Feb.27 (GMM) Adrian Sutil thinks Force India can race away from the back row of the grid this season with its 2008 single seater.

The VJM-01, essentially last year's Spyker car with mainly aerodynamic developments, is being tested for the first time by the team this week in Barcelona, where so far it has posted midfield lap times.

Renault's Nelson Piquet, however - who has been consistently slower than Force India's runners this week - insists that the Silverstone based team is not suddenly a competitive F1 player.

"We know that some teams are low on fuel. It is not normal that two Force Indias are ahead of us," the Brazilian told Diario AS.

But while Force India may have been overplaying its hand, team racer Sutil insists that the VJM-01 is ready to take on some of the other F1 squads.

"It is certain that we no longer lag behind like we did last year.

"On long runs, we are on the same level as Honda, and sometimes even faster," the German told adrivo.com, also declaring that Super Aguri could be a close 2008 rival.

"If they race, we should have a chance to get at them too," Sutil added.