Round 1 of the GSR Nascar series took place Sunday 31st July 2016 at the home of the iconic Daytona 500 race in Florida.

17 cars in total took to the grid which after was separated by no less than 1 second, making it quite possibly the tightest ever qualifying result in GSR history.

As the race got under way most cars tended to hold their positions, while some others made hard charges towards the front of the pack to try to gain control for their team. It didn’t take long however to get the first caution of the race after a crash in the mid pack. After this incident, a pattern started to emerge as after each restart the tightly packed grid would time and again be broken up by incidents. Some drivers even got a bit hot headed causing more crashes.

Pit stops also played a part in the race with all drivers wondering when the right time to pit would be. If you left it too late and no caution came up you’d either run out of fuel or have to pit and be at the back on the pack if not a lap down.

At the end of the race however it was the MBI car of Nightmare who crossed the line in first followed by Copper Nuts08 in a very close second. So close infact that they could only be separated by a photo finish, as was 3rd down to 7th which all crossed the line in a blur as the camera once again had the tough job of deciding who finished where.

An eventful race to start the season both in action packed racing, and driver personalities.

We caught up with a few of the teams post race to get their thoughts:

First Capital Racing -

“It was a pretty exciting day for First Capital Autosport. In our first ever two-car effort, I managed to make a late charge (along with Marko) to finish 6th. Batman ran a great race and earned himself a top 10 finish in his grand return to GSR competition.

I still can't believe how close Dan, GRD, Marko, Samson and I were at the finish. 3rd through 7th in the blink of an eye!

Congrats to Nightmare on the win, and to Dan for earning that Hard Charger bonus point. (16th to 3rd)”

Murphy’s Laaawl -

“Personally, at least for me, it was uneventful besides my fuel saving. Should of saved a bit during that green flag stint in the beginning. I knew there was gonna be cautions, and with the way they were coming out, I figure why the hell not and try it. I was already having a good "league" weekend so let's have some fun.

- Sorry to BCK where I changed lanes twice during the race, the first time I just trying to get that "bubble of air" to move me forward like in real life. Second time I had a short window to come down, took it and ended causing a bump-draft glitch wreck.

- A meh race tbh. I was hoping for some racing but I realistically knew it was going to be something like that. Hence the strategy I took.

Onto Sonoma since Homestead conflicts with the Pocono Indycar race."

RAPTOR RACING POST RACE REPORT

“The #71 Raptor Racing Best Buy Ford Fusion guys did a heck of a job with the car, unfortunately things just didn't fall our way." said driver BCKracer71. "Things started pretty well and we managed to avoid most of the incidents. Our only real contact for most of the race was when the #19 tried to slot back in to line when he was off pace, which caused a bit of a chain reaction when we touched."

"The decision to pit at the very start of the fuel window almost payed off, as it put us up front when the leaders came in under yellow later. Unfortunately, the car was garbage on restarts, which is a problem when there are so many cautions and not many green flag laps. We were in line for a top five position until the last lap, when I ran into the rear of the #89. Totally my fault. That's racing sometimes, though."

Team Samsung

"Our cellphone screens do not crack like those windshields. Management team is keenly interested in developing non-cracking race car windshields using Gorilla Glass technology so our race drivers will have clear field of view despite collisions/flips."

"Our business has tough competition in the mobile-com market. We expect our driver(s) to match our mobile market success."

Primary driver, GRD, has commented that if he had a Note 7 donated to him he'll see what he can do. GRD is fully commited to not text/Tweet while he is in a race.

Check the Driver on-board’s to relive the action

Samson - https://www.twitch.tv/samson_gaming/v/81001071

Mr. Marko - www.youtube.com/watch

CopperNuts -  https://www.twitch.tv/coppernuts08/v/80999209

The second round takes place at the Miami Homestead Speedway on August 21st.