The sporting gods smiled twice on the GW Racing Team on the opening night of the 2017/18 USC Sprintcar Championship at the Hi Tec Oils Toowoomba Speedway on Saturday night.

Peter Lack and the Q5 Mega Fuels / Kawana Signs / Team Navy race car survived a heart-stopping moment on the way to victory in the opening heat and came up trumps again and banked a very solid second place after frontrunners came to grief in the closing stages of the A-Main.

"It was a really good night out, " according to car owner and crew chief Graham Erhart.

" Sometimes you need a bit of luck to go your way when the racing's so hard and close and we certainly have had our share of unlucky breaks in recent seasons, " he said.

The Withcott-based team had put every bit of its 40-plus years of experience at its high-banked home track to great effect, by qualifying fourth quickest in the dash - stopping the clock at 11.459 - barely two-tenths behind fastest qualifier Cody Maroske.

" We dialled the car into the slick conditions pretty well and the whole package felt strong right from hot laps, " Lack said.

" We're gradually understanding more and more about our new Inglis Race Engines powerplant and how to tweak the set-up to get as much of that 900 hp to the ground as possible. " he said.

A bit of luck doesn't go astray either.

Q5 rode over the wheel of a car that had spun in front it in the first heat, but Peter Lack was fortunate to be able to race on for a win despite a deflating rear tyre.

He started 6th on the reverse grid for the second heat and converted that into a fourth placing which put the car on the front row for the 30 lap A-Main feature.

Q5 stayed in contact with the race leaders Robbie Farr and Brett Kratzmann for most of the feature race and inherited second place when Farr clipped a stalled back-marker and stopped.

"It’s about finishing races and scoring points consistently over the course of a long season, " Graham Erhart said.

"Over recent seasons we've had DNF's for a variety of reasons - including several that were completely out of our control, so it’s nice to come out smiling for a change with a second place-getters' trophy, " he said.

" It looks like the great new look colour scheme on the car - Purple Gold and Black is making a MEGA difference, " Peter Lack said.

GW Racing & Q5 will be back in action for Round 2 of the East Coast Logistics Sprintcar Series at Archerfield Speedway on Saturday, October 7.