Davison's 'honour' to equal Dick Johnson record

Will Davison says it is an "honour" equal the podium tally of his legendary team boss Dick Johnson.

Davison finished second in the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint opener, which was won by Shane van Gisbergen.

It marked Davison's 65th career podium, drawing him level with Johnson in 10th in the record books.

The 39-year-old survived a challenge from Brodie Kostecki on the opening lap, before succumbing to a charging van Gisbergen on lap 16.

Davison emerged second after the compulsory pit stop cycle was completed, and crossed the line three seconds behind van Gisbergen.

It was Davison's first podium of 2022, and 11th since he inherited Johnson’s iconic #17 last season.

Davison was taken aback by the achievement, but cast his gaze to converting to race wins.

"To be mentioned in the same sentence as one of my heroes Dick Johnson is an honour," Davison said.

"I’m very respectful of everything he has achieved. It’s special to achieve this record at this amazing team, driving his special number and I’ll certainly reminisce, but I’m obviously focused on getting some victories.

"I ultimately think we maximised all we could, we weren’t strong enough before the stop, that was highlighted by Shane’s pass at Turn 6.

"I tried everything I could to defend but he was just too strong."

Davison paid tribute to his team for jumping Cam Waters during the pit sequence.

"The pit stop was amazing, I think we were the quickest in pit lane, so a big thank you to the team for getting us ahead of Cam," he said.

"I definitely finished stronger at the end of the race, compared to the start.

"Some positive things to look at, definitely a very positive day and I’m very hungry to get a win.

"We did our best today, and we will try to be better again tomorrow."

Davison is now fourth in the points standings heading into Sunday, which will feature two 44-lap sprints.

Cars will return to the track on Sunday for dual qualifying sessions from 10:35am AEDT. CLICK HERE to purchase your tickets.

Every session of the event will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 506 and streamed on Kayo.

The Seven Network will broadcast highlights on Saturday and Sunday.