we were going onto the right tyres which we were able to do.
"We changed to the wets and obviously there were a few cars that I was racing for track position with that pitted early and went back out on slicks.
"From then on it was pretty crazy; definitely the worst conditions I've ever driven in.
"There was times when I couldn't see anything so I was just going off the brake lights in front of me."
Midway through the race Moffat had pushed up to fourth position but an error on the restart on lap 31 saw him run off the track at turn one, a move that saw him pushed back to 11th.
He managed to gain back one position by race end, finishing out the day a creditable 10th.
"I was a bit frustrated with myself that I made that mistake after the restart," Moffat said post race.
"But to come out tenth is overall a really good result for us."
Qualifying for race 6 starts at 11:00am tommorrow, Hamilton time.
Steven Johnson appeared to relish the wet conditions, gaining provisional pole in the showery qualifying session.
Coming out last in the Top Ten Shootout, Johnson missed out on pole to Jamie Whincup by just 1/10 of a second.
The rain had eased by race time, with teams able to start on dry tyres.
Johnson held second place for the first two laps, before slipping back down to sixth position by lap six.
"We didn't start with dry tyres that had quite enough pressure in them," said Johnson.
"They just didn't come up to pressure fast enough and we lost four places as a result.
"Once they came up to pressure, we were hanging in behind Lowndes and it wasn't a problem at all."
While most of the field pitted around lap 15 and stayed on the dry tyres, Johnson held off until lap 21. By this time the rain had settled in and Johnson changed to wets.
He moved up to P2 when the front runners made anothet stop for wets.
Johnson continued in second place until he was pushed back to P6 after the restart at lap 53.
"Strategy didn't play out our way," he said.
"There were quite a few guys who took the second last safety car as a bit of a gamble.
"Even though we were about 3 or 4 laps short of fuel to get home we didn't do it and lost quite a few spots as a result.
"We probably should have been in the lead but cam out in about 8th or 9th position and we gained and lost a couple after that."
Johnson went on to finish out the race in 6th position however he was promoted to 5th due to a post race penalty being imposed on 5th finisher James Courtney.
"Our results were respectable but we had a car that was probably fast enough to win today or to be at least on the podium," said Johnson.
"We didn't quite have the run we would have liked so in that regard we are disappointed.
"But the car was fast and it's great to get a good solid result on the board."
Team Mate James Moffat notched up his first top ten finish in his maiden Championship season.
Moffat started P12 on the grid, his highest starting position to date.
"Qualifying was ok," said Moffat.
"I was a bit frustrated because we had the potential to be in the top ten.
"Having said that it's a big improvement on our previous best qualifying and it was nice to start a bit further up the field.
Moffat's crew also opted to take a late first pit stop, a move he said helped dramatically.
"The race was pretty chaotic with the weather and we just made the right call to stay out a bit longer on the dry tyres when it was starting to rain quite heavily over the back of the track," he said.
"We just wanted to hold out as long as posiivbe and make sure we were going onto the right tyres which we were able to do.
"We changed to the wets and obviously there were a few cars that I was racing for track position with that pitted early and went back out on slicks.
"From then on it was pretty crazy; definitely the worst conditions I've ever driven in.
"There was times when I couldn't see anything so I was just going off the brake lights in front of me."
Midway through the race Moffat had pushed up to fourth position but an error on the restart on lap 31 saw him run off the track at turn one, a move that saw him pushed back to 11th.
He managed to gain back one position by race end, finishing out the day a creditable 10th.
"I was a bit frustrated with myself that I made that mistake after the restart," Moffat said post race.
"But to come out tenth is overall a really good result for us."
Qualifying for race 6 starts at 11:00am tommorrow, Hamilton time.