Its Round 1 MSR Season 9 in RattleSnake Point. 15 racers showed up in what to be the first 24 hours race simulation ever for the league. It also the first race where there are 2 categories of cars ran simulteneously, namely LMP1 and LMP2, in the same race. 

Maranello55 (LMP2) completed the 20 minutes Qualifying ahead of the pack and started on pole with Madnoren (LMP2) and kamal90 (LMP1) tailing immediately behind. Muaz and Zul, both on the LMP2 came late into the grid and started at the back of pack.

The start

The start was not as eventful as the Qualifying Sprint Race which saw few heads roll and heated arguements amongst the involved. But all was good as the race started on cleanly without any big incident safe kamal90 and kenny (LMP2) momentary of track after a tussle with RonMD (LMP2). Antonio (LPM2) tried to hold off Zul but the end of lap 1 but Zul was determined and grab the place from antonio at the undulating back sector. Bonn2020 (LMP1) use his raw speed advantage to overtake antonio at the main straight.The biggest off on the opening of the race was when Azrink (LMP1) tag the back of Muaz which send him out onto the sandtraps. But he re-joined the track without any major damage. Kamal90 spun dangerously on lap 2 and collected Arnaud (LMP2) which sent both of them to the back.

As the sun sets down

The sun was setting over Rattlesnake Point. Zul have cleared the pack and on pursuit of Hafiz (LMP2) for 3rd place. Madnor losing ground to the race leader Maranello55. LMP1 battle between Azrink and Bonn2020 shortlived as the latter spun by himself. Muaz is hard pursuing Evohahn (LMP1), gaining grounds steadily after that incident with Azrink. Zul closing and overtook Hafiz with Muaz hot on his pursuit. The nocturnal battle was set between Zul and Muaz. They plunged through the night with merely 2 seconds gap. That gap was closed down and Muaz overtook Zul at lap 17 with a fiesty overtaking at the hairpin. 

The sunrise

After both pitted after Zul encountered evohahn and was forced to fight for the right to take the battle to Muaz. Evohahn had put up a great fight, running side my side on few occasions but finally lost the position at hairpin.  Like a pheonix rising as the sun did, Zul slowly closing in Muaz who is easily a second slower per lap. Antonio ran a lonely night phase but as he pits right after the sunrise, he found Bonn2020 tailing him. Although he was a lap down, Bonn2020 saves nothing until he got to pit in for the 5th time.

As the track temp rose, Muaz is closing in Madnoren as Zul is closing in on him. Maranello55 still leading and dominant pace over the rest. Azrink had a newfound confidence in grip as he closes the gap to Zul. The threat was real but an out of sync pitstop forced Azrink to forget his pursuit of Zul.

In a cruel twist of fate, Maranello55 was forced to retire from the lead. He was bitterly disconnected from the server. Madnoren took the lead followed by a rapid Muaz, who is closing in. Behind him, Zul is closing in even faster as the race coming to its final quater.

Arnaud who had to fought his way up after all he went through found Azrink right on his tail after the latter finish doing his final pit stop. After 3 laps defending against a light and attacking Azrink, Arnaud lost 4th place and down to 5th. Azrink then set the fastest lap of the race with 2.17.897s taking over Maranello55 previously set Flap of 2.18.164 set after the night phase. Evohahn stopped for his final pitstop on lap 26 and had put down some impressive laptimes and jumped Kenny and Antonio to finish a commanding 6th after started on the lowly 13th.

Madnoren took the chequered flag after a consistent pace on a one stopper. He admitted later on that he was on the hard compound tyres with llittle thread left at the end of the race. That is probably the reason why Muaz and Zul managed to close in quite rapidly - but was never close enough. Although Zul had Muaz on his sight at the closing laps of the race, Muaz just had to impressively bring the car home and finished 2nd after starting dead last.

The race had 4 DNFs including Maranello55, kamal90, Hafiz and Yazid. The 5th place Arnaud finish on the same lap as the race winner with Evohahn, Kenny and Antonio only 1 lap behind after a gruesome 1.5 hour race. Piji, RonMD and Bonn2020 had to crawl to the finish 3-4 laps down due to some problem affecting their overall pace.

The standings

Azrink is now leading the overall standings with 20 points over Madnoren's 19 points. Both is also leaders of their respective category going out of Round 1. Muaz is on 3rd overall and 2nd on the LMP2 category. Zul and Evohahn shared 4th place overall with 3rd and 2nd place on their categories, respectively.

Rattlesnake Point is seen to be a nice introduction track for the car. Next up is the notorious Suzuka in a weeks time, will put the driver and the car to the real test.