World Grand Prix Championship Season 15: Roleplay Thread

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

A Nimban plane glides slowly onto Serbian tarmac for only the second time; this, however, is one of the military freighters designated 'Mule', not the luxurious Praetorian, and it carries with it the most coveted of Nimban cargoes.

Imagination.

The facilities at Niš Constantine the Great Airport certainly aren't great; they are, however, enough to land the juggernaut and bring the UHSGV-1 on board over to a Tigar truck. Thompson, not known either for her Serbian or her diplomacy, elects to stay out of the spotlight for now and let the translators do the work; she can wait until they arrive at the factory, when she is needed, before she does any talking. She shudders at the thought.

[Vilita and Turori]

Vilita & Turori Competitive Motor Racing Development Center, Eelandii, Turori ::

...Did they have the funds available just to make it to the opening race in Aels? iBen Toralmintii didn't have any concerns before, but now he had real work to do. Instead of focusing on preparing as a driver for the new season, he had to focus on rebuilding his team. iBen Toralmintii began the process of re-evaluating the future - both for his team and for his own career.

iBen Toralmintii had kept himself away from the day-to-day activity at Vilita & Turori Motorworks since first learning of Terho Talvela's decision to take himself and his sponsorship dollars to the rival Mattijana Racing Team for World Grand Prix Championship Season 15. iBen returned home to Turori and sat at his desk at the Eelandii Motorsports Complex and got on his device, Communicating to whomever he could.

Toralmintii had thought everything was in place for Vilita & Turori's attempt to defend their Constructors Title. But now, here he was once again trying to build everything back up from the ground again.

It wasn't going well, either. Tropicorp were heavily invested in developments in the Cocoabo Forest and didn't have any extra cash flow to redirect into the racing team. They had already accelerated by double their funding the previous season in the race to get the team ready and competitive for World Grand Prix Championship 14. They couldn't sustain that level of investment again - it just wasn't in the plan.

Now, Toralmintii was stuck in a pickle. He had two of the fastest cars in the multiverse but he couldn't afford to transport them, fit tyres on them and fuel them. He kept doing the math. If they skipped practice and brought a skeleton crew, they might be able to make it work. But how competitive would they be without any practice? And who would drive the second car?

..Did they need the second car? Yes. Toralmintii didn't want the whole team to revolve around him. Then another thought crossed his mind. Since the fallout from Talvela's treachery, iBen Toralmintii hadn't even stepped foot inside the cockpit of his machine. Juracai Klianiota and R.L. Cruisin had been doing all the driving - with Cruisin returning home temporarily after learning of the demise of his own team in Aels.

Maybe Toralmintii could just manage everything and not drive. But that didn't sound very fun either.

Finally the moment came for iBen Toralmintii. He didn't want to hire a pay-for-seat driver. He never really liked that model, but the team needed funding. It was either that, or ask for help.

After missing both of the WGPC officially sanctioned practice sessions, iBen Toralmintii made a call to the WGPC offices. He knew it wouldn't look good to have empty places on the grid. Maybe the sanctioning body had some ideas.

Toralmintii explained that with the burden of negotiating with new sponsors, trying to evaluate potential drivers without having held a tryout session, and being financially under supported, he just wasn't going to have his team ready in time for the season - at least at the current rate. Toralmintii wanted to drive. But he couldn't drive if the team didn't show up. The team needed investment, it needed someone to put the pieces back together - someone with connections who could also line up a second driver. There had been inquiries and drivers popping up on the radar - most recently Denholm Kingsley, an Anthoran motorhead looking to poach a last minute ride - but did he have the funds that the team needed? How could he vet them on such short notice.

Toralmintii put forward a score of options on the table with the WGPC Front Office

1) Toralmintii could continue to run the team and step out of the cockpit. The team would operate on a bare-bones budget unless a pay-driver was found for the second seat. The first seat would be occupied by Juracai Klianiota who would need to have his License upgraded to Class WGPC

2) Toralmintii could accept a pay driver with large sponsor draw to cover the budgetary gaps left in the wake of Talvela's departure - but potentially with the trade off of quality of competition, as the pay-driver would likely be carrying around the extra cash up to make up for less talent

3) WGPC could claim an operating stake in the team for the duration of the season, managing logistics and arrangements such that Toralmintii could focus on driving. The partnership would also allow WGPC to utilize VTM's second seat as a "Works" seat with WGPC management retaining full control on driver selection. The hooks were already in place for such an arrangement due to Vilita & Turori Motorworks previous collaboration with WGPC on Works chassis.

Short of that, Toralmintii was out of ideas. But the deadline for packing up equipment and heading to the first race was fast approaching.

...Back in Vilita...

Unaware of the turmoil over in Rockii Coast, R.L. Cruisin was undergoing a bit of turmoil of his own after his ride dropped out from under his feet when Carvenlo-Franklin Racing dropped out of World Grand Prix Championship 15 and left the Vilitan driver rideless. Cruisin had offers however. Unfortunately, he had missed the trial sessions while still under contract to Carvenlo-Franklin. However, with the contract now null-and void, Cruisin had opened communications with Nexus Racing and Arada Motorsport to inform them that he was a free agent and would be open to offers so long as he got space on the vehicle for his own personal sponsor. He would also expect a percentage of winnings and bonus for race wins.

Cruisin had hooked up with Juracai Klianiota to shake down some VTF1 machines at the test track in Rockii Coast to keep his skills up while waiting to hear back from the two teams, knowing that he would accept the first ride to return confirming they accepted the terms of his offer. Cruisin's personal sponsor, Vilaye Energy Drink, was getting antsy to print promotion material for the coming season and was calling twice a day to see if Cruisin had a new contract yet so they could get a picture of the new car to put on their bottles.

[San Jose Guayabal]

Gold Park Circuit, Neverend, Liventia - Test Day N°2 - January 26th, 2212 - 12:30 PM

Moisés had a quite weird sleeping night, he had problems to conciliate sleeping due to some nerves previous the test, it was going to be a nice opportunity to give a good impression to the MRT team and his teammate on what he could do, Delgado remembered some horrible moments he had in the last season, some DNFs and overall bad performances in a bad machine such as Cygnus ATR one, but he tried to forget it since this was a new opportunity in the MRT machine, the MRT 15 model had all what Delgado needed to do it well, so there was little to no excuses on capability to perform well, after some thought, Delgado managed to sleep like a baby, without past thoughts of a nightmare of season he had… The day started early for him, he had the usual walk across the hotel in order to kill some time before doing anything or lunching. Some hours later, he was on circuit, specifically on Golden Park, a circuit that has a special zone of Delgado’s adventures on WGPC, since in this track, he debuted as driver with Hansa-Nyrota racing, getting a respectable second place and then winning a race in Audioslavia the weekend after that, Delgado was feeling like in home for the test in Gold Park, he was motivated and then talked with Marina and Garrido for strategically important issues.

“Well, Moi, here we are, you have arguably one of the best machines of the WGPC as for now, it’s your turn to give all what you can do, you’re capable to do wonders here, especially that this is a fairly known circuit for you, you had your debut here and almost win your first Grand Prix, which was an awesome feeling for you” said Garrido while Marina told Moisés “Feel yourself comfortable here, you can do It well, no need to be desperate or anxious, that won’t help you at all…” Delgado nodded while Garrido called Alonso to talk with Delgado about specs for the car, Delgado told to Alonso “Let’s try to have some good cornering but also emphasising on speed, we have a couple of fast turns, especially from turn 12 and afterwards, we need to take advantage of the situation and do this well” Alonso nodded and took a laptop to do the needed adjustments to the car, Moisés continued talking with Garrido and he said “Well, indeed, this raceway is one of my favourites due to the challenge of having a car with a decent speed and good cornering, since this raceway mixes both elements fairly well” Marina interrupted the conversation and told Delgado “Erm… You should do sponsor duties now, but first, Terho is around there, it might be the time to break up the ice and establish a good teammate relationship, eh?” Delgado walked out to talk with Terho first, the sun was strong, and that’s why Delgado had to squint his eyes a bit, he shook hands with Terho and talked for some time, then Delgado decided to check the car and talk with Alonso on how the works went, Delgado was satisfied with the machine, and he was quite sure that this would be his season.

---

Telaris Racing was having some good results and now it was matter to see how the plans were going, Novikov managed to get a respectable fifth place on the test in Taeshan, Gutiérrez was happy with Novikov but now the spotlight was directed to EA, the Chromatik with a hard name to write and pronounce, she inspired some lights of confidence to Gutiérrez and the team, she seemed to be sure on what to do, Gutiérrez decided to talk with her a bit while Novikov was walking there and there asking for some adjustments and trying to exploit the torque that the Telaris machine has. “So, EA, how do you feel for today?” Said Gutiérrez while EA was adjusting her helmet, she said “Well, not nervous, I’m controlled for this, though let me say that I won’t give my real potential in this race, this will be basically a further exploration of the Telaris machine” Gutiérrez sipped some coffee and then answered “Further exploration?” EA said “Yes, since some adjustments were made to the machine, familiarising with them will be important if I want to do an excellent performance on Eastfield Lodge’s race next week” Gutiérrez nodded “Well, you have reason in that, you need to familiarise yourself with adjustments, so not pressure on you for now, take your time.” EA was satisfied with the conversation and then she went to check the machine, Gutiérrez went down and decided to talk with Novikov.

Talking with Novikov was going to be difficult as it seemed, nobody around him, neither the Ruuhmaki brothers, who are his closest friends and people while adjusting the machine or somebody else of Telaris staff, Gutiérrez decided to bring some of his language skills and said “Hei, onko sinulla hetki keskustella?” (Hey, do you have a minute to talk?) Novikov suddenly turned and saw Gutiérrez with eyes of surprise, both shook hands and Novikov answered “Sinä puhuvat samaa kieltä kuin” (Do you talk my language?) Gutiérrez said after “Ei, minä vain tietää perusasiat” (No, I barely know the basics) then the conversation switched to English and Gutiérrez asked few questions, knowing how Novikov tended to be before a race “Well, how do you feel?” Novikov said “Confident, I’m sure I’ll have a better result this time than the last race” Gutiérrez asked then “Everything ready with the machine?” Novikov nodded and then Gutiérrez said “Good luck” while patting Novikov on his helmet.

Gutiérrez sat down and observed how the practice was, he was satisfied with Novikov’s performance during the practice, reaching first for a while even above his fellow countryman Terho Talvela, then Gutiérrez said “Oh shit no…” when he suddenly saw Moisés taking Novikov away from the first place, much to Gutiérrez mix of feelings, some disgust and happiness at the same time, since Delgado and Gutiérrez are close friends, but the friendship was aside in this business, Gutiérrez was quite surprised but then he let it go and relaxed, although, he looked with some doubts the performance of EA, but those doubts went away when she reached the fourth fastest lap, then she fell to the eight position, though, a nice first practice for her in the Telaris machine, but Gutiérrez was happier with Novikov performance, he was solidly consistent at the top and then he finished with the third fastest lap, Gutiérrez said mentally “I think this boy will be a nice looking surprise for this season, seems that I finally hired a good driver that might fill the gap left by Spupuo.” Gutiérrez had some blind confidence on how things were going to be for the Imperial Commonwealth Grand Prix, maybe a podium for one of the team or why not both Telaris drivers, though the main aim was being saved to the second round, when the teams will hit the streets of San Salvador for the Guayabalense Grand Prix, which was labelled on Gutiérrez agenda as a “must win.”

---

Delgado was feeling confident on the run, he had some good times during the first laps that were quite a test, but his previous knowledge of the circuit helped greatly for him, especially on the last part of the track, from turn twelve afterwards, where there was some turns that can be taken at a high speed if taken smoothly, Delgado did it and it was the part he took advantage for the nice time recordings, at the eighth lap, he stopped the chronometer at 1:38:500, somewhat close to the lap record, putting him at the top of the laps made, even above Terho and the Telaris cars, much to the weird feelings experimented by Gutiérrez, Garrido talked with Delgado and said “Keep it going, it was a superb lap” Moisés asked for curiosity “How far away from the record am I?” “89 hundredths of second” said Garrido while Moisés said “This is looking nice” Delgado was inspired at some point, he continued accelerating more and more, he managed to keep his laps into a consistent frame of 1:38:500 and 1:38:892, a nice time frame which made him had one of the best time averages on the test, then he peaked it out at the 15th lap with a 1:38:428 which caused Garrido to say “17 hundredths of second away of it, this is going to be yours Moi”

Some laps after, Garrido told him by radio “Terho established a new record, go for him Moi, go for him” Moisés was enjoying the test a lot and that was being confirmed by the results and its consistence, and also on the way on how he driven out those turns, Delgado was being consistent but not having the pace that Terho had on the record lap, Garrido told Moisés then “This is a two man race, Moi, it’s you against Terho, go for him” but Moisés continued the next laps on the 1:38:500 – 1:38:647 mark, Moisés tried to be better and improve the timings but he failed to do so, at the 30th lap, he managed to get a 1:38:440 and then, nothing lower of that, still, the test left a great sensation for Moisés and the crew, the test was successful and the results were the desired ones, now everything was ready for the Imperial Commonwealth Grand Prix, but before leaving the circuit, he tried to talk more with Terho Talvela, on what it looked to be a really good relationship between both, Moisés and Terho introduced their crew members each other, the talk seemed to be interesting and there were signs that the two drivers could enable a really strong partnership between them, why not one of the best in the WGPC? All of that was possible, since both drivers have a huge potential on racing and of course, the MRT machines were undoubtedly being a beast compared to others, although, Telaris, Wilson and McPahan seemed to be consistent on the test, perhaps the battle between the four main builders was going to be lopsided or epical? No idea, but Telaris has signs of a really good evolution after two decent seasons after the arrival of Novikov and EA, Wilson had Lund with them and his talent is important to make Wilson a really strong competitor, while McPahan had Souzare and Censki, but the latter has some signs that he can be one of the main candidates this year, since he performed well both on Telaris test and now driving the McPahan machine.

[Vangaziland]

Retconned, VMR never entered

[Mattijana]

Gold Park Circuit, Liventia

"WAIT WHAT!" Said Alex Dimitrianov, with more than a casual hint of surprise.

Mattijanan racers, and sportspeople in general, didn't have agents. Sport wasn't seen as a business. But the support team who Alex had brought with him to the second test in Liventia also watched the press conference in horror as Scott Miles signed his death warrant at VMR.

"They can't do that. I haven't even had a competitive drive yet. They don't have a clue how good I am. I don't think they have a clue what they're doing to be honest."

Feelings of shock and surprise had quickly turned to pure anger.

"I'm going to that snake right now." Said Alex. "He has no right to do this. Absolutely none. I know some teams are less forgiving than others, but this is seriously below the belt."

"I'm coming too." Assured Andreas Wolkenstein, one of Alex's faster thinking team members, fearing things might boil over. "You don't deserve this."

After the press conference. Miles found a rather unpleasant surprise in one of the preparation rooms to the side of the main stage. Alex had been warned by a couple of team staff not to confront Miles, they said that he was sorry and wouldn't be able to offer much help. Alex thought otherwise.

Scott saw Alex in the corner of the room. The tension could be cut with a pair of safety scissors, let alone a knife.

"So you dropped me for a complete rookie, a week before the opening race of the season, because of the results of two of the tightest tests in WGPC history. You really think that was a good decision?"

Miles was silent, seemingly consigning himself to the barrage of abuse that would surely follow.

"Do you realise how the Mattijanan fans feel. We might have the best team on the grid, but we don't have a single driver now. All so you can realise your petty little idea of having an all Vangazi team cruising round ruling the world. Do you lot even have a sense of realism?"

"It's not that Alex. The test results weren't good. You know that. And we needed someone with a more complimentary driving style for Jess. You just didn't fit in and I'm sorry for that."

"Do you have a steaming turd for a brain? The one style you needed was mine. You needed someone who could go round picking up a solid points haul every week whilst Jess did the flashy business. What have you got now? A dumb-ass pay driver who'll try some fancy-schmancy overtaking move at the first possible opportunity and bury your precious car in a barrier somewhere."

"James is a good driver Alex." Replied Scott, who was starting to lose patience slightly. "You'll see that."

"You hope I'll see it. That's what you mean. If you judge his performances like you did mine, he'll be out in the cold after the first race. Not that that's going to happen with your blatant patriotic favouritism."

"It's not that Alex. You know that. How many times do I have to say."

"Not enough to convince me. Not enough to convince yourself either."

Scott Miles walked off.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: V&T Motorsports, Arada, Nexus, Bitten Heroes.
From: Alex Dimitrianov

My name is Alex Dimitrianov. You may know about my current situation, but if not, then I will explain it briefly now.
I was offered a seat by VMR Motorsports for the coming season, but after the recent two tests, they have decided to terminate that contract and replace me with Vangazi rookie James Lark. I do not believe this was a good decision, or a morally right one, having left me high and dry after guaranteeing me a drive for the season.

I know you have seats free for the upcoming season and as a result, I would like to offer my services to you. I am a consistent and relatively experienced driver, having participated in the previous 2 seasons of WGPC racing, and am highly motivated now that 2 teams have effectively dropped me for this coming edition. I can provide healthy sponsorship from Petrovi tyres, and can operate as a pay-driver if necessary.

You may have received personal recommendation from the VMR team. Albeit briefly, they have worked with me and know my style, strengths and weaknesses.

Thank you for your consideration.

Alex Dimitrianov.

[Vangaziland]

Scott Miles walked back carrying a folder. He had made a phone call and grabbed some information. Dimitrianov was sulking around the corner, puffing out his chest and red with anger. The Vangazi was a businessman after all. He tried to keep calm. He tried to let the driver express his mind.

But Dimitrianov just proved he was too emotional and unprofessional. Miles caught up to Alex around the corner. "Hey kid. Come here."

Alex went even more red and furrowed his eyebrows. "Listen here! I deserve respect."

"You do? What have you shown me here right now that shows you deserve respect?"

"Well I am very upset with you and your driver is going to fail. Lark is like soooo aggressive. He's going to crash all the time, man!"

"Do you have turds for brains?" Miles walked right up to Dimitrianov's face, repeating his words. Alex was razzled. Miles was calm. His gaze was cold. He slowly opened the folder. "This is the official scouting report on his style and your style. He is just barely more aggressive than you. He is also rated at a higher reliability than Jessica. Jessica is also not an aggressive driver."

"No man, whatever! You have no right-"

"I have every right! These were tests. We deemed you were not aggressive enough. Those are your times. Has Lark been tested? Not in the WGPC, no. But we will find out. He has also been a part of the VMR family since the Hodori races, where he won the Soumaku 300km in his class."

A man showed up at the doorframe, looking almost as tall and as wide as the door itself.

"Hans, take this disturber away. If he keeps it up, call the police and report an emotionally disturbed person. He can spend the night in the hospital under observation if he wants to keep ranting and raving."

"This isn't fair! I am so insulted! This was like some kind of record", Dimitrianov continued.

"All I literally did, was just treat you with the same respect you treated me. Who do you think you are? Now get out and don't talk to me again... Hans?"

The big man walked into the room quickly. Alex put his hands up, covering his face. "Don't hit me."

"Get out now", said the stoic-faced security officer.

Alex Dimitrianov took a deep breath and walked away. He was quietly escorted out of the paddock, awkwardly, after causing a huge scene. Nobody wanted to look at him as he was paraded out. Some of them were his friends and they were so embarrassed.

Miles actually took this calmly. He could have reacted much worse. He could have taken the name calling up a level. He could have gotten physical. Instead he mentioned the facts on the driving style and threw the poor word choice back at the person who used it originally.

As Alex was let out the front door, journalists who had no idea how the conversation went snapped images of the disheveled Dimitrianov. He was red-faced, sweaty and totally looked out of his element. The photographers took the pictures, not realizing that Alex was no longer with MRT.

It fueled speculation. Soon after, a Press Release mentioned the signing of James Lark. They all put two and two together. Now they had images of a burly Vangazi basically throwing Alex to the curb. Sports media was rabid in Vangaziland. This would become a major story for at least a week or two. More information was set to come out. As of now, Vannish Motors released only one statement saying, "both parties have moved on amicably. Alex told us he was excited to move on to a new opportunity in light of our tactical, business decision. Of which we have given him our recommendation."

However, the image of the disheveled, frustrated Alex Dimitrianov was now circulating throughout the Vannish sports media. Rumors spread quickly. People were talking about how Alex got canned and his feelings were hurt, but they didn't know what happened or what was said.

[Lisander]

After some weeks of silence, some messages appeared in Natassia Maud meep profile:

@natassia_maud After a long deliberation, caused by a rupture in the team officers, Juliano Lemos was chosen as Bitten Heroes Home Driver. Mick Schramm from East-West Timor, was approached to br his partner in WGPC Season 15.

@natassia_maud @seigendynamics is currently out of Bitten Heroes Project.

AND NOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
Some leaked informations reveal Mikado Seigen tried approaching Hodoran driver Sayono Souzare, that runs in a similar style to his own daughter, Shizuko Mikado. But with no answer, they saw two of their drivers of interest signing McPahan. Awful. Natassia got mad, dismissed the Seigen team and struggled on her own to complete the cars just in time. In the last moments of deadline, she assigned Juliano Lemos, driver from her team in Lisander Alpha League, and approached Mick Schramm.

[West-East Timor]

Mick Schramm's phone rang. Really? Again? Can't he watch this brilliant West-East Timorian movie about himself without being interrupted? Of course, it was Andy Kashnan.

"Andy, I still don't know whether I want to drive another year in Formula WET1 or not."

"I guess you do now. Guess what!"

"What?"

"You got an offer! Bitten Heroes GPE want you as driver number one!"

"Really? That's great!"

"Yeah, really. I've got the papers and everything here with me. If you don't mind, I'll visit you so you can sign. If you want to do so."

Some time later, the door rang.

"Honestly!?", thought Mick Schramm, "Oh, no, wait, that must be Andy."

He opened the door.

"Come in. Sit down, have a drink."

"Here are no drinks."

"Oh. Right. I'll bring you some water."

"No, thanks, I don't want some water. I'm not thirsty.", Andy said, taking a... Glass bottle filled with (cold) coffee out of his bag.

"Errrmmm... Cold coffee?"

"That's frozen coffee. Not ice coffee or something. Frozen coffee. Newman Beverage Sales Inc.'s newest idea."

"Errr... Alright then. What about the contract?"

"I got everything here", Andy said, taking a bunch of papers out of his bag. "It sais you'd be driver number one, your teammate would be Juliano Lemos from Lisander... Here, best is you read everything yourself."

Mick read the whole contract.

"Looks good to me. So, I have to sign here, right?"

"Yeah, just sign here, I will arrange everything with Bitten Heroes, and then you'll be a WGPC driver."

"Alright then."

Mick Schramm signs as #1 driver at Bitten Heroes Grand Prix Engineering

"We should make a press conference", Andy said. "The press will have lots of questions."

"I'm OK with that."

[Aboveland]

Terho and Edvin had just arrived back in Vankkavalta after a short retreat to their new Mattijanan home away from home. With the opening round of the season cancelled, and the following one postponed to its original date, the pair decided a quick run back home to unwind before the race would do them well. They had scheduled a short flight up to Natuurääntyä and rented a tiny lake house complete with a sauna and an outhouse. They had also arranged to get their rally car up there near them, so as to allow them to do some unconventional backroad relaxation.

The sheer amount of WGPC news on signs, papers and TVs in the airport terminal shocked Terho and Edvin alike. Circulating amongst the front pages and broadcasts was the face of Mattijanan driver Alex Dimitrianov. Apparently, he'd been released from VMR, and he wasn't having it. According to Vannish media, he'd thrown an irresponsible, unprofessional tantrum, and according to Mattijanan media, VMR had dropped their driver for the sake of nationalism. Even though the details were a bit cloudy and both news sources were obviously going to be biased against each other. However, the Abovians decided to side with the evil they knew. Alex' reaction was completely understandable and rational in their eyes, and he deserved much better than he'd gotten.

Making an official post condoning Vannish actions would have caused a PR nightmare, so Terho decided to refrain from posting anything too aggressive. Edvin muttered "what a load of bullshit" when he read the articles, Terho sighed and clenched his fist in disgust, and that was the end of it. Nevertheless, he felt something could be done for Alex. He was surely a talented driver, and perhaps a well-known voice like his into the world of the WGPC could work in his favor. Therefore, the world champion and his trusty companion called up fellow countryman Axel Novikov, and in a short, direct conversation lasting only 10 minutes, they forged a plan to land Alex a seat somewhere in the WGPC.

Terho Talvela and Axel Novikov convince sponsors Nortec and Raskettu Racing Systems to support Alex Dimitrianov's WGPC 15 seat search with a combined financial backing of 900 000 N$D.

(i.e. Nortec and RRS offer to sponsor Dimitrianov)

[Ethane]

Benjamin Talison was in his car on the test track where the team were preparing and testing the car for the upcoming season of the WGPC. He had taken the car out for a spin, but it was a rainy day and the track was slippy.

Typically, Talison was quite good in controlling the car, but he was quite new himself to WGPC cars and hadn't really driven them in rain before, so didn't know too much about how they actually would handle in the wet.

He misjudged one of the corners and ended up sending his car smashing into the barriers. The last thing he said was 'oh shit' over the radio. He now lies in a hospital in Ethane, in an induced coma, with severe brain damage and bodily injuries. It is unknown how long he will take to recover, but it is known he will not be driving in the upcoming WGPC season.

This left a place available at Fireline, because of the withdrawal of Benjamin Talison from the drivers for the season, at a time when the team didn't really want to be searching for new drivers. However, the team were relatively lucky as they heard quite quickly about the massive fall-out between Alex Dimitrianov and VMR, as well as the support Nortec and Raskettu Racing Systems were providing Dimitrianov, and decided to pursue him to fill the vacant seat at Fireline.

To Alex Dimitrianov,

We have heard that you are without a seat for the upcoming WGPC season. We also happen to have a vacant seat because of the incident recently involving Talison.

Therefore, in light of both our situations, we are willing to offer a seat at Fireline for the season, in which you will be paid for your driving with us, instead of many teams who will want you to pay to compete with them. We hope you sign with us.

[Vangaziland]

Retconned. VMR never entered.

[West-East Timor]

WET NEWS
Mick Schramm Signs At Bitten Heroes GPE

At a press conference today in Isnalkorvburg, hometown of the famous (at least in the Omnidirectional Republic = West-East Timor) West-East Timorian racing driver Mick Schramm, it was anounced that the mentioned Mick Schramm has signed a contract to race for Bitten Heroes Grand Prix Engineering from Lisander in the upcoming 15th season of the World Grand Prix Championship. Schramm, multi-times Formula WET1 champion with WET Cheese Racing, will be the first West-East Timorian driver ever to participate in the WGPC, and the second West-East Timorian driver to participate in an international motorsport event, following Timo Beniani who finished second with WETtech Racing in the second Gemini Games Rallye. Mick Schramm's teammate at Bitten Heroes will be Juliano Lemos from Lisander. Meanwhile, Bitten Heroes had anounced that Seigen Dynamics is no longer a partner of the team. At the press conference, Mick Schramm said:

"It's just amazing, really. It has always been my dream to be a WGPC driver, and now I am! Bitten Heroes are a great team, I'm really looking forward to work together with them. I have already had the chance to test their car at Alixring in Lisander some time ago, and I'd say it went quite well. I managed to drive constantly fast, and I've had almost no problems handling the car, it's not that different from a Formula WET1 car, but it still is faster and a bit more difficult to drive, but a bit of a challenge isn't that bad. And I guess participating in WGPC will be more than just a bit of a challenge. I'll be challenging the best drivers in the world! Or you could say I am one of the best drivers in the world... But I don't know, does that sound arrogant? Anyways. It's sad that Seigen Dynamics are out for, well, reasons I guess, I don't know that much about what happened, but, as much as I know, the cars work, and we're ready for the first race in Eastfield Lodge. I'll give the best I can, and I'm shure so will Juliano Lemos and the rest of the team. I don't know Lemos that well yet, I've only met him once, at the test in Alixring, but latest in Eastfield Lodge I'll meet him again, I guess. I don't really know what would be a realistic goal for the season, as I have no clue how the car is compared to the other teams' cars."

In West-East Timor, the expectations are very high, and most people are really hyped to have a West-East Timorian WGPC driver. About that, Schramm just said:

"Don't expect too much, I don't want to dissapoint all of West-East Timor."

The first race of the season will take place on Mount Salt Raceway in Eastfield Lodge, from 17th-19th February. Every session will be aired live on almost every West-East Timorian channel, each trying to offer more content than the others.

[Vangaziland]

Retconned, VMR never entered. Alex, nor Jessica ever signed. No tests were run. The "Poor Alex" story doesn't occur. RP Permission is not given to use any event associated with my writing or creations without my approval.

[West-East Timor]

After the press conference, Isnalkorvburg

Mick Schramm and Andy Kashnan were just walking out of the building the press conference, when they saw Nick Newman, holding some papers in his hands and walking straight towards them, followed by the press and lots of fotographers who have nothing better to do than than taking photos of him. But as one of West-East Timor's elected leaders and most important bussinessman, what he still is, Newman was used to that. Mick and Andy stopped, waiting for him. And the press.

Newman: "Mick, Andy! I knew I'd find you here."

Kashnan: "Well, yeah, we we just had a press conference here...",

Newman: "I know."

Schramm: "Anyway... What's the matter, Nick? And by the way, why are there all these people with cameras and microphones?"

Newman: "Oh they? They're just my fans!"

Schramm: "I think that's the press constantly following you."

Newman: "I prefer to call them fans. Makes you feel less stalked. Somewhat."

Kashnan: "So why are you here?"

Newman: "Well, Mick, I wanted to ask you to come with me to the WET Cheese Racing headquarters in New Dili. First, we want to anounce who will be the new WET Cheese driver in Formula WET1. And second: As you know, Seigen Dynamics are out of the Bitten Heroes project, and with them all their personel. As WETmotors is now a sponsor of Bitten Heroes, they have been asked whether some of their personel could work for the Bitten Heroes team. As WET Cheese Racing is a WETmotors team, I have agreed to kinda "promote" some of WET Cheese Racing's Formula WET1 personel to WGPC personel. I got a list of people I think would be best working for Bitten Heroes here."

Nick Newman handed a list with names to Mick Schramm.

Schramm: "Hey, it says Maximilian Garnold here. I can keep my race engineer?"

Newman: "Yes, you can. I think he has worked really well, and that it wouldn't be bad if you already know your race engineer either."

Schramm: "No, it isn't, I guess. But what about WET Cheese Racing, won't they have less personel then?"

Newman: "No, they won't. I'll promote personel from our Formula 2WET team, for our Formula 2WET team I'll promote personel from our Formula WET3 team, for our Formula WET3 team I'll promote personel from our Formula WET4 team, and for our Formula WET4 team I'll hire new personel."

Schramm: "Oh, alright then. When are we going to New Dili then?"

Kashnan: "As you've mentioned going, I think I'll go now. All these camera flashlights are making me nervous. See you two."

Schramm: "Yeah, see you."

Kashnan went away, out of all the camera flashlights.

Newman: "So, where were I..."

Schramm: "I asked when we are going to New Dili."

Newman: "Oh, right. Well, if you don't mind, I got my private jet near here. We can just hop, quickly fly over that ocean, land in New Dili, tell the WET Cheese Racing personel they're Bitten Heroes personel now, and quickly fly back. That won't take long."

Schramm: "Alright then."

They went to Mick's car, together with the press, got in, drove to Nick Newman's private airport in Isnalkorvburg District (Newman has got a private airport in every District), got into the jet, and flew to New Dili.

WET Cheese Racing Headquarters, New Dili

Mick Schramm and Nick Newman were standing behind a lectern. In front of the lectern, almost all of WET Cheese Racing's personel had assembled.

Newman: "Good day everyone! You shurely ask why we've asked you all to assemble here, in this room."

'This room' actually was was the cantine, in which a lectern was quickly built, as the cantine is known to definetly be big enough for everyone working for WET Cheese Racing.

Newman: "Well, Mick Schramm and I have to tell you something important."

Schramm: "Yeah, that's right. Well first, Hey guys! You shurely know I have signed as WGPC driver with Bitten Heroes. Actually, Nick here could have anounced everything alone, but we thought I should be here tol. But anyways, Nick, you are the boss, you should anounce it."

Newman: "Alright, Mick. Today, we have to tell you two things. First thing is, without Mick, we need a new driver. Well, he is here today. The new WET Cheese Racing Formula WET1 driver alongside Michael Proose: Timo Jäninkirää!"

Timo Jäninkirää came out of the cantine's kitchen, stepped on the lectern, and spoke a few words.

Schramm: "Congratulations, Timo! You're now driving for a top team in Formula WET1, eh? That's great. But actually, I was a bit surprised, as Nick hasn't told me who'd be it. So, you don't want to drive WGPC anymore?"

Jäninkirää: "At least not this year, no. Maybe next year. But I should congratulate you, you're a WGPC driver! That's much better!"

Schramm: "Well, thank you, Timo."

Newman: "Anyways! It's time for the second anouncement! Maybe you've read in the news that Seigen Dynamics, one of the main technical partners of Mick's WGPC team, Bitten Heroes, is no longer a technical partner of that team. Therefore, WETmotors is now officially one of Bitten Heroes' sponsors. With Seigen Dynamics, Bitten Heroes have lost lots of personel. As we are a WETmotors team, we have agreed to promote some of you to work in WGPC! Because of their absolutely brilliant work here at WET Cheese Racing, the following are now officially working for Bitten Heroes Grand Prix Engineering:
Maximilian Garnold, so Mick will keep his race engineer, Felix Stranoc, Luca DiRaconolo, Dominik Brakor, Marek Schrano, ..."

Newman continued to read the names of everyone now working for Bitten Heroes.

Newman: "To everyone who is not a WGPC engineer now: you're skills are needed here, at WET Cheese Racing. We can't let everyone work for Bitten Heroes, I'm shure you can understand that. You all are working good and hard enough you could work in WGPC! But as I've said, we really need you here."

[Aboveland]

Sven switched off the TV. "Wow," he muttered.

"Wow," echoed Karl.

"Speechless," ironically stated Axel.

The shitstorm had finally ended with an abrupt sputter after starting with a rumble, culminating in a bang. Now, it was time to mop it up and pick out the kernels. It sure hadn't involved either Terho nor himself, but the details had definitely annoyed them. Even Axel, an extremely reserved person, had agreed to chat with Terho about it. And, even though their financial help offer to Dimitrianov mightn't have helped him in signing for Fireline, they did feel they'd done something good, or good spirited at least.

Regardless, it had sure mixed up the WGPC and perhaps robbed it of a potential title fight. Two drivers and their team were now gone owing to the massive backlash they caused, eternally banished to the confines history books to be both mocked by their critics and defended by their loyalists. Maybe it had been slightly entertaining to the Novikov Racing crew while it happened, but the ultimate outcome of the entire situation left a sour, unpleasant, muddy aftertaste, not unlike a badly brewed coffee.

Terho had been lucky in the sense that, owing to the poor reception in his Natuurääntyä retreat, he hadn't been able to follow the events unfold. He'd escaped the tension and light stress of not knowing if one of his primary, proven championship challengers would actually end up competing against him, and the worry of how the outcome of the crisis would impact the series as a whole. The reigning champion, sheltered in his cozy rally car hurdling through the forests of northern Aboveland, would arrive in Eastfield Lodge with his mind cleared, his temper calm, and the ease and relief of knowing immediately who he would or wouldn't be racing, without overanalyzing the news reports and rumors that seeped from amidst the chaos.

Axel too was tranquil, considering the game-altering quarrel hadn't involved him. Still, the whole situation had exhausted him mentally. Even though his pensiveness has its benefits, his tendency to get carried away in his thoughts often played against him, twisting his organized into mangled piles of mess. Thinking so much about everything and anything he could salvage from rumors entertained him, yet wore him out. Nevertheless, it surely wouldn't get the best of him in the first race of the season. He wouldn't let it.

In a sudden burst of energy, Axel offered the Ruuhmakis coffee and asked them if they wouldn't mind turning on the fireplace. The view from the terrace of his lodge-like Avsidesliggendevuoret home was priceless, complete with a light dusting of snow. Best of all, he could enjoy it with a warm espresso through the humongous windows and glass sliding doors, with a couple of friends and the radiating heat of a fireplace thawing his cheeks. A week of this, and he'd surely have enough strength to start overthinking things again, but for the better.

[The Serbian Empire]

Meanwhile at the Nexus Racing test session

"Roger that!" Marika responded as she focused in on the lights to make sure she didn't jump the start or fall too far behind.

A spokesperson from Tygar Tyres calls Predrag to discuss matters with Nexus Racing.

"Hey Predrag, it's Nenad Milic from Tygar Tyres. We're about to make a special run of tyres for auto racing as we speak. These ones will be for dry tracks with the next run being racing intermediates. Full rain tyres will be made tomorrow. Speaking of which, how is Marika doing?" Nenad asked.

"Right now, Marika's on the track. I've heard there's holograms being utilized. But I am not sure how to describe how this works, it's much more fancier than anything I've seen as an agent in the lower tiers of auto racing or back home," Predrag said.

Meanwhile on the track.

Marika noticed that one of the holograms was running a very unusual line almost going from inside on the turn entry and moving out.
I'm presuming this is based off of what a pay driver running well off the pace would be running.

Marika decided that the best way to pass this car would be to target it in one of the bends where it'd be hard for the odd line to be defended and succeed. In her mirror, she saw one of the other cars struggling to get past the car she passed looking back at the back straightway. She was drafting behind a hologram and started to eye making a passing maneuver. The hologram seemed to make a sudden jerk almost onto the grass yet didn't seem to lose much speed.

These holograms must be trying to break my draft behind them. That speed loss will make for a great opening to pass on the entry of that corner down there
The hologram tried to outbrake Marika in order to defend position but went wide. She took her proper racing line and passed the hologram at the apex of the corner.

She whispered to herself with the radio off, "Some of these holograms are doing things I'd only see out of a gentleman driver in a touring car."

[Eelandii]

Could WGPC be returning to Eelandii?

A number of Media Outlets are reporting that WGPC could, in some form, be returning to Eelandii as more than just a test, research & development hub. While the Eelandii Grand Prix course has previously hosted WGPC events, it has recently been serving as a test facility both for official WGPC testing and for the defending WGPC Constructors Champion Vilita & Turori Motorsports.

Now, however, with two WGPC teams reportedly on the brink of dissolution - Vilita & Turori Motorsports reportedly short on financial backing while a second team, Vanquish Motor Sports reportedly will not enter, combined the reports that similar issues have resulted in the postponement of the Grand Prix of Aels, the door seems to be wide open for Turori to ride the wave of the successful path forged by top driver iBen Toralmintii and thrust themselves back into the mainstay of International Motor Racing.

A Clipping of recent news stories suggesting changes afoot:

Vilita & Turori Motorsports on Thin Ice :: Speaking of Toralmintii, the Turorian star's team in the World Grand Prix Championships has been sent into disarray with the abandonment of Aboveland pilot Terho Talvela. Co-Located in Rockii Coast, Vilita and Eelandii, Turori; Vilita & Turori Motorsports was expected to compete for the title during WGPC 15 with the return of WGPC 14's 1-2 driver tandem of Talvela and Toralmintii. However, with the announcement that Talvela - a late pre-season signing prior to WGPC 14, was not going to renew his contract with Vilita & Turori Motorsports sent the defending constructors champion team into chaos, needing not only a second driver but also sponsorship in order to compete. Vilita & Turori Motorsports have missed both test sessions and it is unknown whether they will get the funding required to make it to the first race weekend.

Eelandii grows larger on the WGPC Map :: The Saga of Vilita & Turori Motorsports seems to be on the verge of resolving itself with an announcement expected within the week announcing a new agreement whereby established assets of the Vilita & Turori Motorsports team will be incorporated and managed by the WGPC in the form of a new Constructors entry. It is reported that this new team will be based out of Eelandii, Turori and the Eelandii Centre of Sport. Already home to the Vilita & Turori Motorsports Research & Development center, existing Vilita & Turori Motorsports Chassis, equipment and some personnel will make the switch to "WGPC Eelandii" who will take shop in spaces directly adjacent to the current Vilita & Turori Motorsports shop. The buildings were already constructed as future Motorsports facilities and include direct access to the Eelandii Grand Prix circuit with no secondary transportation required for On-Track Testing.

The move does not indicate a closure for Vilita & Turori Motorsports, however. The team, which made a surprise return to the WGPC ranks during WGPC 14 and claimed the constructors title, will continue to support and develop drivers from the Cove Region. Tropicorp will also continue to fund Research & Development activities at both the Eelandii and Rockii Coast facilities. It is currently unclear whether there will be a working agreement established between the subsequent VTM entity and the WGPC Eelandii entity for technology sharing once the initial technology transfer has completed.

If WGPC Eelandii do take to the track during the 15th World Grand Prix Championship season, it will be yet another feather in the cap of Turori Motorsports which have been gaining sizeably on their partners and rivals from across the cove for many seasons. It all looked to be crashing to the ground with both R. L. Cruisin and iBen Toralmintii missing out on the first two WGPC test sessions, but it seems that ole' iBen still may have had one or two tricks left up their sleeve afterall.

[Mattijana]

To: Fireline
From: Alex Dimitrianov

Thank you for your offer. I am delighted to say that I accept it. Details of my primary sponsorship with Nortec and Raskettu racing services as well as my secondary sponsorship with Petrovi tyres is enclosed.

I look forward to meeting you in person.

Alex Dimitrianov

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

A Nimban plane glides slowly onto Serbian tarmac for only the second time; this, however, is one of the military freighters designated 'Mule', not the luxurious Praetorian, and it carries with it the most coveted of Nimban cargoes.

Imagination.

The facilities at Niš Constantine the Great Airport certainly aren't great; they are, however, enough to land the juggernaut and bring the UHSGV-1 on board over to a Tigar truck. Thompson, not known either for her Serbian or her diplomacy, elects to stay out of the spotlight for now and let the translators do the work; she can wait until they arrive at the factory, when she is needed, before she does any talking. She shudders at the thought.

The truck pulls up at the Tigar plant in Pirot after a relatively short journey. As mechanics open the back and attend to the car, Gertrude heads towards the typical, innocuous-looking factory complex only to spy a man in a black suit heading in the opposite direction, quite possibly to meet her. She sighs. No hiding in the shadows now...

[United Islamic Khanates]

With a friendly nod, Ilyas smiled towards the stewardess who handed him his drink. If the characteristic hats hadn’t given away they weren’t on the bus, the huge, plush seats would have told the bystander that he found himself on board of one of the more exquisite planes of the Khanate fleet. It could be seen as ridiculous to charter an actual aircraft for a cohort of only six people, but as the marvelously painted vehicle would only be rusting in the barracks otherwise, it seemed wise to use it. After all, you couldn’t put in this sophisticated steamer for just a meagre national flight.

Having been trained from a young age to polish his behavior, Ilyas wiped a bit of dust of his spick-and-span tuxedo. It wasn’t his preferred outfit but having been escorted on board by a small delegation of the government, wearing tracksuits would have been impolite. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the knowledge that they didn’t wave goodbye to him, but to the little briefcase which lay in his lap. The contents of it valued a part of the funds for The Initiative to Internationalize the UIK through Sports and actually a part that was far beyond what was known to most of those presents. No wonder that his father had nodded with a silent, almost funeral-like face when people asked him if he was nervous about his son taking a transcontinental flight. As if the faith of the youngest of the family would form a concern, compared to the failure of a project he personally stood for as a guarantor.

In the opposite chair, Doston Bagautdinov annoyingly kept on drumming the same tune on the handrail. For a while, Ilyas had attempted to uncover the latest hit song but either did Doston lack all basic rhythm skills or he had turned freestyling into a new art form. Coming along to represent him as his agent, Bagautdinov was the prime example of an overzealous civil servant who had one day woken up to find himself in a position he was not qualified for at all. Peter Bagautdinov, if you would like to put it. Apparently the rise through the ranks had come with a ridiculous amount of hair wax, a heavy pair of glasses and the obnoxious habit to continuously keep your laptop open, even if it was just to stare at the screensaver.

”I think we’ll be in Eastfield Lodge in just an hour or two,” Alisher Zhakipbayev spoke while glancing out of the window. There was no way on earth that he could predict the flight times just based on a peak on the fast-moving continents below them but the head mechanic quickly felt uneasy when a tense silence had built up. You could say it was his only weakness, because he was technically unmatched – or at least, for a Khanati - , hardworking and overall good company. In addition, he was remarkably modest despite his upbringing. Destined for the kind of governmental job that came with clean hands and cleaned shoes, he preferred to spend most of his time elbow-deep into the hood of a car.

”Vastly in time for the opening Grand Prix,” Doston concluded with a smile, easily ignoring that only the postponement of the inaugural race had kept them on the agenda. Or at least, a little bit, ”It should give us a chance to mingle a bit and get to know the…”

Ilyas banged with his fist on the handrail hard enough so one of the stewardesses uttered a small cry and even Sergeant Sabalakov, officially labelled as the safety responsible of the crew, lost his composure for half a second.

”There is no time to mingle,” he proclaimed, ”not even a bit. Let me get the picture very straight here, Doston. I don’t care who holds his hand above your head but now we’re outside of Khanati airspace, the only thing that will get you home with more than your own limbs is to get this mission down successfully. In this briefcase,” Ilyas patted remarkably gently, ”is an amount of money which should allow you to succeed. A contract, that’s all the country asks. And I’ll do everything else. But whether you do make it only depends upon your own prowess and I can assure you… Mingling will not suffice.”

Trained enough to remain dazed too long, Doston clicked away from the lovely cats that filled his screen and started rummaging through some virtual folders. ”The situation is quite simple actually. Of the eleven branded teams, only two have an open seat left at the moment… Ow, wrong folder,” he clicked away the minesweeper fields that popped up, ”Ah, there it is.”

With a swift movement of his hand, he turned the laptop towards the rider. The idiot had made a bloody PowerPoint out of it.

“Up first, there is Hodoran based Arada Motorsports, who looks for someone to complement veteran driver Nadakei. With PrismRiver Corp, they’ve got a strong backer in their effort to bring their domestic knowledge to the international scene. As a team, they’re a newcomer but they come from a much longer tradition in car racing. They have extended an offer to the Vilitan with the dashing name R.L. Cruisin, who would start his fifth season in the WGPC. He has put up his requirements in reply, according to the specialized press, so you could say that, technically, this isn’t a free seat anymore.”
”So, what you’re actually telling me is that the first of only two remaining options actually no longer is an option?” Ilyas replied ice-cold, whilst ogling the WordArt Hodori flag which filled the screen now.

Doston hesitated a few seconds.

”You could say that, yes. But that’s a bit pessimistic, no, maybe…”
”Yaddayadda, what’s the remaining ticket left?”
”Ah, very interesting you ask so! A very promising novel project, Nexus Racing, who have developed a vehicle which will suit you like a glove. Amazing acceleration. They seem to be the result of military research but that should’ve given them some extra thunder, isn’t it Sergeant Sabalakov?”

The silence was so uncomfortable, Alisher couldn’t suppress a small giggle.

”Aaaaaanyhow, it seems that Nexus is presently torn between two riders to supplement Ryker Lane. Both Serbian Pedanovic and Redvali Cattaneo are in further discussion to put their name below a contract and that’s great news, because that means they are looking for a driver who can supplement some technical skills.”

Ilyas never had felt more disappointed that the technology behind the death-stare hadn’t been perfected yet.

”Isn’t that great news,” Doston tried.
”So what you’re telling me,” Ilyas summed up, audibly fuming, ”Is that we are on an eleven-hour flight in the hope to sign a contract for a driver’s seat with the knowledge that all two remaining tickets to the WGPC are as good as gone. And you’re telling me that’s great news?!”
”Well, …”
”You’re telling me that the millions of Khanati baht in this suitcase are as worthless as your bloody PowerPoint,” Ilyas yelled as he slammed the laptop of Doston’s seat, ”because there is no bloody seat left!”

No one dared to speak or act as first. It was a side of Ilyas they rarely saw, but years of instruction had taught them not to discuss with a displeased son of one of the Khans. Only Doston rose, calmly picking up the laptop, ogling the crack in the screen with a muttered, ”There, there, someone seems to have anger management issues.”

He calmly retook his seat and continued as if nothing happened.

”Fortunately, the sympathetic Khanati air force hasn’t extended this prime aircraft for just an enjoyable practice flight as there are, apart from the eleven branded teams, two additional WGPC squads have been added to the grid. This opens up four more spots and although there are still a string of unsigned riders including, but not limited to, last year’s number 2, 3 and 4 iBen Toralmintii, Igne Spupuo and Jessica Franssen. So plenty of options left in the upcoming…”

With a semi-nonchalant gesture, Doston checks his watch.

”… ninety-four hours to mingle a bit with the people with the right connections.”

In between his teeth, Ilyas muttered something about you’ld better get in touch with Nexus and Arada, while it’s still possible but for the remainder of the flight, Alisher could have his share of uncomfortable silences.

[Nekoni]

Alex pulled into the pit garage at Gold Park with the look of thunder in her eyes. She was ashamed of herself.

"What the hell am I doing wrong here!?" she yelled, pointing an outstretched finger at her name on the telemetry. She had finished 17th in the test, only able to beat two drivers, and objectively, she had performed the worst out of the entire pack on both test sessions. "Everything felt fine in there, how can I be this bad?"

Her rage was a stark change from the usually cool demeanour that the team were accustomed to. With their hand visibly shaking, one of the mechanics offered her an isotonic sports drink, half-expecting her to snatch it with one hand and backhand him in the mouth with the other. Fortunately for him, only the latter happened. "Where's Minna?" The mechanic pointed towards a door at the side of the garage. Mayari walked over to it and knocked, he responded and Alex went in.

"Are your mechanics trying to get me fired, Patrice?" He raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I should hope not. What do you mean?"

"I'm putting in what I can, and I'm still only scraping the barrel, here. It's gotta be a car issue, I want mine and Victoria's car on a rolling road, I'm convinced there's engine trouble."

Patrice sighed. "I assure you, this isn't a car issue. But if it makes you feel better, we'll try it."

---

A day later, the cars were back in Neocastella, and in the wind tunnel. Alex, of course, had taken it upon herself to oversee the proceedings. A 30 second blast on the tunnel gave her the results. "970hp. Just like always."

Alex was shocked. "No! You serious? Check the rest of the car. Surely there's something wrong here." It couldn't have been HER fault she was doing badly, could it? No, she thought. She put in some solid laps out there in Liventia. It had to be the car.

The technicians shrugged. "Looks fine on our end, Alex. Totally fine." Alex turned to Patrice in the booth, still carrying that look of confusion from the day before. "Did you not look at the telemetry, Alexandra?" He flipped open his laptop, tapped a few keys, and multiple line graphs emerged on the screen. "Aha, I think we see what the problem is here. Look here."

He pointed at the bottom left graph on the screen, a blue line marking the throttle use. "Look how soon you're coming off. That's a tenth there, another tenth there, another there, it's all adding up, and in one race, that's going to be huge, isn't it?" Alex could see it now: she could get a smooth lap down fine. However, smoothness has to be teamed with raw speed, and she just didn't have enough. Sure, it was blisteringly quick to the layman, but this was a billionaire's game, and losing mere fractions of a second every turn just wouldn't be good enough.

Mayari felt humiliated. After all her insistence that her error was the car's fault, she had truly had egg on her face. "I owe you all an apology. I'm sorry." She emotionlessly left the wind tunnel, and went out to grab a coffee.

It was all well and good getting the car home, she thought. But what's the point if she can't score points? And, with the dropping of the starter at Aels, she needed big points quickly if she wanted to stay in the WGPC next year. The goal of just getting in the top 10 seemed further away than ever before, but she knew she couldn't give up. Not after all this.

She took a long, slow gulp of her coffee, swallowed her pride with it, and got out her mobile.

"Patrice, it's Alex. Put me on practice sessions every day until Eastfield Lodge, yeah? Bring Victoria along for them if you can too, I'm going to need someone to chase."

[WGPC]

Based in the city of Kjelstad, Kjeligsted, a semi-autonomous region of Audioslavia, WGPC Motorworks - Kjeligsted competed last season as WGPC Motorworks, finishing twelfth out of thirteen teams, yet still managing to position #1 driver Alexander Kohlon above reigning World Champion Alexandra Mayari in the process.

The team are leased by Abdul Yamin one more time. Yamin, a property and oil mogul in the Kjeligstedi cities of Iadub and Kjelstad and in the northern Audioslavian city of Oljestaden, is a keen racing fanatic and is often seen enthusiastically encouraging his drivers, win, lose or crash, in the team's garage on race day. It is said that high-performing drivers are lavished with gifts, praise and trinkets when they do well, but such stories are naturally hushed up by the team.

WGPC Kjeligsted have made an unconditional offer to Ilyas Nurlibaev to drive for the team next season

Should this team have been branded under the iconic Vilita and Turori Motorworks monicker? Perhaps, but delays in procuring their primary sponsors from last season spooked a number of investors wary of the team's ability to stay at the top without Tropicorp's riches, before World Champion Terho Talvela's decision to uproot for Mattijana unfairly killed off the team's hopes of matching the management's high budget expectations for the coming season.

As such, last season's breakthrough team Scuderia WGPC have moved from the Hodori Archipelago, set up shop in VTM's garages (leased for an extortionate fee, if you read the AO newspapers) and have recruited the key members of last year's VTM team that swept the board in the drivers and constructor's championships last season.

iBen Toralmintii has been given an unconditional offer to drive for the team next season, as has Denholm Kingsley

[The Serbian Empire]

A Nimban plane glides slowly onto Serbian tarmac for only the second time; this, however, is one of the military freighters designated 'Mule', not the luxurious Praetorian, and it carries with it the most coveted of Nimban cargoes.

Imagination.

The facilities at Niš Constantine the Great Airport certainly aren't great; they are, however, enough to land the juggernaut and bring the UHSGV-1 on board over to a Tigar truck. Thompson, not known either for her Serbian or her diplomacy, elects to stay out of the spotlight for now and let the translators do the work; she can wait until they arrive at the factory, when she is needed, before she does any talking. She shudders at the thought.

The truck pulls up at the Tigar plant in Pirot after a relatively short journey. As mechanics open the back and attend to the car, Gertrude heads towards the typical, innocuous-looking factory complex only to spy a man in a black suit heading in the opposite direction, quite possibly to meet her. She sighs. No hiding in the shadows now...

"Welcome to the Tigar tyre factory. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Nenad Milic, the head of this factory. I presume you are from Nexus Racing as Predrag had mentioned to me in the previous call. Tigar is a division of Michelin, the famous tyre manufacturer based out of France. However, we are competing to get our tires recognized as a value division that provides both great performance on track and off. Racing compounds are being made as advertising of our tyres and the WGPC would be a great fit for advertising. Our most recent racing compound has just been completed. Would you like to see our Tigar Syneris racing compound that hopefully make it to victory circle in the WGPC?" Nenad asked the woman.

I forgot something, I need to ask her name first.

"I forgot to ask what's your name? I got a bit overly excited about our new racing tires and forgot a bit of my politeness," Nenad asked.

[-Anthor-]

B20 Freeway Frontage Road
Minerva PRT Main Complex, Near the limits of the City of Chester, Anthor

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Denholm looked in his reflection on the window of the passenger side door, and made sure to brush off the front of his shirt again, afraid that some crumbs from the sandwiches that he and Terry stopped for might be still attached to his shirt. He turned on his heel and began walking across the small parking place and towards the front gate where a guard had already appeared, waiting to greet Denholm and the respondent Terry who was following some steps behind Denholm remarking at how exemplary the facility appeared "Den, bro, check this place ouut! Nothing like the stuff back home, I mean I can see a pretty big test track from here, and this whole place just oozes kickbutt. This is gonna be great for us!"

Denholm paused for a moment and shot a look over his shoulder at Terry who nodded, grinned and ceased talking. Denholm resumed his walking, and approaching the guard, put on a small smile and offered his hand out for a handshake, which the guard took. "Good afternoon sir, I'm Denholm Kingsley, I'm a new driver with Minerva and was told to come here today for the tour."

"Yes of course, we've been expecting you. Just walk in through the gate and head for that big building right ahead, it'll take you into the main lobby and the secretary at the front desk will help you."

Denholm thanked the man and proceeded through the gate, Terry jogging real quick to catch up with him, and the pair swiftly made their way onto the carefully maintained white sidewalks that led in short order towards the main building that the guard had pointed out, a sleek three story building of a more modern variety of architectural design, with sleek faded white, brown and other light earth tones, it seemed out of the place and yet, in place, in the vast forest landscapes that surrounded it here on the very outer limits of the city.

Denholm reached the glass door that proudly bore the dark silver text of "Minvera PRT" in a slanted big block font, and opened it, holding it open for a moment for Terry who was more then a few paces behind. Upon entering the lobby, he immediately noticed the dark grey tile flooring, the darker earth tone colored wallpaper, and paint schemes, and the young lady walking towards him in a professional attire that screamed secretary. She reached him and held out her hand, which Denholm promptly shook. "Mr. Kingsley right? We've been expecting you, just follow me, I'm gonna take you over to Ms.Westbrook's office, she's the Team Manager and you'll be seeing alot of her in the near future."

"Pleasure, please, take the lead."

The young lady began walking towards a hallway on the left that led them past a few offices, all with a frosted glass door with print labels on the doors identifying who occupied the office, and once she had guided them to the very end of the hallway, she directed Denholm into the office, which was a modest one and contained a simple black desk with a woman with a bun of dirty blonde hair, wearing a team polo with their signature blue and silver colors, and was typing away on a keyboard with her back facing Denholm. He quietly entered the room, with Terry chosing to stand at the back of the office, and the woman shortly ended the typing, turned around and got up to close the office door and then greeted both of the men. "Mr.s Kingsley and Lund, what pleasures to meet you both after this long."

"You especially Denholm we're excited to have you join the team, especially here in the pre-season. Gives us all plenty of time to get settled in so we can get the season off with a good start."

"Indeed, my thoughts are similar. It's very nice to be here too, anxious to make contributions."

"Good, good. Now, let's just go over the quick details. As you know, you'll be the number two driver behind Mike. Your contract as previously discussed with Mr. Lund and yourself I'm sure is that you're on a exclusive contract with us for a single year, for £56,000 per race. We'll discuss that more as we get through the season of course, but we really just want to focus on the season right now."

"Our plan is for you to get on our test track as quickly as we can, obviously we'll want to you get acquainted with the car and mechanic in short order first, and get it broken in with you. Our track is based on the Alfa circuit, which is the sixth race this year, a good mix of medium corners and long straightbacks, so it'll provide plenty of opportunities to test cornering, acceleration and the engine. Our goal for this season is, obviously we want you and Mike to do the best you can, but as a team, we'd like to place seventh or higher on the Team Championship. We did sixth last year, and the gap between us and the two above us was down to like five points, so if we can improve from that, it'd be stellar."

"Now, that mostly gets you caught up with me. While you're here with us, you have a team office up on the second floor, Mr.Lund told me how you love to analyze all the data, so we've had our IT department install a pretty sweet setup for you. You're free to check it out whenever, but first, why don't we get you on over to the garages and get you introduced to the rest of the team? 11 weeks till the Hembroune Grand Prix, and we have to use every day of course."

Denholm smiled wide "Of course. Let's go meet the steel horse."

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

The truck pulls up at the Tigar plant in Pirot after a relatively short journey. As mechanics open the back and attend to the car, Gertrude heads towards the typical, innocuous-looking factory complex only to spy a man in a black suit heading in the opposite direction, quite possibly to meet her. She sighs. No hiding in the shadows now...

"Welcome to the Tigar tyre factory. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Nenad Milic, the head of this factory. I presume you are from Nexus Racing as Predrag had mentioned to me in the previous call. Tigar is a division of Michelin, the famous tyre manufacturer based out of France. However, we are competing to get our tires recognized as a value division that provides both great performance on track and off. Racing compounds are being made as advertising of our tyres and the WGPC would be a great fit for advertising. Our most recent racing compound has just been completed. Would you like to see our Tigar Syneris racing compound that hopefully make it to victory circle in the WGPC?" Nenad asked the woman.

I forgot something, I need to ask her name first.

"I forgot to ask what's your name? I got a bit overly excited about our new racing tires and forgot a bit of my politeness," Nenad asked.

Gertrude blinks several times; while she probably should have expected a barrage of Serbian, that does not mean that she was prepared for it. She shakes her head, trying to get her brain back in gear, holds up a hand to motion for him to wait, then turns to head back and find one of the translators from earlier - only to see a woman whom she recognises as a member of that group rushing over.

After a brief delay as the verbage is repeated and then put into Universal, Gertrude tentatively extends her hand for Nenad to shake. "I would love to see your tyres, thank Imagination. I'm Gertrude Thompson, Head Designer for Nexus Racing and the person mainly responsible for that vehicle over there." She points to the UHSGV-1 currently being wheeled into the factory. "So, how experienced would you say that Tigar Tyres are with making racing compounds for cars propelled by semi-magical substances?" she asks sardonically.