Valuable seat time for Stevie J

Dick Johnson Racing co-driver Steven Johnson will take the wheel of a Supercar for the first time this weekend at the Castrol Townsville 500 - Driven by TAFE Queensland, after a nine-month hiatus.

The accomplished driver steps into the Dunlop Series this weekend piloting the Wilson Security Falcon, in preparation for his assault on the Pirtek Enduro Cup later this year with David Wall.

Yesterday's two practice sessions were Johnson's first taste of a V8 Supercar at a race meeting this year, after having briefly jumped in the DJR new generation #17 at a ride day in Perth in May.

Johnsonsaid it was ideal to dust a few cobwebs off, get back behind the wheel and actually race before heading intothe long-distance rounds.

"We've got a pretty important endurance series coming up and I haven't really driven a Supercar in anger since Gold Coast last year which is nine months ago," he told v8supercars.com.au.

"I haven't even driven a Porsche or an Australian GT car or anything.

"Getting back behind the wheel is good and even though it was only in total an hour and10minutes of practice - I'm just trying to get that rhythm back and nothing substitutes for laps."

The son of Ford icon Dick Johnson proved it was easy to get back into the swing of V8 Supercars racing, clocking sixth fastest in the last practice session yesterday.

However, the #170 pilot, who finished full-time racing in 2012, knows scoring a podium in the series will be no easy feat.

"I was under no illusion,the competition is really good," he said.

"There's experienced guys in there and young guys in there, and they're all top quality drivers.

"I hadn't even sat in this car until yesterday - I hadn't done a test so I'm sort of just learning the car, and all the buttons are different and even the driver position is different so I'm just trying to get comfortable in it.

"I have no expectation of coming in a dominating at all, I know it's going to be a tough grind and I haven't driven for nine months either so just getting back and getting some seat time is good."

Steve Johnson takes to the track to qualify for his first racesince the Gold Coast endurosat at 8.45am, before race one at 3.30pm AEST.