Adrian Sutil says that he is encouraged by Force India's progress during practice for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Sutil was only sixteenth in the first practice session but jumped up to ninth place during the second 90 minute session.
"It’s encouraging to be back in the top 10 and if we can do a similar run tomorrow with the super-soft tyres I think we can aim for the top 10 in qualifying," he said.
"The main thing we need to work on tonight is our performance on the medium tyre because I was more comfortable on the super-softs."
Team-mate Paul di Resta finished the second practice session in thirteenth place and was also upbeat about Force India's advances.
"We made good progress between the sessions and we certainly look quite competitive over the long runs," said the British driver.
"So I’d say that compared to previous years things are looking positive because we seem to be getting the car in a similar zone to last year, where it worked well. Some more gains overnight would be welcome so we will focus on some of the finer details to try and keep moving forward."