KUALA TERENGGANU: Against the backdrop of the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium in Kuala Terengganu, Round 1 of the second season of the Toyota Vios Challenge got off to a dramatic start around the 1.65km street circuit during the Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival.

In the Promotional Class, it was actress Diana Danielle (15) who had an uncontested Race 1 session after qualifying in pole position to take her first chequered flag after 20 laps with a fastest lap time of 1min 18.963sec and a total time of 30min 35.617sec.

The actress finished 2.412 seconds ahead of compatriot Akim Ahmad (46) in second and was followed by Janna Nick (18), who started ninth on the grid, to finish ecstatically 4.305sec after the leader in third.

Although qualifying in second, television host Nabil Ahmad’s (83) race ended on the 17th lap when he carried too much speed and understeered hard into the wall.

The Sporting Class saw beatboxer Shawn Lee (6) tasting his first win after getting promoted from the Promotional Class - together with Shukri Yahaya (24), who qualified in second, but hit the wall four corners into the first lap and lost a wheel.

Shukri managed to limp the car back to the pits to rejoin the race two laps down and subsequently finished last.




Shawn crossed the finish line after 28min 29.308sec to complete the full 22 laps with a fastest lap time of 1min 16.759sec, as Brendon Lim Boon Yew (86) arrived 8.348sec later to clinch second place with Kenneth Koh Keik Lun (28) in tow to take third place just 20.673sec behind.

As for newcomer and the category's youngest driver, 14-year old Hayden Haikal (11) managed to bring the car home in ninth, the same position he started in, after completing the full 22 laps in 29mins 40.847sec and a fastest lap of 1min 18.479sec.

The more experienced and professional Super Sporting Class had William Ho (39) clocking the 22-lap race with the fastest overall lap time of 1min 16.032sec to finish at the top after 28min 22.634sec.

He was joined by Boy Wong (21) 1.097sec later to take second place and Kenny Lee Wan Yuen (38) 2.026sec.

William, who initially qualified in second, was able to get off the line quicker at the start of the race to wrangle the lead from pole sitter Kenny.

As Kenny chased down William with the hope of regaining the lead, he was momentarily distracted by an issue concerning the overhead starting lights and subsequently slowed down in uncertainty to allow Wong by into second.

Day 2 will start with each category's top half finishers switching positions, putting Diana Danielle down in fifth position for the Promotional Class while Wany Hasrita gets the opportunity to lead the pack.

Also, Shawn Lee will be starting down in eighth position as Patrick Tam takes the lead for the Sporting Class while William Ho gets sent down to sixth place and Syafiq Ali is placed at the top for the Super Sporting Class.

The starting order of each class will also be reversed with the Super Sporting Class becoming the first category to start the races, followed by Sporting and Promotional Class categories later.

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