NationStates

Conditions: Dry
Laps: 74

Pos # Driver               Team				Race Time	Behind Preceding car
 1  4 Jean Mercer-Daly           	1:54:01.124	+0:00.000
 2 99 Maria Cattaneo             	1:54:08.282	+0:07.158
 3 20 Mick Schramm               	1:54:32.701	+0:24.419
 4 18 Louis Krindle              	1:55:09.660	+0:36.959
 5 94 Ryker Lane                 	1:55:19.461	+0:09.800
 6 51 R.L. Cruisin               	1:55:30.590	+0:11.129
 7 16 Alexander Lund             	+1 Lap		
 8 53 Denholm Kingsley           	+1 Lap		+0:18.134
 9  5 Juliano Lemos              	+1 Lap		+0:10.877
10 52 Sayono Souzare             	+1 Lap		+0:03.413
11 55 Asao Nadakei               	+1 Lap		+0:00.382
12 29 Esteban Guilhermez         	+1 Lap		+0:12.285
13 80 J. Jensen-Fletcher         	+1 Lap		+0:19.821
14 89 Will Madison               	+1 Lap		+0:00.005
15 23 Moisés Delgado             	+2 Laps		

DNF  1 Terho Talvela              	Ret. Lap 69	
DNF 37 Axel Novikov               	Ret. Lap 43	
DNF 74 Alexandra Mayari           	Ret. Lap 36	
DNF 24 Victoria Gardner           	Ret. Lap 35
DNF 14 Oliver Bliss               	Ret. Lap 27	
DNF 63 Kurt Censki                	Ret. Lap 24
DNF 42 Alex Dimitrianov           	Ret. Lap 23	
DNF 77 iBen Toralmintii           	Ret. Lap 13
DNF  6 Marika Pedanovic           	Ret. Lap 3	
DNF  7 Ethan Ellis                	Ret. Lap 2
DNF 17 Eaoueaiou Aeouiouie        	Ret. Lap 2

Pos	#	Name			Team		Pts
1	1	Terho Talvela		MRT		94
2	94	Ryker Lane		Nexus		84
3	99	Maria Cattaneo		Red Lion Racing	83
4	37	Axel Novikov		Telaris		81
5	5	Juliano Lemos		Bitten Heroes	77
6	18	Louis Krindle		MSA-SinVal	48

7	20	Mick Schramm		Bitten Heroes	43
7	6	Marika Pedanovic	Nexus		43
9	23	Moisés Delgado		MRT		39
9	4	Jean Mercer-Daly	Red Lion Racing	39
11	42	Alex Dimitrianov	Fireline	37
12	55	Asao Nadakei		Arada		34
13	16	Alexander Lund		Wilson		33
14	17	Eaoueaiou Aeouiouie	Telaris		31
15	51	R.L. Cruisin		Arada		29
16	77	iBen Toralmintii	Eelandii WGPC	25
17	80	J. Jensen-Fletcher	Fireline	23
18	91	Ilyas Nurlibaev		Red Lion Racing	14
19	7	Ethan Ellis		Wilson		11
19	14	Oliver Bliss		RSR		11
21	52	Sayono Souzare		McPahan		10
22	29	Esteban Guilhermez	RSR		6
23	53	Denholm Kingsley	Eelandii WGPC	5
24	74	Alexandra Mayari	SFeG		4
24	24	Victoria Gardner	SFeG		4
26	63	Kurt Censki		McPahan		2
27	89	Will Madison		MSA-SinVal	0

Drivers below the line cannot mathematically win the championship.[/pre]

Constructors Championship

Red Lion Racing	136
MRT		133
Nexus		127
Bitten Heroes	120
Telaris		112
Arada		63
Fireline	60

MSA-SinVal	48
Wilson		44
Eelandii WGPC	30
RSR		17
McPahan		12
SFeG		8

Teams below the line cannot mathematically win the constructor's championship

Next week's Vilitan Grand Prix practice event should be scorinated at the usual time on Friday evening.

PROMISING UNDERDOGS OR SCRUBS ONLY?
Bitten Heroes living complicated days on and off the tracks
Catarina Sálvia to TV5Sports

Bitten Heroes, the Lisanderian representative at WGPC, seems not to be on the track. When Mick Schramm is well, Juliano Lemos is bad (and vice-versa). And except when the two made the podium behind Terho Talvela, there was no real dispute between the two. At Eelandii GP, Lemos put a lap on the colleague. In Krytenia, it was Mick's time to return the "gift". The behind-the-scenes grudge between the core team, which clearly supports the Lisanderian Juliano Lemos, and the half that came from WET Motors to provide support to Mick Schramm, even generated a notorious radio discussion between Natássia Maud and Max Garnold few weeks ago.

The lousy result of Juliano Lemos in the Argentring was a reflection of a troubled week for him. Some tabloids have reported that Ludwika Wiel, his girlfriend and test driver for Bitten Heroes, suffered a minor accident on a visit to the Lemos family farm in Linville outside the capital. The young driver, who already has a place to run an international category next year, would have been bitten by one of Juliano's dogs. As deconcentrated as in Aboveland, Juliano got on the track, and by "taking a shortcut" through the gravel rather than bypassing Chicane Gatehouse on lap 14, he had to serve ten seconds of punishment in the pit stop. Apparently, the brakes were not working right, so he ended up going straight through. In the end, ninth place was very bad for him, who dropped to fifth in the drivers' championship.

Not even the good result of Mick Schramm, who finished third in the race, was enough to ease the situation. The team is the fourth-placed among the constructors, missing two events, but with 16 points behind and that irregular performance, it will be extremely difficult to the team. Did Natássia Maud, who did not even appear on the circuit today, throw the towel?

Krytenian Grand Prix
Post-Qualifying

“This is hurting both of us!” Ryker sobs. “I don’t care about-”

He stops as he realises something, giving way to a soft, self-pitying laughter that augments rather than drives away his tears. “Oh, how ironic. How utterly ironic.”

The Nimban turns, walking back into the garage, head in one hand, forearm held in the other.

How ironic that the thing that drives you away from me is the thing that I love most about you.

Krytenian Grand Prix
Post-Race

Ryker parks up the car. That race had not been a good one.

Certainly, he made up two places overall, but two of those were from cars dropping out - one of them his teammate. More than that, though, he would have made up four places and been on the podium right now had he not made sloppy mistakes that let Schramm and Krindle past.

Then again, all else being equal - including the other two drivers on the podium - would he even want to be there right now?

The reason for his poor performance is obvious. It’s also the reason that he immediately heads towards the podium viewing area.

I’ll be able to see you. Maybe you’ll spot me in the crowd and I’ll manage to give you a smile, or even a wave.

Or maybe I won’t be able to.

Still, I…

I can try.

Maria Cattaneo
Krytenian Grand Prix

Complete and utter focus. That was what Maria was trying to have as she lined up in the top spot after the formation lap gave her some time to warm up her tires and some time to think. When they finally did line up, she watched the lights with no emotion on her face whatsoever, and not an ounce of doubt about earlier. Doubt and sadness were for later. For now, she needed to keep her mind on the race.

The lights went out, and she dropped the clutch. She had the best jump of anyone in the front couple of rows, and sped in front of Jean Mercer-Daly to defend her lead from her teammate that had started in second. It looked like she would have an easy time defending her lead if she could continue to be this quick, and going through the first sector, she was starting to pull away easily. It did look like this might be her second victory, but it was still early.

And then, she made what was her first mistake, deeper into the race. However, she hadn't capitalized on her good start to pull away too far, and this one mistake was what would cost her the win. It was after Red Lion had sent both cars in to the pits, and Jean had managed to take first place after working his position back up, and Maria was gaining on Schramm to take second and gain ground on Jean. But going into the second turn, she found herself getting forced out wide and she refused to concede the position, instead running wide of the track and running neck and neck with him until she was able to get ahead at the end of the turn.

It was a move that was risky but that she felt that she needed to do in the circumstances, because the only other options would be to give up the place or risk a crash. She made her way back to second place and she would soon take the lead from Jean, but she wouldn't know about the full effects of that move until a few laps later. "Maria, race control has investigated your overtake on Schramm and has handed you a five second penalty because of leaving the track... You're going to have to come in to the pits once more before the end of the race," Hans Eskildsen told her, over radio.

"This has to be a mistake! I didn't have any other choice, I was going to crash if I didn't run wide! I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't!" she shouted, growing frustrated.

"It's not a mistake, I'm hearing this straight from race control. I can try to argue the case-"

"Then do it. And tell race control that they can go fuck themselves," Maria snapped, before turning her attention back to the road and accelerating into the second sector. Now, this race was getting more interesting, as the news spread around that Maria was in second but that she would have to return to the pits and that she would have a five second time penalty that would likely keep her out of the lead.

"We're also going to need you to let Jean pass, because you aren't going to be able to hold the lead-"

"Not happening, Hans. I think I'm better off pushing to keep the penalty from hurting me more, thank you very much," she stated. And now things were definitely more interesting, with her going against her team orders to try to protect her own lead.

~

There weren't too many laps left when Maria pulled into the pit lane and had her tires changed to the ultra sorts, and as she watched the pit crew wait for the penalty to end before they could change them, she was faced with a choice. To go all out for a result, or to race conservatively to avoid more reliability problems. "It's important to race smart now instead of risking everything for an impossible win," Asher tried to tell her over the radio, but she shook her head.

"What does it matter? We're nearly out of the title hunt unless I get a result from here," she said. "I'm pushing this car as far as it'll go and I'm chasing the lead."

"Maria, that's not going to work-"

"Enough," she muttered, switching her radio off. And when the pit crew finished changing her tires, she dropped the clutch and sped out of the pit lane at a speed that was very nearly over the limit, and with little tire spin. She was exiting in sixth, but she quickly found herself coming around Ryker's outside and overtaking him while glancing over to see his reaction to that move. When she was faced with a straight, she was able to switch her engine mode up and cut to the inside of Krindle, to steal fourth and move closer to the driver that had gained her the penalty.

It took her another few full laps, but she was able to use her DRS and her softer tires to catch up with Schramm, and when she did, she took the outside line and waved to him with one hand, before giving him the middle finger because of his earlier move to push her wide. And then, she hit the DRS button again going into the stretch around the starting line, and she was in second place. "Karma is a bitch," she mumbled, and now Jean was in her sights.

But now, the opponent wasn't him as much as it was the cars that were being lapped. And going into the last couple of laps, she was in position to take the lead if it wasn't for that traffic holding her up. Juliano Lemos, the teammate of Mick Schramm, got some revenge on her from her earlier overtake on his teammate by blocking her despite the blue flag that was being waved, and that gave Jean enough of an advantage to pull away for good. "Fuck off!" she shouted over the radio. "Seriously, fuck off! What the fuck was that! You have to be blind to not see him backing me up under the blue flag! Gods damn you to hell, Lemos!"

Soon afterwards, they would cross the finish line, and Jean would be the winner after somehow holding off the late run from Maria, who had experienced another second place finish after reaching pole. "As much as I hate to say this, because of all the bullshit that happened to me during this race, you deserve the victory, Jean," she said as they completed the race and started the lap into the pit lane. "But me and race control, and me and Bitten Heroes, are going to have some serious problems."

~

Even after coming in second, Maria was undeniably bitter about some of the things that had went down during this race. She was bitter about being ran wide, about receiving a penalty for it, about being held up from taking the win, and especially about losing the lead after being on pole, again. That showed in most of the pictures taken after the race, where her smiles looked forced and she looked more angry than happy.

When she was on the podium, she wouldn't say a word to Schramm. It was tense, almost, because of how she'd said that she and Bitten Heroes would have problems, and how she had really meant it. She took the champagne but turned to her teammate and sprayed it on him, not looking in the direction of her rival that was also on the podium. And then, when they were all soaked, they had to do the usual TV interviews that came after races.

Maria, though, wasn't having it. "What can I say? I stand by my actions and I stand by what I did during the race. I helped the team but didn't help my own case and so yes, I'm a little pissed off right now, and I'm not really in the mood to talk," she said, and that was when she looked into the crowd before quickly averting her eyes and looking anywhere but there. "All I can say is, I think we have a new rivalry, and I think we're in the best position going into the final two races. I'm going to do everything I can to capitalize on that, and lead this team to victory."

Jean Mercer-Daly
Argentring, Platton, Krytenia
Sunday's Race

Commentators: And the lights go out and we're underway! Cattaneo gets an amazing start and is defending from Mercer-Daly! Here comes the drivers plowing into the Heath Chicane! Cattaneo's already pulling away as the rest of the pack follows her to Redwater and beyond!

That was going through Jean's head as he followed Maria through the first sector until she began pulling away. Wow, she's got a lot of pace. But we've only just gotten started...

The action was on as soon as the second lap began.

"Jean, EA and Ellis have collided in the second sector. No safety car yet."

--1 lap later, though--

"Whoa! Pedanovic has just clipped some of the debris from that crash! She's out. Safety car is now out."

Ooh, safety car already... here's a second shot at taking away the lead.

The restart came and Jean was already pushing like hell. There they came through Newell and Beveridge- and Jean came out with the lead!

"Great move, Jean! Now keep it there!"

Of course, Maria was never giving up. The two jostled positions throughout the stint. Then it came time for the pit stop. Jean went first. Maria came in a lap later. Right behind the B&H of Schramm. Jean could see in his wing mirror she ended up off the track- and ahead of Schramm? What a move! But not quite... legal...

Maria came charging through. Jean let her by down the Auld Runway so as to preserve his finishing chances. But a few laps later, Jean's fears were confirmed.

"Jean, Maria's been handed a five second stop-go penalty for the illegal overtake on Schramm. She'll have to come in to the pits again and serve it."

"Oh, for f*ck's sake! That'll just make her angrier..."

"Probably. She's going to let you through in a bit. Team orders."

"Team orders? What the f*ck? No! I'm racing her properly!"

And so it did. Maria came in with around ten laps remaining to serve her penalty. She then went on to the softest tyres available that weekend. And one more thing...

"Jean! We can't contact Maria. She's turned off her radio and gone rogue. Please be careful with her."

"I know that. We're both fighting for the win as much as each other. This is going to be really heated..."

And so it was. Maria made up a lot of ground in the last few laps. By the last lap she was on Jean's ass.

Maria, I know you have the faster car, but please let me win. Come on, come on, come on... last lap. I CAN DO THIS!

And then came Jean's saving grace.

"Lapped cars! YES! Blue flags, blue flags... YES! They've held Maria up! And there's Sweepdown for the last time... YES! YES!"

Jean broke out into a long string of expletives. But instead of anger... they were glee.

"THAT IS HOW YOU WIN A F*CKING RACE!"

"We've done it, Jean! A win for you and a 1-2 for the team!"

On the cooldown lap, Jean got a message from Maria. He was expecting a lot more hate... but instead got something better. "As much as I hate to say this, because of all the bullshit that happened to me during this race, you deserve the victory, Jean," she said as they completed the race and started the lap into the pit lane. "But me and race control, and me and Bitten Heroes, are going to have some serious problems."

Problems? I'd like to not give a shit because I won, but problems... Oh, for f*ck's sake. Can't even last a cooldown lap before we just revert to a state of turbulence yet again. On to the podium!

As the national anthem of Jean's homeland played, The Last March, He felt yet another sense of glee. He had finally won a race in the pinnacle of all motorsport. Worth the f*cking wait.

And then came the spray. Maria shocked him with a squirt of her own drink. He followed with his- charged lemonade, as traditionally all forms of alcohol were banned in Esmerel. He sprayed her back. And then they sprayed everywhere. Oh, this... it just brings back old times in the ESTL. But a lot better.

And as the sun set on that day, there were many records broken. Jean had taken his first win. Red Lion had gotten the first front row lockout and 1-2 of the season. They were also leading the Constructors' Championship by three points. And Maria's title hopes had come back. Not by much, but she had a good chance.

What would happen in the last races? The world would find out soon. But first... a road trip.

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

International Sports
JEAN MERCER-DALY FINALLY SCORES FIRST WGPC WIN
The Lapiz Point Post, 2017/30/04

All of Esmerel's sports fans rose to a standing ovation today, as WGPC driver Jean Mercer-Daly (ESM) finally clinched his first victory in the pinnacle of motorsport. His teammate Maria Cattaneo (TRV) finished second behind him, and Mick Schramm (WET) rounded out the podium.

"It was an amazing win for us and the team," said Darrell Matherly, Jean's race engineer. "After five races of waiting we finally got it. We'll have to wait and see how the last two races go, though."

Jean managed to take the win after a late-race penalty for his teammate saw him inherit the lead and manage to hold off the closing pack. Mathematically, Jean has no chances at winning the Drivers' Championship, however his excellent performance may lead him and his teammate to take the Constructors' Championship.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Drivers' Championship after 10 Rounds

Rank	Driver (Nationality)	Team	Points
1	Terho Talvela (ABL)	MRT-Mercedes	94
2	Ryker Lane (NIM)	Nexus-Paragon	84
3	Maria Cattaneo (TRV)	RLR-Olson	83
4	Axel Novikov (ABL)	Telaris-Renault	81
5	Juliano Lemos (LIS)	Bitten Heroes-XPRO	77

Constructors' Championship after 10 Rounds

Rank	Constructor (Nationality)	Points
1	RLR-Olson (TRV)	136
2	MRT-Mercedes (MTJ)	133
3	Nexus-Paragon (NIM)	127
4	Bitten Heroes-XPRO (LIS)	120
5	Telaris-Renault (SJG)	112

"Alright Mick, you've had a qualifying that was quite ok, now let's have a good race. You know how to do it." That was Max' voice coming from the team radio while Mick was rolling on the grid after formation lap.

There were the lights. One was there. Three were there. A second one was in between them before that. Four were there. Five were there. None were there.

Mick had a good start and overtook Louis Krindle. In the first corner he managed to pass R.L Cruisin as well.

"You're in seventh now Mick, P7. Good start!"

In front of him now was Ryker Lane and in front of Lane was Juliano Lemos. Mick wanted to overtake Lemos. In lap 7 he overtook Lane in turn 14. He braked very late in that turn, being in front of Ryker Lane in the middle of the turn, having contact with Lane's front wheel.

"Mick, errr... That was a bit dangerous..."

"No, it wasn't. I gotta overtake Lemos!"

"Mick, you're under invastigation for that! A bit faster and you would have ended both your races!"

"Oh..."

In lap 13 though Max told him:

"Alright Mick, you're lucky. No further action warranted."

"Good."

He was pretty clos to Lemos now, and in lap 14 he tried to overtake him in the first turn, unsuccessfully. A bit later, in the Gatehouse Chicane, Lemos cut the corner.

"Woah, woah, woah! Come on! Honestly! If he doesn't get a penalty then...then... I'll eat an intermediate rear tyre!"

"You sadly won't have a reason to enjoy that delicious meal, as Lemos just got a ten second time penalty."

"That's the least I'd expect!"

Two laps later, Mick managed to overtake Oliver Bliss with the help of the very helpful DRS.

"You're third now Mick, you're third! Great work! Bring it home!"

A few laps later the two Red Lion cars made their pitstops. Jean Mercer-Daly got back onto the track in front of him, but he could now see Maria Cattaneo approaching in his rear view mirrors. She had newer tyres and Mick still had to stop, but he could not simply let her pass. Cattaneo was trying to overtake him at the outside of turn 2. Mick was too fast going out of turn one to perfectly getting out of turn one without braking. But he decided not to break, as he would clearly get that corner. He expected Cattaneo to get behind him again, as otherwise she would risk a crash, but no...

"Come on! Come on! Honestly, what are we doing here! This ir ridiculous, this is really ridiculous! She gained a big advantage from that, that's obvious!"

"Mick calm down, race control has given her a five second time penalty, she'll have to make one more pit stop. It's alright."

"Serves her right!"

In lap 35, Mick was called into the pits.

"What tyre compound do you think is the best?", he asked them.

"We think we will give you supersofts, you should be able to finish the race on these."

He was indeed able to finish the race on the supersofts, and after Cattaneo had stopped again he was in second again. But a few laps before the end of the race, he could that red and white car in his rear view mirrors again, and again, that red and white car had newer, and in this case softer tires as well. When Cattaneo was using DRS, Mick had no chance to defend that position. She was passing him on the outside line...and gave him the middle finger!

Mick answered with the same gesture. It must have been a somewhat funny sight seeing two cars driving beside each others and their drivers giving their middle fingers to each others.

"I think that b**** got some serious aggression problems!"

"I think you do too, Mick..."

"What?"

"Nothing..."

Still, Mick didn't mind too much, as he had no chance to keep his position anyways...and was about to finish on the podium!

In lap 73' Mick could see a white and blue-purple car in front of him.

"Is that... Is that Lemos?"

"Yes Mick, it is. You are about to lap Juliano Lemos."

Lemos got the blue flags and Mick passed him, smiling. He hadn't felt that well for quite a time.

One lap later, he crossed the finish line... And was in third!

"Wooo, yes!"

"Brilliant Mick, great drive, you've done a great job today! Brilliant!"

"Thank you! Thank you guys! Thank you all!"

He placed his car in the parc fermé, beside the two Red Lion cars, and got on his way to the podium. He was waiting to hear his name.

"On third position... From West-East Timor... Driving for Bitten Heroe GPE... Mick Schramm!", was the announcement.

Mick got on the podium. The two Red Lion pilots got on the podium and some famous Krytenian person was handing him his trophy. The national anthem of Esmerel was played, and then it was for the champagne. Mick first drank a bit out of the bottle.

"Tastes quite ok... Might be considered a waste spraying it around everywhere... But who cares?", he thought, before spraying some champagne on his crew standing under the podium, and then a bit on Jean Mercer-Daly. He ignored Maria Cattaneo though, and she ignored him.

Then it was time for the interviews. Unlike most drivers he somewhat liked that part, and, like most drivers, he somewhat did not like that part. It was...somewhat complicated.

"Well, yeah, I think I had a really great race today. Finally on the podium again! Yes! And believe it or not, it felt good lapping my team mate, after he did that in Eelandii. I had a really good start I think, and the rest of the race was good as well. I admit that action against Ryker Lane might have been a bit risky, but nothing happened, so I guess everything is fine. All I can say about the...incident with Cattaneo is, that I think the penalty was the right treatment. She clearly had to pull back, I was in front of her and just driving my line. You can't blame me! That's all I have to say about it. Anyways, it's great to be on the podium again! I hope I'll be able to repeat that!"

There wasn't much left of the front left wheel of the car when Louis got out of it in Q2. A locked up brake on a hot lap coming into the Farm Chicane saw the MSA car fail to make the tight first part of the chicane, driving straight on and into the barriers. More than enough to end his session, and with the yellow flags waving about, enough to ruin the sessions of a few others.

The day had started really well for Louis Krindle, after a decent practice session where he was three tenths of the fastest time, albeit in 14th; race pace was still good however, but Will Madison was still suffering from some sort of gremlins in the car, and looking like he might end up as the only driver in the Championship without a point to their name, finishing last in the practice session, over half a second behind Krindle. Going into the Saturday, qualifying was as it had been over the past few races - Krindle soared early on in Q1, Madison improved, but not enough. Krindle waited a few minutes before going out on track, and immediately went into the top ten with a 1:28.870. The tires still had more to give, and so he stayed out, shaving another two tenths off to move top with a 1:28.689 before coming for the time being. The clock ticked on, but as racer after racer went past the line, Louis' time was still unbeaten, until there were about 10 minutes to go, when first Maria Cattaneo improved her time to under 1:28.6, putting her top, followed soon after by her teammate Jean Mercer-Daly, who had managed to shave fifteen thousandths off Krindle's time on his first attempt to move second. A slight disappointment not to have won the first session, but nonetheless, the times all the other drivers were posting weren't even close to beating Krindle, and so they hung fire in the pits. Meanwhile, Madison tried his best, but in the end, his final push of the session saw him barely miss out on tenth by a mere 7 thousandths of a second, meaning that Drawkian would start on the sixth row alongside a surprise eliminee in defending champion Terho Talvela.

The second session was quite a contrast to the first, however. Krindle went out straight away, trying to get a sensible time out of the way and conserve tires. Unfortunately, his first flying lap was affected by traffic - he came up behind a slow Ryker Lane on his outlap around The Spit, and whilst trying to go around the outside of the Nimban driver, lost grip and span out into the runoff area. The car, and especially the tires, were thankfully undamaged, and Krindle trundled around to finish the lap in a 1:34.4, powering around the last few corners to start a new flying lap. And that's where the crash occurred - no traffic to blame this time, Louis was just carrying too much speed entering the stadium and going into Farm Chicane, and was a bit too hard on the brakes, which promptly got their own back by locking the wheels and sending him into the barriers. A low speed crash, fortunately, but enough to ruin the front left wheel frame and end his session. Thankfully, there were enough poor laps and problems out there that he still started 8th on the grid.

Back in the pits, the team's chief mechanic, Justyn Qadeer, peered over what was left of the car. "Good thing you hit the wall without much speed, most of the chassis is still reusable. The nose cone and front wing are gone, and we'll have to play around with the steering rack and axles as well, but thankfully you've managed to leave everything else intact."

Louis smiled back at him, saying, "Well, good thing the brakes did something good. And anyway, isn't this the first time I've actually crashed the car this season, in the dry at least?"

Team principal Tadeo Durand looked over from his bank of screens. "Now that you mention it, yes it is. All the other problems have been from the car or a wet track, but this is actually the first time you've crashed. What happened to the real Louis Krindle?" he said with a joking laugh.

"Haha, very funny. It is weird though, I normally crash out a lot more than I have done. Maybe I'm just saving one for the race in Audioslavia, you know, as my swansong, pull out a vintage performance and crash out. Probably after a pole position as well, like it was back in my teenage days," replied Krindle.

Trytin walked past, saying, "Please don't, I'd rather your last ever WGPC car be put on show or something, not sold for scrap. And on a more serious note, we can still clinch sixth in the Constructors' standings, you know."

Krindle looked over, replying, "Jeez, you are such a killjoy, Matthew. Let me enjoy a joke for once, it'll be the last time I can actually laugh at myself in a race weekend."

---

Sunday. Raceday. 26 cars and around 2 hours of driving around a strip of tarmac in Krytenia. Not a bad way to spend a weekend, thought Louis. After his off-track excursion the day before, the team worked into the small hours to get the ready back into shape - the damage was a bit worse than first thought, and the team had to rebuild more of the car than they would have liked. But in the end, they got it ready, and on the warmup parade lap at least, the car felt like it always had. 8th place was the result of yesterday's qualifying, putting him four cars back on the outside of the track. Ryker Lane shared the fourth row with him. Immediate threats behind, Mick Schramm, Alex Dimitrianov, Terho Talvela, Will Madison. Targets in front, Marika Pedanovic, RL Cruisin and Oliver Bliss - Lemos wasn't that realistic a target to start off with.

Lights turning on. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 green lights. The hum of the engines reaches deafening levels. Lights go out. 26 clutches get dropped, the race begins. Schramm gets a ridiculous start, cuts up the inside of Krindle, and then takes out Cruisin around turn 1. Lane on his inside, Lemos in front, Pedanovic on Lemos' inside. Cruisin moves in behind Schramm, Louis takes advantage of the space, moves around the outside of turn 1 and sticks the car to the kerb as they exit the chicane. Cruisin, hemmed in front by Schramm, has to yield. Louis back up to 8th. The field now settles down, Louis defending from both Cruisin and Talvela, who are trading positions themselves. Incident between two backmarkers on lap 2. No safety car. Cars come around again to the start the third lap, Cruisin ahead of Louis as they exit the final corner and onto the straight, and the Arada seals the overtake with superior speed. But Cruisin doesn't get too far, as Krindle outbrakes him down the inside of Redwater, taking the position and allowing Talvela to move back into 9th as well. Big news up ahead - Pedanovic forced off after hitting debris. Safety car deployed. Ryker Lane and co ahead are dragged back within reach.

All in all, an eventful first few laps of the Krytenian Grand Prix. The safety car pulled in, and Louis was immediately forced to defend again on the straight after Lane had the better drive off the final corner. Talvela managed to get the better of the three on the straight, and drove on ahead. A brave defensive move on The Spit a couple of laps later saw Cruisin back off a little too much, forcing him to defend against the traffic behind, allowing Louis to settle and look offensively. He got close to Ryker Lane quite a few times over the next ten laps, before news came through ahead of a ten second stop and go penalty for Lemos, who was only about 15 seconds up the road at that point. Chatter came through on the radio that Lemos would be pitting soon to serve the penalty as well, going to a two-stop strategy. As Krindle was on a fresh set of tires after yesterday's incident, him and most of the grid would be going a single one-stop strategy - tire degradation was pretty minimal on these soft compound tires, and the super softs weren't too bad either. Lemos pitted around the 20 laps mark, alongside the race leaders, and Krindle decided to stay on Ryker's tail, deciding not to push the tires until it was necessary. Then came the mistake. Coming out of the Esses, Louis was about a second off Ryker, just not close enough to attack. But coming around the Point hairpin, Ryker managed to lose the back end of the car, and powerslid wide out of the turn, allowing the more-slickly-exiting MSA to get the better drive off the corner, and by the time the cars reach the R-2 double apex, Louis' already reversed the gap to a second in his favour.

Lane pitted early on lap 30, trying to get an undercut, but at that point Louis opened the taps and made use of his saved tires to push on for another 6 to seven laps. The news came over the radio that he was matching the Nimban driver on his new tires, and with the gap higher than a pitstop, that was good news. He was less than half a minute from the lead at that point, as both the leading cars had had their first pit stops, on an obvious two-stop strategy. Good news was that Cattaneo would even have a 5 second penalty on her second stop because an off-road excursion, and even better news was that Oliver Bliss was forced to retire a few laps ago as well, meaning that as it stood, Louis was in fifth. Lap 37, with the gap behind to Ryker Lane beginning to fall (22 seconds the lap before, 21 seconds now), the team decided to call Louis in. It had been a good stint, and the next would have to be equally as good. The team decided to play it safe, and put on another pair of softs, so that another pit stop wasn't necessary. Ryker went through, about two second ahead of Louis, but more immediate concerns were from behind, as Lemos had made up some gap (although it ultimately wouldn't be a problem as the Lisander driver would need another stop). Louis managed to stay ahead of the Bitten-Heroes driver, and the pair began hunting down Ryker Lane. By lap 43, Lemos had dropped off the pace due to his older tires, and Louis was back within striking distance of Lane, this time just needing a simple DRS overtake down the start-finish straight to seal the overtake, Ryker giving way without much of a fight. His heart obviously wasn't in it today, but that suited Louis just fine, as he began eking out a gap between himself and the Nimban and began hunting down Terho Talvela, who was about 20 seconds up the road.

By lap 63, Talvela was just within sight on the straights, about five to six seconds ahead on slightly more worn tires. Schramm was another twenty seconds up the road, and wouldn't be caught today. Ryker Lane was about five to six seconds behind, and seemingly out of desire to fight. Talvela was reeled in over the next few laps, but suddenly, the blue-grey of the Nexus car was replaced by a rapidly speeding red and white Red Lion car. Maria Cattaneo was on a mission, and also pretty angry, it seemed, given the way she was attacking the corners. Talvela was just two seconds or so ahead, but Cattaneo was closing fast, and so Louis opted to defend. And defend he did, for about a lap, until Maria found an opening on a straight and breezed past with superior engine power and tires. Talvela would have been next, but his MRT decided that was the best time to blow its engine, pulling the Abovian defending champion and Championship leader out of the race with just 5 laps to go. Cattaneo went off in search of Schramm, disappearing out of Krindle's view pretty quickly. Ryker Lane was a good 7 or so seconds behind him, and nowhere near matching his pace, according to the team. All Louis had to do now was take the car home in 4th, which he did pretty easily, tbh, navigating the numerous backmarkers, but deciding to nestle in behind his teammate Will Madison as he fought it out with Jeremy Jensen-Fletcher on the final lap, with the pair needing a photo finish to split the two, Will coming out the worse by 5 thousandths of a second.

Krindle was now up to 6th, the position he finished in last year. And technically, still in the title race, although making up a 46 point gap to leader Terho Talvela with 50 to play for wasn't ever going to happen. Fifth in fact was more than a race win ahead, at 29 points ahead, so 6th was the likely peak. Behind was where the challenges lay - Mick Schramm and Marika Pedanovic were both just 5 points behind him, with Delgado and Mercer-Daly 9 behind and Dimitrianov 11 behind. It was going to be a close mid-table finish. As for the team, they had moved up to 8th, ahead of Wilson by 4 points, and trailing 7th place Fireline and 6th place Arada by 12 and 15 points respectively. 6th was the highest the team could realistically aim for, but it looked like it would be down to Louis to try and get that.

Eelandii WGPC Headquarters, Eelandii, Turori :: The chassis were already in route for the short trip to the Vilitan Mountain Challenge course in Rockii Coast, Vilita for the Vilitan Grand Prix. The team was set to have one final meeting to discuss any final initial set-up desires for the first practice session, any lingering feedback from previous events and any team strategy for the upcoming race weekend. The whole team was there ready to discuss... except Denholm Kingsley.

Denholm had already missed one team meeting earlier in the season and had been late to countless others. There was an air of frustration in the room. Even the level-headed iBen Toralmintii was getting frustrated at his co-pilot's absence.

"How the hell are we supposed to discuss strategy as a team if our other driver isn't here!" iBen finally let the pent up frustration out of his system. "This is getting ridiculous! This is the most important race left on the schedule for us. The last two events are right here in Atlantian Oceania and this one is in our own backyard. We know this course. If we're going to win a Grands Prix this season this is going to be the one. We know we are good enough but you can't do these things without being on board as a team! Dammit! Find Denholm!"

Some time passed. Driver #53 was no where to be found.

Finally, the team got sick of waiting - both from a frustration standpoint and from a logistical standpoint - they were headed over to Rockii Coast in just a few hours to prepare for the race weekend.

Then, iBen Toralmintii looked across the table at his friend and long time Vilita & Turori Motorsports test pilot Juracai Klianiota.

"Juracai, come sit over here in Denholm's seat. As far as I'm concerned, you're my new co-pilot. We're going to strategize about this race weekend together under the assumption that I'll be in my car and you'll be in car #53!"

The team didn't question the assumption. Juracai came over and the meeting was held. Strategy was discussed, Setup was discussed. When the meeting broke out the team manager approached iBen.

"iBen, I know its frustrating the Denholm isn't here - and I know that Juracai is an amazing driver who could compete if we put them in the car - but Vilita & Turori were only assigned two WGPC Driver Licenses for this season - and those went to you and R.L. Cruisin. "

"I don't care" iBen replied "If Kingsley can't show up to a team meeting, he shouldn't be allowed to pilot the car. Tell Juracai to dye their hair and paint up their helmet to look like Denholm's and don't take it off outside the garage area. Then no one will know the difference"

"But iBen, You know that is ridiculous. Juracai doesn't have an approved international WGPC competitors license. Juracai is only a test pilot and he's only been shaking things down at Eelandii and Rockii Coast."

"Good Thing the next race is at Rockii Coast! Figure it out. If Kingsley isn't there at the first practice session, I want him OUT! I'm sick of this!"

Maria Cattaneo
Before Vilitan Grand Prix Weekend

The Red Lion drivers and team staff has just arrived in Vilita for the penultimate race of the season, but this wasn't like most days when they arrived. Usually, there would be plenty of pictures for Maria and plenty of interaction with the press and the fans as the team got set up at the speedway and the drivers and execs got settled in at the hotel, but today was different because her worst fears were coming to light right now and she was coming to the realization that she might struggle to compete this weekend.

It wasn't because of the problems that she had dealt with before and it wasn't about the internal problems with the team, but rather because of something that she had hoped wouldn't show up until the offseason. Yes, she was sick as she arrived at the hotel, and she could barely hide the fact as she made her way through the cameras in the lobby and up to her room. As soon as she stepped inside, she found herself running to the bathroom to throw up, and when she stepped out, she flopped down on the couch and started to cry, thinking of how she could possibly get through the last weeks of the season like this.

Eventually, she took her phone out and sent a message to Gabriella and Asher saying that she would miss the team meeting for the day and that she might show up late to practice the next day, and then she set the phone down briefly before signing and picking it back up and calling Ryker, and deciding to just say a few words when she picked up. "Look, I'm sorry for the way things ended before," she stated, before taking a deep breath. "But now I know for sure why I'm not going to be able to continue next season, why I have to head home. And, it's not really something that I can do anything about. You might be able to figure it out yourself just from looking at me, but if not, you'll know at the end of the season and everyone else will know. Until then, let's stay separate."

And she ended the call there before it could turn into a real conversation, and there were a few more minutes where she cried before she forced herself to stand up and go into her bag, digging out a couple of bottles of medicine and taking some pills to try to improve her condition before the race weekend started. No, she wasn't going to bail this late in the season, when her team had a chance to steal the championship from the giants near the top of the table, and when she had a chance to take a title of her own. She'd race, no matter what the future consequences were. And really, that competitiveness was what set her apart from the rest, and if they did win the title, it would be because of that.

But for now, the day before the practice session, the one thing she could do was lay sick on the couch and hope that even if her body was feeling sick, her mind and reactions would still be sharp enough to win. After all, she'd always said that racing was ninety percent mental. Now, she'd have to see if her own advice was true.

Mck was sitting in that studio in Baranburg, where he would in a few minutes be guest of The Talk Show, a talk show whose producers had no idea how to name it and which is still very unknown.

"So... You've told Maud I'm doing nothing she would not like here, right?", he asked Katja.

"Yah. I've sent her an e-mail."

"What exactly did you write in this e-mail?"

"Just that you've been invated to a talk show and therefore have to go to West-East Timor."

"Alright..."

On some other chairs, there were sitting other guests, but he didn't know any of them. But well, the show was pretty unknown...

Katja got off the stage, there was some music, and the moderator got on the stage.

"Good evening everyone! Good evening! My name is James Marniak, and today I'm the moderator of this. Because the moderator changes every time. Anyways. Here are our guests today:

Kyang Naliang, from a very strange political party with a very strange ideology that actually has no name!"

Naliang: "Good evening everyone!"

Marniak: "Then there is Alissa Alnirria, some quite unknown model, or something."

Alnirria: "Heyyyyyyyy all! It's sooo nice to be here!"

Marniak: "Then there is Matt AlNain, whose newest single has recently been place 82nd on the Omnidiractional Charts."

AlNain: "G'day."

Marniak: "And of course: Mick Schramm! I don't have to tell you who that is!"

Schramm: "Errrr...hi."

Marniak: "Alright, let's start with our first topic today: the weather!"

Schramm: "What?"

Marniak: "Here in Baranburg, today there was a lot of sun, and only a few clouds in front of it. Matt AlNain, what do you think of that?"

AlNain: "Yeah, I guess that's quite nice mate, ain't it? Maybe I'm gonna do a song about it."

Marniak: "Of course we'd all like to hear that! No, no one wants to hear that. Mr. Naliang, what do you think about that?"

Naliang: "I think we should get these damn few clouds out of the country! Only raining clouds deserve to live in our beautifull country, that, by the way, is probably the worst country in the world!"

Marniak: "What?"

Naliang: "Oh, you don't want me here, because I've got a strange ideology including clouds and because my party has got no name? Well, I'll simply leave then!"

Naliang stood up and went away.

Marniak: "Alright. Mr. Schramm, what do you think of the weather?"

Schramm: "Errrr...it's nice I guess..."

Marniak: "Alright then. Where has that model gone?"

Apparently, Alnirria had suddenly disappeared.

Marniak: "Well, we'll make a short break, and then we're back with the single interviews. At least of the people who are still here..."

"What insane show is this?", Mick asked Katja who had come back on the stage to talk to him.

"It will get better now. They will ask you about racing and such. What you're used to."

"Ok... And why do they invite people who either aren't quite sane or think they're funny but absolutely aren't?"

"That and the stuff with the weather is their strange concept..."

"No question why they are rather unknown..."

"Yah..."

The show continued.

Marniak: "Welcome back! We will now begin with our single interviews! First is Mick Schramm! Mick, you got your second podium in the last race! Isn't that great?"

Schramm: "Yeah, lf course it is."

Marniak: "How did you feel?"

Schramm: "It felt great of course, finally being up there again. Not as good as my first podium, but still."

Marniak: "You actually did lap Juliani Lemos, who had lapped you before in Eelandii..."

Schramm: "Yeah, that was quite nice too! You see, some people even called me a pay driver, after Lemos lapped me, but well, I hope this changes again now..."

Marniak: "Aren't you actually a pay driver?"

Schramm: "Well, yeah, of course there were financial reasons influencing Bitten Heroes' driver decision, but you know how the people mean it, like pay drivers got no talent and only are racing in high series becase of their money, what I clearly am not."

Marniak: "I understand."

This show finally seemed to get normal.

Marniak: "At the race in Krytenia, as far as we know, Natassia Maud did not even show up. Can you tell us anything about the reasons for that? There are rumours that she had thrown the towel..."

Schramm: "Well, no, as far as I know, she didn't show up because of health reasons."

Marniak: "Will she show up in Vilita?"

Schramm: "I don't know, I haven't heard anything about it yet."

Marniak: "Alright. There have also been rumours that Nick Newman was planing to found a WGPC team for next season..."

Schramm: "Really? I don't know about a project like that. These rumours clearly are wrong. I'm not saying it is impossible that there will be a West-East Timorian WGPC team in the future, maybe owned by Nick Newman, but currently, I can enshure you, that there is absolutely nothing planned."

Marniak: "Then let's go on to our final question today: what do you want to achieve in the last two races?"

Schramm: "I'll try to finish as high as possible, what else? Getting another podium, or even win a race, would of course be great, but it's not that realistic. So, can I go now?"

Marniak: "Yes you can. Ladies and Gentlemen Mick Schramm!"

Mick got off the stage.

Marniak: "And now to our missing model, who was found backstagegetting her hair styled..."

"I didn't expect that West-East Timorian WGPC team question...", Mick told to Katja when going away. "Was my reaction acceptable?"

"Could have been better, but yah, it was acceptable..."

"Pew, thank god..."

Vilitan Grand Prix
Before Practice

“Imagithermal convertor is online. Activating translocators now. Jim, keep the compressor running - we’ll need to replenish what we use now before practice.”

“I hear you, Gertrude!”

“Thanks… Imagination transfer confirmed; no problems so far. Pseudonervous interaction commencing. Sensors indicate successful activation. Virgil, confirm?”

“Left front... Left rear… Right rear… Right front - all seem to be heating. With your permission I believe that we can declare this car’s Imagithermal convertor to be fully functional!”

“Yes, I think so too. Good job, everyone. Now, let’s get Marika in and send her off; we’ve still got the other car to check yet.”

Drivers had ninety minutes to record up to thirty laps of the track (including in and out laps to and from the pits). Only each driver's fastest time is shown in the table below.
Conditions: WET

Pos # Driver			Team			Fastest Lap	Behind Leader
 1  1 Terho Talvela                	0:01:27.781	0:00:00.000
 2 94 Ryker Lane                   	0:01:27.820	0:00:00.039
 3 37 Axel Novikov                 	0:01:27.849	0:00:00.068
 4  5 Juliano Lemos                	0:01:27.880	0:00:00.099
 5 20 Mick Schramm                 	0:01:27.882	0:00:00.101
 6  4 Jean Mercer-Daly             	0:01:27.939	0:00:00.158
 7 63 Kurt Censki                  	0:01:28.032	0:00:00.251
 8  6 Marika Pedanovic             	0:01:28.040	0:00:00.259
 9 77 iBen Toralmintii             	0:01:28.203	0:00:00.422
10 99 Maria Cattaneo               	0:01:28.258	0:00:00.477
11 16 Alexander Lund               	0:01:28.266	0:00:00.485
12 55 Asao Nadakei                 	0:01:28.290	0:00:00.509
13 23 Moisés Delgado               	0:01:28.291	0:00:00.510
14 24 Victoria Gardner             	0:01:28.424	0:00:00.642
15 52 Sayono Souzare               	0:01:28.439	0:00:00.657
16 17 Eaoueaiou Aeouiouie          	0:01:28.461	0:00:00.680
17 51 R.L. Cruisin                 	0:01:28.488	0:00:00.706
18 53 Denholm Kingsley             	0:01:28.516	0:00:00.735
19  7 Ethan Ellis                  	0:01:28.535	0:00:00.754
20 29 Esteban Guilhermez           	0:01:28.681	0:00:00.900
21 14 Oliver Bliss                 	0:01:28.682	0:00:00.900
22 74 Alexandra Mayari             	0:01:28.718	0:00:00.936
23 80 J. Jensen-Fletcher           	0:01:28.868	0:00:01.087
24 18 Louis Krindle                	0:01:28.873	0:00:01.092
25 89 Will Madison                 	0:01:28.915	0:00:01.134
26 42 Alex Dimitrianov             	0:01:29.927	0:00:02.146

Saturday's qualifying should be scorinated after 10pm UTC tomorrow.

"What if every race was like this practice session?" Marika whispered to herself.

Sure enough this season was pretty much a rapid start with a significant falloff. Almost as if the various experiments with the driving suit improvements, running race trim in most practice sessions, and what not had started to not pay off. However, the fact it rained made a driver who couldn't be happier if only because the opponents don't have dry track practice time and will only have 6 laps of qualifying and a warm up lap or two of dry practice. Not to mention that the time ran was good enough for 8th. Much better than the season opening win which seemed like an eternity ago to Marika.

Marika closed her eyes while in the UHSGV-1 after all the practice not even considering to get out of the car. But for what reason was unknown to everyone else. As for why, Marika started to emulate the hero of a bygone era when IndyCar was almost as big as something like the WGPC. The driver Rick Mears, the 4 time Indy 500 winner who was fast enough in a test for Brabham to have outran the driver who won the Formula 1 title in the same car by nearly a full second. Yet the driver had spent 13 years at Indianapolis without crashing until 1991's practice session when a leaking radiator spilled fluid behind the drive wheels. Marika had to replicate as many aspects of Rick... even if it meant to sleep while strapped in as to collect her thoughts.

"I never knew some drivers would sleep in their cars," one of the mechanics said.

"Well, if one heard of the lore of Rick Mears or Johnny Rutherford back in that era back when you were in diapers. Some drivers would sleep there," someone else responded.

Marika started to wake up and wondered what was this discussion.

"Predrag, is that you?" Marika asked.

"Well, I was telling the mechanic about what some racing drivers did back in the 1980s. Just like what you were doing. Anyways, I came here to wish you luck for the season's end. A strong finish won't get you a championship, but could get Nexus one," Predrag said.

"Yeah, that's what I was doing in the car. I was thinking of the implications of such things," Marika responded.

Jean Mercer-Daly
An unnamed restaurant, Bavarrano, Esmerel
Thursday, 13:30

"So, Stefeni. It's been... precisely 39 hours and 30 minutes since we hit the road looking for these guys. Are they even in the country?"

"You do make a point, Jean. They may have packed up and left. But if they did, we would've spotted them. We know whenever someone provides their employee ID- so they haven't left the country, at least."

"Okay, but where? We've checked almost every feasible location they could be. So where are they? WHERE ARE THEY?" Jean was clearly becoming insane after so much searching with no profit.

"Jean, calm the hell down. We'll find them."

At precisely this moment, Jean gets a call from Rebecca. As usual, he answers.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jean! I just wanted to call you, see how you were doing. I'm on top of the world right now!"

"And why is that?"

"You haven't heard? I've won! I'm the champion of the ESTL! Planning to move to WGP2 once that becomes a thing."

"Shit! Congratulations! Just... wow. I can't believe it!"

"I swear on Charles Richmond's name it's true, Jean. Anyways, what are you doing right now?"

"Being angry because there's some important guys we can't find. What are you doing?"

"I'm actually doing something pretty special. I'm testing a car for someone at Raleigh Hill."

"That's actually pretty close by! Who are you driving for? Can you say?"

"Some guys named Scuderia Grotti. Come on over if you want!"

Jean and Stefeni both imploded. Of course that's where they would be.

"Rebecca, go to a private place. Now."

"Wait. Jean? What's going on?"

"Just trust me."

"Okay... I'm alone now. What is it?"

"You helped us find the people we're looking for. They're corrupted, and you should not go back out on track. We're coming right now."

"Umm... ok? I'll see you soon." *click*

"We gotta go. Let's finally finish this thing."

To be continued

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jean Mercer-Daly
Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course, Rockii Coast, Vilita
Friday Practice

After the shocker that was Jean finally taking his first victory in Krytenia he wanted to finish his season on a decent note- by making sure the car could finish the races at the very least. At the very least, Jean had a good chance to do good without even trying- the VMCC- an incredibly aggressive circuit with several fast corners and flat-out stints. Jean already liked it when he went out onto the track- though before that there were other things to attend to. Maria was sick- more sick than Jean had been before Nekoni. It would be lucky if she could get anything out of this weekend. It was up to Jean to keep Red Lion at the top of the table this weekend.

At the same time, Jean had noticed something different about the home team this weekend as he had his regular walk down the pit lane. Their second driver, Denholm Kingsley, had something... a bit off about him. Jean just knew it- but preferred not to infringe on whatever was happening. But whatever it was, it didn't seem right.

Jean finally set out on track and set some good laps. His best lap was his fourth- a 1:27.939, only one and a half tenths off Talvela. He was a man who always seemed to annihilate the practice sessions and then (sometimes, not always) fall off the cliff later in the weekend. Jean always did good in qualifying. And nobody really had a huge advantage in the race. Not bad. However, Jean's session was about to go on a wild ride.

As Jean completed his fifth lap, he was coming around a slower moving car down the front stretch- a Wilson, it was. Number 16- that was Lund. Jean caught some of the slipstream before moving to the left to pass by- but moved out too late. A piece of his front wing slammed into the back of the Tickford engine- the mangled piece caused the underside of the car to have a massive change in air pressure and front downforce- which ultimately led Jean's RLR into a backflip.

It was fairly clean by most crash standards- the vehicle landed on all four tyres. However, the suspension wasn't a fan of the stunt, and it gave way. Jean came into turn 1 without control, narrowly missing Lund's vehicle as he went into the gravel. Jean's session had ended prematurely- though it wasn't necessarily a horrible thing. Jean had a good lap time, his car could easily be repaired, and the track was still suited for him.

Of course, all could change in qualifying. There wasn't nearly as much pressure on him and Maria to succeed this weekend, and to be honest, their title hopes were slim, even when they were leading- but they were well suited to be a spanner in the works.

Plus, Maria was sick and still managed 10th. Things were looking fairly good for now- but it could all end.

Jean hoped it didn't.

Vilitan Grand Prix
Post-Practice

Gertrude looks over at the screen of the pit wall again, making a mental note of the important elements of the data shown.

Wet conditions? Please. With the car’s new Imagithermal convertor working to directly heat the tyres, they suddenly had the cars with the best mechanical grip on track. The only reason that they hadn’t seen overly significant performance gains in comparison to the rest of the field was the fact that, as usual, they were running in race trim and, well, this circuit didn’t particularly need good mechanical grip. I need to contact Tigar, ask them to produce wet tyres with higher optimal temperatures. That ought to increase our advantage even further.

We really are good at this, aren’t we?



Ryker returns to the garage with no small sense of excitement.

Those turns are so long and sweeping… At full speed, driving around here must be exhilarating, especially in a car as fast as this. I’ve got tomorrow to look forward to, then!

For the moment, though, he has other tasks. After leaving both his UHSGV-1 and garage, he heads across to Fireline of all places.

The logic behind this seemingly odd direction is, in fact, relatively simple. In accordance of Gertrude’s advice, he needs to talk to somebody who understands Maria very well. Of those people, three are present at the race. Asher he knows is very much biased against her and, depending on how much he has heard, might either hate or pity him, while Gabriella… Well, that interaction is best avoided entirely. That leaves a certain Jeremy Jensen-Fletcher. He’s never talked to him but the dynamic should still be better than with either of the others.

Imagination, that’s depressing now that I think about it…

Putting the thought out of his mind, he comes to a halt in front of Fireline’s temporary base of operations. Hopefully, someone will notice him.

…

Maria Cattaneo
Friday Practice

The laps didn't start out great for the number ninety nine Red Lion car, but by the time it was midway through the practice, Maria had managed to get higher up the time leaderboard and she was gathering enough info for the staff to come up with an effective strategy for this track. But she was still sick, very sick, and that showed when she had to pull over to the wall and take her hands off of the wheel.

"Maria, is there something wrong with the car?" asked Hans Eskildsen.

"Nah, something's wrong with me," she said, and then she pulled her helmet off and lifted herself out of the car, throwing up on the ground for about a minute before pulling her helmet back on, getting back into the car, and heading to the pits at a slow pace. "I'm done for the day. I'm going to head back to the hotel and take some more pills and hopefully I'll be better for qualifying tomorrow."

The staff watched her with interest as she stepped out of the car in the garage and then had to sit down next to it because of the nausea that made her head feel like it was spinning, and she briefly made eye contact with Asher before looking down and lying on her back. "You're worse off than you said you were," Gabriella stated, raising an eyebrow as she watched her star driver.

"Because I shouldn't really be doing any of this stuff right now, I should be resting, but I decided to not give up on the team even if they give up on me," she stated, with some edge to her tone.

"Maria, you know that I'm not the one behind these decisions. They already knew who they wanted to bring in and nothing I said was going to change it-"

"But you're the one that sold them the rights to the team for next season."

"And I didn't know that I would get forced out afterwards-"

"Whatever," Maria snapped, and then she sat up and groaned, looking like she might throw up again. "The point is, I'm not missing any time even though I should be, so unless you want to find someone else to take my seat for the last two races, you're going to have to take what you can get from me. I'm not going to have to leave early tomorrow or the day after, either. I'll find a way through this."

"You always do."

After a few moments of catching her breath, Maria stood up and started towards the exit, as Asher and the crew watched on and then the mechanics went to work on the car. This wasn't going to end well at all if she couldn't live up to her words and improve her condition before qualifying...

Jeremy Jensen-Fletcher
Friday Practice

Jeremy had wrapped up another disappointing practice session and was heading out of the garage on his way to a meeting with a few members of the Corsa Axalt staff about his potential new job, when he saw someone else standing around outside, not someone with the press but someone that was another driver, that he recognized as Ryker Lane. He knew all about that driver from Maria despite not having met him before, and after Maria had broken some news to Jeremy earlier, he wondered if Ryker was here about that.

And other theories ran through his mind about why Ryker was there, and so he stopped in his tracks upon seeing him, and folds his arms cautiously. "You're here about Maria, eh? I've heard a bit about you, she's told me a few times about her and you," he said. "But if you're wondering why she's going on hiatus, which you might have heard about this morning, I can't say anything. She told me not to tell anyone, especially not anyone else in the industry."

Vilitan Grand Prix
Post-Practice

Ryker’s thoughts become a blur.

Jeremy’s words have immediately informed him of a few things. Maria isn’t leaving the WGPC for the reasons that she told him about last week. Instead, it’s something that is both personal enough to only tell those people who are very close to her - and he does feel somewhat upset that he wasn’t included in that category - and something that people involved in racing can’t know about. Some sort of debilitating disease, maybe? He hates to consider it but that does seem to fit the bill. You’d want to keep on racing, hence the move to the local scene with the need to stay out of the spotlight - though didn’t you say that the Redvali media is some of the least forgiving in the world? That wouldn’t make as much sense, then…

He then realises that he still hasn’t said anything. “I mean, not really… I was more interested in seeing if you could give me some insights into Maria’s character. She’s always seemed so strong to me, but now she’s -” Wait. With what you’ve just said… “Actually, you know what? You’ve just made all of my reasoning for coming here invalid.” He chuckles, shaking his head. “Sorry, I’m forgetting my manners.” He extends his hand. “Ryker Lane.”

Vilitan Grand Prix History

The Vilitan Grand Prix has been a consistent fixture on the World Grand Prix Championship schedule since WGPC Season 11. With the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course having been new to many of the worlds top drivers at the time, the local-based Vilita & Turori Motorsports team dominated the race weekeend for the first ever Vilitan Grand Prix. Since then, however, Vilitan drivers have struggled to perform in front of their home fans.

Vilita's R.L. Cruisin has contested the previous four Vilitan Grand Prix events at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course but - after narrowly missing out on victory with finishes of 2nd and 3rd in the first two Vilitan Grand Prix races, the past two trips to Rockii Coast have been very Rockii indeed for the Vilitan Driver.

During the Season 13 running of the Vilitan Grand Prix, R.L. Cruisin was one of the fastest drivers off the truck along with his Frontiere Racing teammate Crimson LaRoja. On raceday, many expected Cruisin to move quickly to the front and challenge for victory. Instead, however, Cruisin found himself in the garage just 16 laps into the event, failing to finish. Cruisin's teammate LaRoja would motor on to a podium finish, making the result that much harder for Cruisin to get over.

Looking to redeem himself in front of his home-crowd, Cruisin returned to Rockii Coast for the Season 14 running of the Vilitan Grand Prix piloting a new ride - the famed Carvenlo-Franklin WGPC entry. However, Cruisin would struggle much of the weekend posting a career-worst qualifying effort in Vilita posting just the 10th best time. Then, for the second consecutive season, Cruisin would be first driver out of the race - once again completing just 16 laps.

With the withdrawel of the Carvenlo team from the WGPC Season 15, Cruisin will once again be sporting new colors - this time the colorful colors of the Hodori-based Arada Motorsport team. While they struggled off the truck in the opening practice session, Cruisin will hope to use some home-town cooking to shake off a disappointing season and extend his streak of Race-Winning WGPC seasons.


As for Turorian driver iBen Toralmintii - who was responsible for the course layout improvements that allowed the WGPC to first contest the Vilitan Grand Prix during Season 11. - it is also a homecoming of sorts. Like Cruisin, Toralmintii has never won either the Vilitan Grand Prix or the Grand Prix of Turori. However, unlike Cruisin, Toralmintii does have one thing on his side - a little bit of momentum. While Cruisin has failed to finish the Vilitan Grand Prix the previous two seasons, Toralmintii is coming off a relatively strong showing at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course during Season 14 where he qualified second and finished 5th.

With both local drivers thus far winless during the WGPC 15 Season and outside the championship picture, both will have the Vilitan Grand Prix circled as their chance to salvage something from an otherwise disappointing season.

---

Vilitan Grand Prix Winners



Just once in its history has the Vilitan Grand Prix has been won by the home-town team, Vilita & Turori Motorsports. However, neither has the race winner or pole winner ever been either of Vilitan or Turorian Nationality. The inaugural Vilitan Grand Prix was a 1-2 finish for Vilita & Turori Motorsports with Falcanian driver and eventual World Drivers champion Stang Crax taking the checkered flag ahead of Vilitan teammate R.L. Cruisin.

Cruisin would once again finish on the Podium for the second Vilitan Grand Prix as Yogutz Lantzia - who had been on the podium during Season 11 with driver Marc Rangneri - took home the checkers with driver Enaut Londoso. When Vilita & Turori Motorsports returned to action during Season 14, they were once again on pole through Aboveland's Terho Talvela - also the eventual World Drivers Champion - but Talvela was beat to the finish line by Fornax driver Will Madison.

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Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course :: Information

Where to Eat:

The hot spots are certainly going to be in the area of the paddock. Inside of the pit area in the center of the track you will find the central eatery with all the local cuisine, as well as some brought to you by the other competing nations as well. Everything from meats to the meat free, things that fly, things that moo and things that swim. There are rumors that there will even be a 'bug eatery' and a "We'll fry It". The "We'll Fry It" is likely to command huge lines as they have been banned for quite some time in Vilita. However, organizers did not want foreign travelers to suffer just because of the healthier eating habits of those in the Tropics, so "We'll Fry It" has been granted a license to serve on premises for the race weekend. The business model is supreme as they don't supply any of the food with the price of the meal. The guest brings.... whatever they want... and "We'll Fry It" fries it for them. They will likely have a cooler filled with various meats and candies that can be purchased and fried for an additional fee, but "We'll Fry It" will fry anything under 2 square feet in size for just 7 tures.

If you are outside of the paddock area, however, there is a hidden gem outside of turn 13. The Poultry Shack is an absolutely exquisite source to quench that meaty craving and they will dish it any way you can handle it. You can walk away with a leg in your hand or even a cup of soup. Fans sometimes don't like to make the walk all the way to the Shack however, in addition to the food, the view is incredible looking out over the Vilitan cliffs over the Water. Visibility at turn 13 and the shack is thought to be amongst the most impressive in the entire Island.

Where to get Free Stuff or Prizes:

You likely won't have to walk more than a few hundred yards without being coerced into taking a free sample of various products on display such as the local-based Vilaye Energy Drink - personal sponsor of Vilitan driver R.L. Cruisin. The key will be to find the locations where they are handing out sealed portions opposed to the open-top samples that you'll need to drink on the spot. Check the boot area around Turn 7 for the best Vilaye booths where they will not only be giving out full beverages but they will have other prizes you can win and games for the children. A Second Vilaye Booth by the start/finish line will not be as large and will only be handing out samples in open cups. Look for giveaways and handouts from other event and team sponsors throughout the Fan section of the paddock and grandstand areas.

The most exciting display however is the recurring Tiones Lumber display outside Turn 1. Tiones Lumber holds mini-lumberjack competitions for the fans each season and you can line up to compete in many famed wood-based competitions such as the 40-foot speed climb, Long rolling, the Standing Block Chop and there will even be a team relay. The best times each day win prizes from Tiones Lumber. First prize winners will be excluded from winning on subsequent days but alternate prize winners can compete for the big prize the following day. Fans who beat the all time-records could find themselves winning free Paddock Passes or other great prizes from Tiones Lumber.

Where to access the drivers:

Drivers are readily accessible to those with a Paddock Pass. However, in the Paddock the drivers are working so fans are asked to to approach the drivers. Instead, let the drivers approach you. There will also be designated driver interaction zones for fans with scheduled driver appearances posted throughout the weekend. Vilitan driver R.L. Cruisin will be at the Turn 7 Vilaye Energy Drink display at various times throughout the weekend. Cruisin will be signing autographs at the booth on Saturday after qualifying.

With just two races to go, here is a (very) brief overview of the story so far in WGPC15.

1 - Mack be Nimble

Much of the pre-season buzz had concerned the incoming Nexus team and their massive technological advantage over the field - even if they couldn't quite find proper wheels to attach to the car. It seemed a portent of things to come, then, when Marika Pedanovic took the chequered flag at the first grand prix in Eastfield Lodge - a second debut win in two seasons, after Terho Talvela had done the same in season 14 on the way to a championship win in his maiden year.

2 - Top of the Table

Talvela, nicknamed 'The Table' in some Audioslavian tabloids due to an old typo having once dubbed him 'Terho Tavola', came into the new season as the reigning World Champion, with the very realisable dream of winning two World Championships in a row. Having to be content with only a podium in the first race, Talvela finished second in race two to go top of the leaderboard.

3 - Above and Beyond

Despite a mishap in round three, the Abovian driver continued to impress, taking his fourth career Grand Prix victory in race four - a record he would hold with Audioslavia's Alexander Lund, still struggling at the wheel of his Wilson.

4 - Demoltion Debut

Cometh the mid-season, cometh the man. Jean Mercer-Daly had seemed an odd choice to replace an ineffective Ilyas Nurlibaev for race five, but the Esmerel driver would confound critics in race five by taking fourteen points in his first outing. Could Mercer-Daly repeat the form of Jessica Franssen, another late arrival to a championship who would make a mark on the championship regardless?

5 - Enter the Lion

It was all change at WGPC Kjelisted in mid-season. Not only did they find Jean Mercer-Daly, they would also find a new name and location, stripping off the Motorworks logos and rebranding themselves as Red Lion Racing. Perhaps not unrelatedly, the change coincided with a mid-season charge from the enigmatic Maria Cattaneo.

6- Biting Back

Bitten Heroes had been making quiet progress for much of their debut season, but the side truly arrived on the scene when Juliano Lemos (not 'Julianos', as he'd mistakenly been called for the first few races) took his first win in race eight to go top of the leaderboard with just four races to go.

7- Mind the Gap

With fellow Abovian Axel Novikov struggling with injury, Cattaneo not capitalising on her opponents' mistakes when it mattered and the Nexus cars still struggling for reliability, Talvela's fifth GP win came at the best possible time, opening up a commanding lead at the top of the championship. Five career Grand Prix victories now puts him above the rest of the field on that particular metric.

Most Wins in WGPC (last six seasons)

Driver			Races	Wins
Terho Talvela		22	5
Alexander Lund		47	4
R.L. Cruisin		58	3
Jessica Franssen	5	3
Igne Spupuo		12	2
Alex Dimitrianov	25	2
Moisés Delgado		35	2
Asao Nadakei		35	2
iBen Toralmintii	45	2
Alexandra Mayari	47	2

8 - The Lions Roar

Race ten in Krytenia would see Red Lion take the first one-two finish for a team in this season's WGPC championship, with Jean Mercer-Daly grabbing his first win in WGPC. Cattaneo, second, would close the gap at the top to just ten points.

9 - Too Close for Comfort?

Just seven points now separate second from fifth, with Ryker Lane and Maria Cattaneo almost inseperable not only in the standings but also, if rumours are to be believed, off the track as well...

10 - The Mounting Challenge

Toralmintii and Cruisin will both be raring to go at the Vilitan Grand Prix and, with Mick Schramm continuing to find form, the Red Lions charging, Nexus as dangerous as ever and, perhaps, at the back, former champions Lund and Mayari still having a point to prove in what may be their swansong from WGPC, it is all to play for as we go into the penultimate race weekend of the season.

Jeremy Jensen-Fletcher
Post Practice

"Yeah, yeah, I know you. Maria has told me about you two on more than one occasion. She's told me about things happening with Gabriella, about relationships, about a lot of stuff, really. I always ask myself why she bothers to come to me of all people, but I guess it's because we were close growing up," Jeremy stated, shaking Ryker's hand. "Anyway... You're going to find everything out in a few weeks, when she's going to make things public after the season."

He was able to read Ryker's face and see that he almost seemed offended that he wasn't in the know, and he shrugged. "And you don't have to feel upset that she didn't talk to you about this, either. She only told the people that she grew up with, she sent us all a text this morning explaining some things. Me, Asher, Gabriella, and Lauri Maximovic are the only ones that know right now. Not even Andrea Hayano, who she was once very close with, knows. Or her parents, or anyone from the Red Lion staff."

He then looked around and considered giving a hint that would let Ryker make his own conclusion, and it only seemed fair because of how close he was with Maria. "But between you and me, and if anyone asks, I'm not the one that told you this... Part of the reason why she's leaving is because she's going to be sick for about eight or so more months before she's better again, and she's planning on retreating from the public and disappearing to Axalt with me and Gabriella and basically avoiding everybody for those eight months. I can't tell you more than that, though."

And with that, Jeremy put an arm around Ryker's shoulder and leaned close and lowered his tone to make sure that they weren't overheard. "Listen, man, I know what you might be thinking but she doesn't need you to go chasing her down and telling her not to go. And if you do that, I can't tell how she's going to react. She might lose the one thing that she values the most, her career, and well... That might destroy her. And to be honest, it might destroy Gabriella too, because she's been hunting since she was a teenager for a talent like Maria and now she might lose her after finally finding her. Nobody that knows the news is taking it well, and honestly, I think you would be better off not knowing what's happening. After all, it's probably going to hurt you the most."

Vilitan Grand Prix
Post-Practice

Ryker takes this new information in. Eight months…

The conclusion is obvious, even if it is both difficult to accept and doesn’t fit into any narrative that he knows of.

He closes his eyes, then nods slowly. “I… I think that I understand. You’re right that with the situation as it is, trying to get her to stay makes no sense. I had no idea before. I’m sorry.”

The Nimban only now turns to look back at Jeremy. “You are wrong in one way, though, I think: I can handle hurting if it means helping Maria. Obviously it’s her place to tell me anything; if there is something that I can do, though, I want to be able to do it. So… Please tell her that I am still her ally and that I will still stand at her side if she wants me there. What she chooses to do with that is up to her.”

"I'll need to go and think about all of this at some point," he declares with a sigh, before he forces a smile onto his face. “Thanks, Jeremy. You probably just avoided a lot of heartache.”

And then he raises one hand in farewell and walks away.

Drivers had seventy-five minutes to record up to ten flying laps of the track. Only the fastest lap is recorded below
Conditions: Dry

Pos # Driver			Team		Fastest Lap
 1  1 Terho Talvela           	0:01:25.660
 2  4 Jean Mercer-Daly        	0:01:25.685
 3 94 Ryker Lane              	0:01:25.716
 4 20 Mick Schramm            	0:01:25.748
 5 99 Maria Cattaneo          	0:01:25.753
 6 80 J. Jensen-Fletcher      	0:01:25.810
 7 23 Moisés Delgado          	0:01:25.878
 8 77 iBen Toralmintii        	0:01:25.973
 9  7 Ethan Ellis             	0:01:26.010
10 55 Asao Nadakei            	0:01:26.023
11 53 Denholm Kingsley        	0:01:26.027
12 63 Kurt Censki             	0:01:26.089
13 14 Oliver Bliss            	0:01:26.098
14 52 Sayono Souzare          	0:01:26.105
15 37 Axel Novikov            	0:01:26.163
16 24 Victoria Gardner        	0:01:26.183
17 89 Will Madison            	0:01:26.203
18 18 Louis Krindle           	0:01:26.233
19 29 Esteban Guilhermez      	0:01:26.308
20  6 Marika Pedanovic        	0:01:26.554
21 51 R.L. Cruisin            	0:01:26.571
22 42 Alex Dimitrianov        	0:01:26.655
23  5 Juliano Lemos           	0:01:26.797
24 16 Alexander Lund          	0:01:26.967
25 17 Eaoueaiou Aeouiouie     	0:01:27.232
26 74 Alexandra Mayari        	0:01:27.291

Tomorrow's race will be scorinated after 10pm UTC.

Jean Mercer-Daly
Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course, Rockii Coast, Vilita
Saturday Qualifying

Jean completed his flying laps. This time, the session was better. Not because he didn't do a backflip (he quite enjoyed it) but because it was dry. More speed. More chaos. More fun and better racing.

Jean had a look up at the scoring. This time, Talvela hadn't fallen off the cliff. But look who was right next to him. Yeah, that's right. #04. One and a half tenths separated them.

Talvela was overall the faster driver, given his better ability in cornering. But in the long run, Jean expected he could pull out on top given he had a better ability of keeping it out of the gravel traps.

It had been a long wait in Krytenia and Jean finally got his first race win. A second win? Slim. Championship? Impossible. But he'd make a good spanner in the works.

He remembered something he once said years ago. Just because you can't win them all doesn't mean you shouldn't try to win them all. So, he thought, let's at least give it a go.

There were only two races left. Jean wasn't going all out for a win. But there was still a show to put on. One that would be airing the next day.