Mark Winterbottom has described his first laps of the Surfers Paradise street circuit since 2019 as a “shock to the system”.

The Supercars field took to the track for Practice 1 on the Gold Coast, with drivers getting their first laps around the concrete canyon in three years.

Will Davison topped the session for the Shell V-Power Racing Team after edging out Shane van Gisbergen in the closing stages.

Team 18’s Winterbottom, who finished the half-hour session in fifth, was buzzing after getting out of the car.

“I’ve been racing it for quite a while and those chicanes never become boring,” said Winterbottom.

“The first lap out I was like ‘woah, where has this been?’

“Good fun, just hanging on through those chicanes.

“I’ve missed those photos too, they are the Instagram photos you want of the car on two wheels.

“The first time I hit that chicane, you just don’t get thrown around like that at any other circuit or any other corner,” he added.

“That first one, it wakes you up again, you go ‘what, is the car meant to do this?’ — it’s very unique here.

“It definitely shocks the system a bit because like I said, it’s the only place that does this.

“Mega turnout too, I think that autograph session last night is the biggest we have seen for Supercars for such a long time.”

Grove Racing’s David Reynolds, also an experienced campaigner around the streets of Surfers Paradise said: “It’s a bloody tough track.

“It’s so cool but it’s scary and every lap is a fright.

“Yeah I love it, it’s bloody ace.”

Supercars Practice 2, another half-hour session, starts this afternoon at 15:15 local time/16:15 AEDT.