WGP2 Season One - RP Thread (IC)

[Tenburg]

It felt good getting back into a rhythm for Jack. Just getting back into a car on a regular basis meant a lot to him.

"Looking good out there, lad."

Jack replied to his crew chief without turning around, continuing to gaze at the car. "Feeling good, Rick."

"Myra tells me she's gonna find a way to watch, although she's talking with a million clubs about the other boy."

Jack chuckled. You know you're a dangerous man on a dangerous team when an opponent can walk you every at bat and you still post twelve runs.

"He'll be worth the money wherever he goes."

"Have you thought about next year?"

"Not really. One race at a time."

"I hear you. But as time goes on it might be something to consider."

Jack nodded. But he wanted to concentrate on racing right now.

[Vangaziland]

*Knock, knock, knock*

It was 11:30 pm and Jang had been asleep in his hotel bed. At first he thought he imagined the sound. But then....

*Knock, knock, knock*

"Uh... Yes?"

*Knock, knock, knock* It was louder. Jang crawled out of bed and walked to the door, groggily.

A look through the peeper and he saw Jenna standing there sheepishly.

"Yeah?" Jang called out to her.

"Are you decent? I have to tell you something..."

He opened the door and she barreled inside. She gave him a double take. "Uh, are you wearing an actual pajama set and mask?"

Jang sighed, "What did you want?" it was late and he didn't feel like playing her games.

"So Jess just told me there's a good chance VMR could chase international drivers."

"Yeah, but we're running so well", said Jang.

"They want international marketing", Jenna replied. Plus the scores are close. If someone tops us, they'll definitely be looked at."

"That's messed up", said Jang.

"We have to race together. I know I tease you", she looked back over his PJs once more. "Like about the pajamas and stuff... And well... Everything else... But we have to come together."

"If VMR does that another spot will open up."

Jenna added, "She said she's going to try to sign.... One of us." Jenna tried not to look too sheepish. Franssen did plan on signing Jenna, but there was still race time left. If Jang finished stronger, no friendship would stop VMR from signing Jang. "But then she could try to do a driver trade."

"I think somebody would sign us", said Jang. "I mean... Even if we both fall to 3rd and 4th... That'd still make for a solid first race season." He paused, sitting back down on his bed. "Who would they trade for?"

"Jessica acts weird when I talk about Talvela, like she doesn't want me to know she wants to drive with him. I've seen her quotes going back to WGPC 14."

"It'd be hard to compete with Terho for a contract. He's proven in the big leagues."

"He was within a stone's toss from the cup, two seasons in a row", said Jenna.

"Maybe the VMR car is a ticket to a driver's championship. He's raced long enough to deserve it."

"Yeah, but if I went to another team, I'd make sure to beat him and VMR." Jenna looked towards the door after she spoke, realizing it was late. "Put me in a Tropicorp car... I'd like to see it."

"Maybe one of those teams will run the Dragon Chassis. I mean, if a team chose that car and signed you or I, they'd have half of the WGP2 formula in their pocket."

Jenna took a deep breath, "I don't know. I think VMR would be making a mistake."

"Not if their goal is to actually draw international fans." Jang looked over at the clock. "Look.. Jenna.. I need my sleep."

"Okay! Okay... Sorry, I disturbed your mask", said Jenna snarkily with a smile. She turned and left abruptly. Jang slipped under the covers, laid down and slid his mask down over his eyes.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Race 10: WGP2 Race of Aels
Race Day

With only two races left after this, we've gotten to the point where it's All or Nothing.

Conditions: DRY
Laps: 41
Tyres:

• Super Soft (+0.0s, 6 laps)
• Soft (+0.7s, 10 laps)
• Hard (+1.5s, 20 laps)

P    # Driver              Team				Race Time	Interval	Pts
1   30 Saya Kaseo          Nadakei Sport AYDP   	1:14:31.542	+0:00.000	25
2   11 Luna Estrella       Novikov Racing   		1:15:18.722	+0:47.180	18
3   18 Gorria Bildostegi   Yogutz Lantzia   		1:15:41.046	+0:22.324	14
4   31 Cesaro Whittaker    Tropicorp Engineering   	1:15:41.459	+0:00.413	10
5   66 Jack Kelly          Katara Racing   		1:15:48.996	+0:07.537	8
6   61 Renho Virzi         Obey Sport GP   		1:16:13.874	+0:24.878	6
7   27 Lukar Urdaneta      Nexus Racing   		1:16:16.217	+0:02.343	4
8   17 Lourdina Westgrens  Team Ignis   		LAP-1		+0:12.839	3
9    9 Jannik Markner      Academy Racing   		LAP-1		+0:25.384	2
10  89 Marcus Schwarz      Junixwagen   		LAP-1		+0:03.712	1
11   3 Armo Lehto          Academy Racing   		LAP-1		+0:05.619
12  13 Jang Xiaopeng       Vannish Motors Racing   	LAP-1		+0:09.039
13   7 Juracai Klianiota   Novikov Racing   		LAP-1		+0:51.302
14  29 Nikolai Niskanen    Yogutz Lantzia   		LAPS-2		+0:06.156
15   5 Timo Jänkirinää     Katara Racing   		LAPS-2		+0:06.384
16  15 Rebecca Darlington  Nexus Racing   		LAPS-2		+0:12.795
17  63 Dalia Dahl          MSA-SinVal   		LAPS-2		+0:16.543
18  26 Shinno Soukuba      MSA-SinVal   		LAPS-3		+1:17.656
19* 19 Dom Falepeau        Junixwagen   		Ret. Lap 40
20* 23 Cocoabo #23         Tropicorp Engineering   	Ret. Lap 39
DNF 94 Alyn Terfel         Team Ignis   		Ret. Lap 34
DNF  4 Manny "Lil E" Epula Obey Sport GP   		Ret. Lap 32
DNF 33 Jenna Vandersen     Vannish Motors Racing   	Ret. Lap 31

*Completed 90% race distance

Drivers Championship Standings
Pos	#	Name			Team			Pts	Wins
1	13	Jang Xiaopeng		Vannish Motors Racing	76	2
2	61	Renho Virzi		Obey Sport GP		70	1
3	66	Jack Kelly		Katara Racing		68	2
4	33	Jenna Vandersen		Vannish Motors Racing	66	1
5	11	Luna Estrella		Novikov Racing		60	0
6	9	Jannik Markner		Academy Racing		57	1
7	5	Timo Jänkirinää		Katara Racing		53	0
8	17	Lourdina Westgrens	Team Ignis		51	0
9	26	Shinno Soukuba		MSA-SinVal		50	0
10	31	Cesaro Whittaker	Tropicorp Engineering	46	0
11	23	Cocoabo #23		Tropicorp Engineering	42	0
12	89	Marcus Schwarz		Junixwagen		38	0
13	18	Gorria Bildostegi	Yogutz Lantzia		34	0
14	3	Armo Lehto		Academy Racing		33	0
14	30	Saya Kaseo		Nadakei Sport AYDP	33	1
16	63	Dalia Dahl		MSA-SinVal		29	1
17	15	Rebecca Darlington	Nexus Racing		27	1
18	27	Lukar Urdaneta		Nexus Racing		18	0
19	29	Nikolai Niskanen	Yogutz Lantzia		17	0
20	74	Lera Kozel		Obey Sport GP		11	0
21	7	Juracai Klianiota	Novikov Racing		10	0
21	94	Alyn Terfel		Team Ignis		10	0
23	19	Dom Falepeau		Junixwagen		9	0
24	77	Martijn von Leeuwen	Katara Racing		2	0
25	4	Manny "Lil E" Epula	Obey Sport GP		0	0

Drivers below the line are unable to win the Championship at this point.

Constructors Championship Standings
Pos	Team			Pts
1	Vannish Motors Racing	142
2	Katara Racing		123
3	Academy Racing		90
4	Tropicorp Engineering	88
5	Obey Sport GP		81
6	MSA-SinVal		79
7	Novikov Racing		70
8	Team Ignis		61
9	Yogutz Lantzia		51
10	Junixwagen		47
11	Nexus Racing		45
12	Nadakei Sport AYDP	33

Teams below the line are unable to win the Championship at this point.

[Aboveland]

When Luna rolled up to the winning car of Saya Kaseo at the pit lane, ready to jump out in a victorious display of joy, the entire Novikov Racing team rushed to embrace her. She saw herself caught in the middle of a bobbing, rotating circle of people. The chant of "Luna, Luna!" echoed through the empty pits. Once the celebration settled, Edvin walked back, looking at car number 11, and smiled, his thumb and forefinger perched under his chin. Against statistical odds and after an abysmal season, Luna had once again shone through the rough waters and delivered a podium to her punctured team. Even Juracai Klianiota, who to outside eyes looked to have been kicked to the curb, joined in on the fun. There was an even bigger reason to celebrate when Terho discovered just how close the championship was: Luna's two podiums were just enough to keep her in the top 5 of the championship bid, ahead of race winners Dalia Dahl, Rebecca Darlington, Saya Kaseo and Jannik Markner, her nearest rival. The woman from The Iron Syndicate was a mere 16 points away from potentially netting a world championship title. Judging by Novikov Racing's statistical results, Luna becoming WDC seemed like a longshot. But with nothing else to fight for now, it was the team's sole objective.

[Tenburg]

"Not bad, boy, not bad. Bring 'er in."

Jack brought the car to the paddock after a good solid top 5, which also saw him claw closer to the top of the title standings. Getting out and taking off his helmet and mask, he asked, "We gettin' straight on a plane?"

"Aye, the lady's lined up a bit of a press tour seemingly."

Jack chuckled. "Maybe they'll know that there's two Jacks now."

[West-East Timor]

"Not our best day today...", Timo said when he returned to the pit after the race. After a disappointing qualifying, he had had quite a good start in the race, but then a technical failure ruined the rest of his race, leaving him lapped twice in P15.

"I think we've had some bad luck the last races in general."

"True. But at least Jack is doing well now he's back."

"Yeah. At least..."

"So... do you know what exactly this technical problem was today?"

"Not completely, but it should be easy to solve. It seems to be nothing too bad."

"So... We have two races left. And I'm twenty three points away from the championship leader..."

"Nothing a win with Xiaopeng scoring no points couldn't solve."

"Yeah..."

"Again, Jack is in a better position. We have chances to win the constructors championship, what Mara will be pleased about..."

"I guess we just need some luck."

"Luck would be quite usefull, yes."

[Eastfield Lodge]

Race 11: WGP2 Race of Liventia
Friday Practice

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: DRY
Tyres:

• Soft (+0.0s, 8 laps)
• Medium (+0.9s, 15 laps)
• Hard (+1.6s, 22 laps)

P   # Driver		  Team				Best Time	Gap to Best
1  33 Jenna Vandersen     Vannish Motors Racing     	0:01:43.762	0:00:00.000
2  13 Jang Xiaopeng       Vannish Motors Racing     	0:01:43.766	0:00:00.004
3  66 Jack Kelly          Katara Racing     		0:01:43.839	0:00:00.077
4  15 Rebecca Darlington  Nexus Racing     		0:01:43.849	0:00:00.087
5   7 Juracai Klianiota   Novikov Racing     		0:01:43.899	0:00:00.137
6   3 Armo Lehto          Academy Racing     		0:01:43.954	0:00:00.192
7   4 Manny "Lil E" Epula Obey Sport GP     		0:01:43.957	0:00:00.195
8  23 Cocoabo #23         Tropicorp Engineering     	0:01:43.962	0:00:00.200
9   9 Jannik Markner      Academy Racing     		0:01:44.001	0:00:00.239
10 17 Lourdina Westgrens  Team Ignis     		0:01:44.043	0:00:00.281
11  5 Timo Jänkirinää     Katara Racing     		0:01:44.052	0:00:00.290
12 18 Gorria Bildostegi   Yogutz Lantzia     		0:01:44.065	0:00:00.303
13 29 Nikolai Niskanen    Yogutz Lantzia     		0:01:44.068	0:00:00.306
14 26 Shinno Soukuba      MSA-SinVal     		0:01:44.076	0:00:00.314
15 19 Dom Falepeau        Junixwagen     		0:01:44.095	0:00:00.333
16 61 Renho Virzi         Obey Sport GP     		0:01:44.109	0:00:00.347
17 27 Lukar Urdaneta      Nexus Racing     		0:01:44.119	0:00:00.358
18 89 Marcus Schwarz      Junixwagen     		0:01:44.153	0:00:00.391
19 63 Dalia Dahl          MSA-SinVal     		0:01:44.163	0:00:00.401
20 11 Luna Estrella       Novikov Racing     		0:01:44.186	0:00:00.424
21 94 Alyn Terfel         Team Ignis     		0:01:44.323	0:00:00.561
22 31 Cesaro Whittaker    Tropicorp Engineering     	0:01:44.338	0:00:00.576
23 30 Saya Kaseo          Nadakei Sport AYDP     	0:01:45.734	0:00:01.972

[Eastfield Lodge]

Race 11: WGP2 Race of Liventia
Saturday Qualifying

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

• Soft (+0.0s, 3 laps)
• Medium (+0.6s, 7 laps)
• Hard (+1.2s, 11 laps)

P   # Driver		  Team				Best Time
1  23 Cocoabo #23         Tropicorp Engineering		0:01:43.996
2  33 Jenna Vandersen     Vannish Motors Racing		0:01:44.022
3  66 Jack Kelly          Katara Racing			0:01:44.056
4  15 Rebecca Darlington  Nexus Racing			0:01:44.087
5   9 Jannik Markner      Academy Racing		0:01:44.111
6  31 Cesaro Whittaker    Tropicorp Engineering		0:01:44.118
7  11 Luna Estrella       Novikov Racing		0:01:44.134
8   7 Juracai Klianiota   Novikov Racing		0:01:44.182
9   4 Manny "Lil E" Epula Obey Sport GP			0:01:44.192
10 63 Dalia Dahl          MSA-SinVal			0:01:44.244
11 27 Lukar Urdaneta      Nexus Racing			0:01:44.256
12 30 Saya Kaseo          Nadakei Sport AYDP		0:01:44.256
13  3 Armo Lehto          Academy Racing		0:01:44.282
14 26 Shinno Soukuba      MSA-SinVal			0:01:44.290
15 94 Alyn Terfel         Team Ignis			0:01:44.378
16 17 Lourdina Westgrens  Team Ignis			0:01:44.416
17 19 Dom Falepeau        Junixwagen			0:01:44.446
18 13 Jang Xiaopeng       Vannish Motors Racing		0:01:44.446
19  5 Timo Jänkirinää     Katara Racing			0:01:44.497
20 29 Nikolai Niskanen    Yogutz Lantzia		0:01:44.538
21 89 Marcus Schwarz      Junixwagen			0:01:44.683
22 18 Gorria Bildostegi   Yogutz Lantzia		0:01:44.790
23 61 Renho Virzi         Obey Sport GP			0:01:45.120

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Nexus Racing HQ, ???
Pre-Qualifying

As is now happening consistently, Rebecca Darlington has placed well in Practice. At the past two Grand Prix weekends, this pace hadn’t been replicated in Qualifying. None of that is Rebecca’s fault.

Nor, to an extent, is it the fault of anyone in Nexus Racing.

Alex scrolls down his lines of text, checking that everything is in place. For two weeks now, this unknown hacker that is now being referred to as ‘the G-man’ by the programming team has been allowed essentially free rein inside Nexus Racing’s systems in spite of his tightening up of their security protocols; in the first of those they even managed to rewrite some of the team’s protocols, leaving Darlington on a set of suboptimal tyres. I ought to have had those in place from the very beginning, he mentally berates himself. We are the most technologically reliant team on the grid; our propulsion requires coding, for goodness’ sake! Of course somebody would try to sabotage us!

He sighs sharply. No matter.

Then he grins. After all, there is a solution in place.

Since this mysterious hacker had been both determined and skilled enough to circumvent Alex’s system protections, Tiffany had come up with an alternative idea: let them think that they had won. As such, he had spent most of the past week constructing a virtual copy of the entirety of Nexus Racing’s digital presence - a sandbox for the hacker to play in, isolated completely from anything of value to the team.

Oh, except for the fact that it was also connected to software that would record everything about the nature of any connection made to it.

The checking is complete; nothing seems wrong. Alex’s grin becomes cruel and self-satisfied. The trap, I think, is set.

Now to wait.

Post-Qualifying

A cryptic message appears in the inboxes of Jessica Franssen, Jack Kelly, Marc Loewe, Stan McPahan and Axel Novikov.

From: nrcomms@nexusracingwgpc.nim

Greetings! I write to inform you Timothy Guard will be holding a meeting to discuss a matter of significance at the Royal Olympia Hotel in Mount Salt City on Friday and would welcome your attendance. The meeting will begin at 10:00 AM Eastfielder Time. Confirmation that you will be present at the meeting would be appreciated but is not necessary.

Karl Rain, Nexus Racing Head of Communications and Public Relations

[Vilita and Turori]

WGP2 Race of Liventia, Winter Olympic Park Street Circuit, Liventia :: Juracai Klianiota had been pretty fast from the moment the Novikov Racing machine rolled out of the garage and on to the track. Not the fastest, but pretty fast. During the Friday practice session Klianiota was just a tenth of a second behind the leading Vannish Motors duo of Jenna Vandersen and Jang Xiaopeng. Klianiota was happy. Not content, of course, with being fifth fastest - always wanting more, but happy at least that they were in the ball park. A few tweaks here or there and maybe, just maybe, Klianiota could put the Novikov Racing machine on the podium for the first time this season.

So when qualifying came around, Klianiota was expecting big things - maybe even a run at the pole. Instead, however, the two Novikov Racing cars were nearly two tenths of a second off the pace, settling in with Luna Estrella in 7th place and Klianiota posting the 8th best time. To make things worse for Klianiota's psyche, just ahead of the Novikov machines on the grid would be the Tropicorp Engineering entry of Cesaro Whittaker. Even worse still, the fastest lap of the day would be posted by the other Tropicorp Engineering entry, Cocoabo #23.

While Juracai Klianiota had long since already been eliminated from contention for the WGP2 title, the same could not be said for Whittaker and Cocoabo #23. While neither was in any particular position to challenge for the championship at the moment, a 1-2 finish at the Winter Olympic Park Street Circuit could flip the script entirely for the Tropicorp Engineering squad, particularly with the season closing out in a home event of sorts with Whittaker returning home to Eastfield Lodge for the WGP2 finale. A strong showing in Liventia could set up the Tropicorp Engineering drivers for an opportunity to capitalize on others misfortune in the final race weekend. It was clear that the Tropicorp Engineering drivers weren't going to give up until there was nothing left to fight for.

Of course, while the points were gone, Klianiota still had something to fight for too: Pride. Reputation. Honor. Starting the season as one of the championship favorites, Klianiota's reputation as a racer had taken a huge hit during the WGP2 campaign and he knew his racing career, his endorsement potential, these things would likely be all but over without at least a podium finish in the final two events of the season.

So slipping from 5th in practice to 8th in qualifying was not the direction that Klianiota wanted to go. So the Vilita & Turori driver hunkered down. Loaded up the official racing simulation game 'WGPC Experience' with the 'WGP2 expansion pack' loaded up and customized the starting lineup to match that as seen for Sunday's WGP2 Race of Liventia.

There was Whittaker in front. Klianiota dove beneath him on the start and nearly caused an incident. Thought about restarting but kept pressing on. In the simulator, Klianiota could be even more aggressive with new entry approaches into the turns, knowing that the restart button was there if needed. But it wasn't needed. Klianiota found a line that took an extra tenth of a second off the lap time and started weaving through the field. With seven laps left in the Simulated race, Klianiota was in third place and pressing for more, slipping past Rebecca Darlington in the Nexus Racing mobile and moving into second. Just one more spot to go.

Fast Cocoabo. Klianiota was gaining on the Tropicorp Engineering machine but not enough. The differential wasn't enough. 5 laps to go. 4 laps to go. 3 laps to go. 2 laps to go. Klianiota could see it but could not taste it. Cocoabo #23 was too fast. Klianiota cut the corners even sharper but ultimately lost more time doing that then running a proper line and nearly fell back into the clutches of the Darlington machine. The simulation was over.

Klianiota had learned a lot from the session, and had performed admirably - yet somehow was emotionally worse off. Losing to the Tropicorp Engineering machine - even if it was just a simulation, was not what Klianiota wanted to do. Klianiota exited the simulator and looked across the paddock towards the Tropicorp Engineering garage area. There was Cocoabo #23, in the simulator, preparing for the race. The Fast Cocoabo was just as prepared as Klianiota - if not more. Starting from pole, Cocoabo #23 was looking to claim the first victory for Tropicorp Engineering and most certainly wasn't going to let a threat from Klianiota distract them on race day.

[Vangaziland]

Jessica sat at her computer. She had music going, Vannish rock from the early 2000s. It was mellow but fast paced and she liked to work to it. She was going over paperwork, signing documents and checking files in preparation for the week's race and the end of the WGP2 season. All of the supplies for the next race had been ordered.

Wear and tear was affecting the cars late in the season. Both the 13 and 33 cars had issues in the past two weeks. Vandersen's last DNF came when she clipped a hairpin curve. But her car had an issue with the suspension that caused an extra pit stop before that. Jang's infamous computer failure on lap one was still fresh in the minds of VMR.

She decided to check her messages, turning to her computer. She saw a message from Nexus waiting.

"Hmm", she said to herself as she started to read.

She started typing.

From: JFran@vmr.vng
To: nrcomms@nexusracingwgpc.nim

Re:

Thanks for the invite. I am looking forward to the meeting and hope it will be quite productive. As acting manager at VMR, I can relay that Vannish Motors and VMR are companies that want to work help build each league we are a part of. I'm sure Nexus Racing has an interesting idea that will benefit all parties who visit.

I will pass information up along the chain to Vannish Motors corporate HQ. We have ideas we may wish to share as well.

Good luck on race day,
Jessica Franssen

"That should work", she said to herself.

"What was that?" Jang called out from the hallway, until he stepped through the door frame.

"Oh I was just talking to myself", she told him. "Some meeting with Nexus."

Jang nodded. "Interesting... What do they want?"

"I don't have a clue", Jess said. "But it'll probably be good."

"It would be nice to work with Nexus... Get on their good side.."

"If they aim to repeat what they accomplished in the WGPC last season, it'd be necessary", Franssen replied.

"Hopefully I'll be racing with you there", Jang said sheepishly. "I think my first pro series went great... Well, okay, it was alright. I didn't finish quite a few races."

"It happens. You just have to be more careful around the track."

"Yeah", said Jang. "I have to push the edge though. To get to the front of the pack."

"You balance it", Jess said. "If we hire you for the WGPC, I'll help you refine your style."

"You already have... I think. I just have to keep working on it."

"I'm glad you've enjoyed your season. Two more races.. Finish strong."

Jang nodded with a half smile. "Will do." He turned and left the office, set to listen to music on his phone for the next half hour.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Race 11: WGP2 Race of Liventia
Race Day

With just 50 points to fight for, only one driver can fulfil their destiny in this Duel of the Fates.

Conditions: DRY
Laps: 46
Tyres:

• Soft (+0.0s, 8 laps)
• Medium (+0.8s, 14 laps)
• Hard (+1.5s, 22 laps)

P    # Driver              Team				Race Time	Interval	Pts
1   23 Cocoabo #23         Tropicorp Engineering   	1:31:10.678	+0:00.000	25
2    9 Jannik Markner      Academy Racing   		1:32:22.990	+1:12.313	18
3    3 Armo Lehto          Academy Racing   		1:32:27.535	+0:04.545	14
4   30 Saya Kaseo          Nadakei Sport AYDP   	1:32:36.532	+0:08.997	10
5   66 Jack Kelly          Katara Racing   		LAP-1		+0:41.285	8
6   26 Shinno Soukuba      MSA-SinVal   		LAP-1		+0:42.795	6
7   29 Nikolai Niskanen    Yogutz Lantzia   		LAP-1		+0:00.299	4
8   15 Rebecca Darlington  Nexus Racing   		LAP-1		+0:26.773	3
9   89 Marcus Schwarz      Junixwagen   		LAP-1		+0:01.634	2
10  33 Jenna Vandersen     Vannish Motors Racing   	LAPS-2		+0:49.763	1
11   4 Manny "Lil E" Epula Obey Sport GP   		LAPS-2		+0:07.912
12   5 Timo Jänkirinää     Katara Racing   		LAPS-2		+0:04.623
13  27 Lukar Urdaneta      Nexus Racing   		LAPS-2		+0:01.337
14  61 Renho Virzi         Obey Sport GP   		LAPS-2		+0:09.655
15  18 Gorria Bildostegi   Yogutz Lantzia   		LAPS-2		+0:11.614
16  11 Luna Estrella       Novikov Racing   		LAPS-3		+1:15.606
17  13 Jang Xiaopeng       Vannish Motors Racing   	LAPS-4		+2:04.999
18  17 Lourdina Westgrens  Team Ignis   		LAPS-5		+2:08.768
19  94 Alyn Terfel         Team Ignis   		LAPS-5		+0:20.020
DNF 63 Dalia Dahl          MSA-SinVal   		Ret. Lap 18
DNF 31 Cesaro Whittaker    Tropicorp Engineering   	 Ret. Lap 2
DNF  7 Juracai Klianiota   Novikov Racing   		 Ret. Lap 1
DNF 19 Dom Falepeau        Junixwagen   		 Ret. Lap 1

Drivers' Championship Standings
Pos	#	Name			Team			Pts	Wins
1	13	Jang Xiaopeng		Vannish Motors Racing	76	2 (1x2nd)
2	66	Jack Kelly		Katara Racing		76	2 (0x2nd)
3	9	Jannik Markner		Academy Racing		75	1
4	61	Renho Virzi		Obey Sport GP		70	1
5	23	Cocoabo #23		Tropicorp Engineering	67	1 (1x2nd)
6	33	Jenna Vandersen		Vannish Motors Racing	67	1 (0x2nd)
7	11	Luna Estrella		Novikov Racing		60	0
8	26	Shinno Soukuba		MSA-SinVal		56	0
9	5	Timo Jänkirinää		Katara Racing		53	0
10	17	Lourdina Westgrens	Team Ignis		51	0 (unable due to 0 wins)
11	3	Armo Lehto		Academy Racing		47	0
12	31	Cesaro Whittaker	Tropicorp Engineering	46	0
13	30	Saya Kaseo		Nadakei Sport AYDP	43	1
14	89	Marcus Schwarz		Junixwagen		40	0
15	18	Gorria Bildostegi	Yogutz Lantzia		34	0
16	15	Rebecca Darlington	Nexus Racing		30	1
17	63	Dalia Dahl		MSA-SinVal		29	1
18	29	Nikolai Niskanen	Yogutz Lantzia		21	0
19	27	Lukar Urdaneta		Nexus Racing		18	0
20	74	Lera Kozel		Obey Sport GP		11	0
21	7	Juracai Klianiota	Novikov Racing		10	0 (1x5th)
22	94	Alyn Terfel		Team Ignis		10	0 (0x5th)
23	19	Dom Falepeau		Junixwagen		9	0
24	77	Martijn von Leeuwen	Katara Racing		2	0
25	4	Manny "Lil E" Epula	Obey Sport GP		0	0

Drivers below the line are unable to win the Drivers' Championship.

Constructors' Championship Standings
Pos	Team			Pts
1	Vannish Motors Racing	143
2	Katara Racing		131
3	Academy Racing		122
4	Tropicorp Engineering	113
5	MSA-SinVal		85
6	Obey Sport GP		81
7	Novikov Racing		70
8	Team Ignis		61
9	Yogutz Lantzia		55
10	Junixwagen		49
11	Nexus Racing		48
12	Nadakei Sport AYDP	43

Teams below the line are unable to win the Constructors' Championship.

[West-East Timor]

"Pretty boring race."

Timo had had a good start and gained a few positions. But for the rest of the race he had nothing really to do. He was just driving around in the mid of the field. Nobody to really defend against, nobody to really attack. Pretty boring.

"So... Well... Dunno, how did Jack do?"

"He finished fifth."

"Not bad I guess."

"Come here. Have a look at the championship standings."

"Oh. Oh. Ooooooooh. He's first! Just as much points as Xiaopeng."

"Correct. So, quite good."

"Meanwhile I can probably forget still winning the championship, eh?"

"Well, mathematically you can still win."

"Yeah, but... It's unlikely..."

"You just have to win in Eastfield-Lodge while Xiaopeng and Jack get maximally one point, Jannick gets maximally two points, Renho Virzi gets maximally eight points, the Cocoabo and Vandersen get maximally ten points, Estrella gets maximally fifteen points and Soukuba... He doesn't matter if you win."

"As I said. Unlikely."

"You should still give your best there. We have not the worst chances to win the constructors championship."

"Yeah. That'd be something I guess."

"Mara would be happy about it."

"Shure. It's her team."

"Well, there she is."

Mara came into the garage, and asked for everyone's attention.

"Allright. I just wanted to tell you all that Nick Newman plans to visit us at the next race in Eastfield-Lodge. You probably know who he is. The guy who is advertising one of his companies on our rear wings. And also pretty certain the richest man in all West-East Timor. He's also very popular. Not to mention he is head of state of West-East Timor. Well, one of them, as you know we have two. That has probably always seemed a bit weird to Jack and our Tennish crew members. Or maybe not. What do I know? I guess our country is a bit weird. Anyway. As I've said he'll visit us. And, this might be even more interesting, especiall for Timo and Jack, he had plans to participate with a West-East Timorian based team in WGPC next year. While nothing about that is certain, you migt have eard about rumours that a prototype of a car has already been built, and that Mick Schramm even had already tested it. There are also rumours that this might have caused minor troubles for Mick at Bitten Heroes, but that's got nothing to do with. And if he is actually going to found a team, they'd of course need some drivers. I don't want to put you two under pressure, but, wellm yeah. Thanks for your attention."

---

Jannick parked his car in parc fermé, and went to his crew, who gratulated him. A podium finish always feels good. Even better, his teammate became third. What made this even better, was that he had beaten his teammate. Again. Academy Racing might have hired him as a number two driver, but that was clearly not what he was.

He went up to the podium. He passed Armo, who already stood there, and went to the step for the second driver. Then the winner came onto the podium. Or, to be exact: the Cocoabo thingy. It now stood on the step to the left of him. Jannik had never been so close to it, so he watched it during the anthem. He still had no idea how this thing could possibly drive. It did absolutely not look like something that has the abillity to drive an open-wheeler at all. And yet, here it was. It had even won. Does it wear a helmet? Jannik had never paid attention to that. He would definitely have to watch a race replay after the ceremony and check that out. When the anthem stopped he had another thought. Did this thing drink champaigne? Or... Well, it wasn't champaigne, but... Whatever this alcohol-free beverage was. He wanted to watch it, but got distracted by his teammate spraying this very alcohol-free beverage at him.

Now the interviewer got on the podium. Yet another interesting question came to Jannik's mind: could this Cocoabo thing speak? And then he also asked himself if interviewers didn't usually start with the winner, as this particular interviewer started with Armo. The interview then went on to interview Jannik.

"Jannik Markner. Congratulations on finishing second."

Jannik didn't know if this could be taken sarcastically, but simply said "Thanks."

"So, how does it feel to stand on the podium again?"

"Well, it feels great, I guess. I mean, finishing on the podium is always nice, but winning would, of course, be even better though."

"Did you realize that you now are third in the drivers chanpionship, and only one point behind our two leaders?"

"What? I really do?" Jannik had in fact not realized that so far. "Well that's... Woah. That's really fantastic. I promise you I'll give all I can to win this title. I really can win this thing..." He really could win this thing.

[Vangaziland]

It was race week... THE race week. This was Vannish Motors' first taste at a 'Last Race'. The WGPC has had a somewhat formal tradition of ending every season at a prestigious event. In the WGPC, the last event is held in Audioslava. The last race of the WGP2 will be the Grand Prix of the Imperial Commonwealth. Vannish Motors was expecting Eastfield Lodge to go all out.

It was Tuesday afternoon and the Vannish Motors drivers were back in Vangaziland, joined by JF. The pit crew, cars and a few other random team members were already near Mount Salt Raceway. The group of three sat at a little roundtable in the middle of a rural, central Vangaziland office. Wispy, taiga-style pine trees lined the freshly watered and cut grass field outside of the meeting room.

They'd been talking for about seven minutes up to this point, where Franssen is briefing the others. "Mount Salt." She flipped the slide on a PowerPoint, showing a map of the track.

"It's a beautiful course, I must say", Jess said. "You can see some interesting features. Note that curve between turns 6 and 7. That's a climb into the left. That's going to limit visibility. Trust your lines. Trust the car to corner. That is the priority of this week's practice. Learn the course." She took a drink from a water bottle, quickly.

The others were silent, letting her finish.

"It's not about who comes in first at practice. I see you two keep ending up there. But make sure you learn the lines. Especially for turn 7."

"How's the course rated?" Jang asked the first question before drinking from a bottle of cold green tea.

"It's balanced. Both aggressive and technical drivers can do well. You two are both different strike options for the big VM", Jess told her drivers. "We picked two very different, new racers. Passing is also rated just a smudge easier than average, so if you qualify in the top three, you'll have to guard hard."

"Let's hope we fit the bill", Jenna added.

"Every team will throw their all in", Jang added. "I can't believe this is the last race. What are we doing after this?"

"Free time, why?"

"It'd be cool to hang out, that's all." He paused. "Say, isn't it weird that we hardly ever talked to the other drivers?"

"Eh, that's the way it is", Franssen replied. "We're new... At least as a team in the WGP world... Plus we had a solid run. They'd rather beat us than greet us."

"The standings are looking pretty close. I don't know", Vandersen said. "We might have to settle for second in both categories."

"It's not that simple", Jessica said. "Even if we come in third, we've pretty much led the standings all season. Every team can't win. But no matter where we finish, it will be known that VMR was a force in the inaugural WGP2 run. Every week that we had ranked #1 boosted us in the spotlight. People all over the multiverse saw that. You literally can't even buy that sort of exposure."

"Hecks yeah", said Jang.

"It was spring when we started this. Now it's like... Autumn", Jenna added.

"So if you total seasons, VMR already won Spring and Summer... So the worst that can happen is we end the year 2-1... That sounds like a win to me!" Jang was just being silly now. He knew how important winning silverware was. VMR was not a place for long faces and serious meetings most of the time. These three had grown close over the seasons.

"The company wants the silverware. But it's been great up to this point."

"Whatever it takes, we have to close this out", Jenna said. "Just for the sport of it. We'll give it our all. Right Jang? You in?"

"This course is tricky. I hope I don't kick out and DNF. The team needs the points", he replied.

"We definitely want as many points as we can get", Franssen told her drivers. "Race together, pass up info... Don't worry about who is ahead of who. Both of you run your fastest. Of course, if the 2nd or 3rd ranked drivers are battling you two, you'd want Jang to win. He has the most points and you wouldn't want him to lose the cup by a few points if you could have blocked for him, Jen." Jess turned to Vandersen. "But early in the race, don't take that for granted. If you're running faster than the 13 car, pass Jang and don't look back. If your lines are faster Jen, just take the lead."

Vandersen nodded. "You're right. I don't plan to just let Jang or anyone else pass me, unless it just fits with the pattern towards the end."

Jang sighed before adding, "These teams are going to go all out. I'm ready for it. What about you two?"

"Sure am", Jenna said

"I'm ready to manage", Jess said. The three laughed, just a little, before a bit of silence fell.

"So... That's the meeting. Any questions?"

"Who are you picking for the WGPC?" Jang looked over to Jess, who took another drink of water during the question.

"I'm not sure who I'm recommending. VMR doesn't know who they want either. There's a good chance they'll still make a shot at internationals, although the internationals don't seem enthusiastic about driving for VMR. A couple seem like they'd rather quit."

"Well, two Vannish drivers seemed to work for VMR here", said Jang. "First place is great, but we would have been fine just staying in the running as a new team... New drivers too? We did okay. Jess!" Jang called to Franssen in a begging tone. "Pick me for the WGPC, I need this."

"Don't start begging, Jang. Let the manager make her own recommendation."

Jessica giggled.

"Are we watching Nuhotep tonight?" Jenna spoke again.

The two nodded and said their own,"Yep" or "Yup".

There's supposed to be that aerial battle with those golden bird things."

Vandersen rolled her eyes. "You mean the Saqqara birds?"

"The who what-what?"

"You know, from the show about alien influence in ancient times?", replied Jenna.

"Oh that wooden bird thing?"

"Yes. They say it's from the year 200 BCE", Jenna continued. "We studied it and other artifacts at Overglade." She was talking about the major university at Emeros.

"It's cool that it's in the show", said Jenna. "What's on now though? Turn to the sports channel.

Jang obliged, grabbing the remote and flipping through the channels. The focus was on the last NSCF gridiron match. "Dangit, IMA lost to Cenesis Naval."

"No playoffs for them." Jenna noticed a score in the corner of the screen. "Auster won though, at least they're not last."

"Yeah... If the number 2 team loses the next two and Imperial wins the next two, they MIGHT get in.. Still, that season is about done." Jang spoke while keeping his eyes on the screen.

"When the offseason starts, we should go to a bunch of games. Whatever's in season."

"Sounds fun", Jess added excitedly.

[Vilita and Turori]

Eelandii Grand Prix Course Gift Shop, Eelandii, Turori :: Many Tropicorp Engineering employees arrived at borrowed space in the Research & Development labs in Eelandii, Turori with an extra bit of pep in their step after their team finally broke through at the WGP2 Race of Liventia - not only finishing on the podium but taking home the victory with Cocoabo #23 becoming the first Cocoabo to take home the checkered flag in a major motorsport event.

But as some team members stopped in the Eelandii Grand Prix course's year round ticket and gift shop to pick up a morning beverage, they got one additional surprise that they did not expect going into the day. Postcards.

The Eelandii Grand Prix course - designed by Turori's own iBen Toralmintii - had always had postcards on sale - typically showing something from the track and an image of its founding father, Toralmintii. On this day, however, a new postcard had arrived. It looked exactly like one of the old postcards with on notable difference. Where there had previously been an image of iBen Toralmintii's WGPC Eelandii racing machine there was now instead an image of Cocoabo #23's Tropicorp Engineering WGP2 entry.

It was a sign of acceptance by the locals in Turori - a sign that Fast Cocoabo was more than just a Cocoabo... more than just an experiment. Fast Cocoabo was a Turorian. This Cocoabo represented Turori.

The old Postcards with Toralmintii's WGPC ride were still available - in fact there were still entire stacks for sale in the original wrap. The Toralmintii postcards, however, at a clearance sticker on them and could be purchased at a discounted rate in comparison with the newly printed cards with Cocoabo #23 on them. It was a sign of changing times in Turori - at least momentarily. Perhaps the biggest irony was the fact that the WGP2 season did not even run at the Eelandii Grand Prix Course. Never the matter, however. Cocoabo #23's victory in Liventia was broadcast across the multiverse. The stoic image of Fast Cocoabo climbing out of the Tropicorp Engineering machine being draped in the checkered flag was fresh in the minds of auto racing enthusiasts worldwide. Cocoabo #23 was Turori today.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Nexus Racing HQ, ???
17th of October

Victoria stares at the screen, a smug-looking Alex, hands clasped together, beside her. A grin alights on her face. “It’s all here. Imagination, it’s all here.” She turns her head to face him. “We’ve got them!”

Tiffany touches a finger to Alex’s nose, wrapping an arm around his neck. “I said it would work, didn’t I?”

“And since when have we had cause to doubt you?” Alex rejoins. “You’re a very intelligent individual, Tiffany.” She blushes as he touches his forehead to her own before a gentle smile reasserts itself across her visage and she moves to kiss him on the cheek.

Victoria gives a snort. “Alright, kids, enough with the lovey-dovey stuff. Alex, what’s the gist of this?”

Alex nods as Tiffany extricates her arm. “You know that the hacker launched his attack through a number of proxy servers; my little tracking programme was successful in tracing the signal back to the server of a company called Gascorp. Said company, I found after doing some research, is a racing team based in a nation called Bojikstan that intends to enter the next WGPC season. I’d never heard of it up until now but you can appreciate what they were attempting to do.”

Victoria’s gaze hardens. “Stealing m- our work.”

If he heard that slip, Alex politely ignores it. “Exactly. However…” He clicks with his mouse a few times, bringing up a flowchart. “If you examine the files that the hacker attempted to access and what modifications they made, they were not attempting to sabotage us as they had been doing up to this point. Essentially nothing was altered. It seems that they had finished their experimentation and believed that they understood our car’s mechanisms enough to complete the project by mining all of our data.”

“And since they were actually looking at a false copy…” Tiffany murmurs.

“They have a completely fabricated and flawed data set.” Victoria’s hand goes to her forehead. “Imagination! We got so lucky!”

“The timing was perfect, yes.” Alex grins. “Perhaps now it will be their turn to experience sabotage.”

Tiffany brings her hand to her mouth. “I can imagine…” She giggles. “I can just imagine their car coming to the competition… If they copy what they found…” She bursts out laughing. “It- it’ll look all wrong! The measurements will be completely off!”

Victoria nods, smirking. “They will.” She shakes her head. “Well, I’ll need to tell Gertrude about all this anyway but hopefully she won’t be so bothered.”

She sniggers. “I know I’m not.”

The Royal Olympia Hotel, Mount Salt City
19th of October

Nimban sociologist Marcus Streng once described his people as ‘activist-intellectuals’. A combination of a society approaching post-scarcity, an education system crafted to foster free thought and specialisation and a culture that tends to reinforce both a sense of civic duty and a desire for actualisation of both the self and societal change gives Nimbans the freedom and compulsion to alter the landscape around them for the better, bringing their own unique opinions and ideas to bear upon the world in the areas that they understand best. Of course, with the diversity that this same culture fosters, those opinions and ideas are frequently in conflict; it is precisely this that allows them to be tested, refined, made better.

That’s the theory, anyway.

The Royal Olympia Hotel in Mount Salt City, with its oak-panelled walls, beautiful chandeliers and antique tables, is just the environment for a conference to discuss something that is both of weight and ever so slightly clandestine (for the moment, at least). It’s why Timothy Guard chose this location for this meeting, one that he hopes will result in the beginnings of an important pact, and the people whom he did, those who he believes will become its core. He sits at the head of one of those tables, flanked by some of the most influential people in the WGPC, hands firmly clasped together. He looks down, nods, then looks up again, his face hard and confident in appearance.

“Welcome, everybody,” he begins. “I’m glad that you’ve come, especially on such short notice and given that, well, we told you nothing about the purpose of this meeting.”

Timothy gives a slight chuckle before continuing. “This WGP2 season has been an enjoyable and, I would hope, productive one. There has been fantastic racing across the board. However, it was marred by the crash of Jack Kelly.” His jaw clenches slightly. “Fortunately, he has now recovered.”

“Following his accident, Nexus Racing made available Imagination technology that would have done much to protect drivers from injuries akin to those that Kelly suffered. For reasons that I still don’t understand, only two teams took that technology up. To my mind, that is exemplary of the opportunities that we are missing as a racing community by being as divided as we are. Unity meaning strength is a cliché, yes, but that’s because it’s true.”

Guard looks around the table. “Today, then, I am here to propose to you the formation of what would essentially be a union for World Grand Prix teams and drivers: an organisation to coordinate outreach, internal campaigns, safety initiatives, and a forum for inter-team discussion and debate. You have all been invited here because I believe that you would have useful ideas on the matter and carry enough influence in this community that your support will carry weight if we have it when we propose this publicly.”

He sits back. “That’s my piece said. Your thoughts?”

[Eastfield Lodge]

Your guide to the Grand Prix of the Imperial Commonwealth

Lap Record: 1:21.954 - Louis Krindle (Qualifying, WGPC14, MSA-SinVal Racing)
Qualifying Type: Two-tiered

Description: Located a few minutes from one of the biggest cities in Eastfield Lodge in both sporting and population terms, Mount Salt Raceway is a circuit that was purpose built to host the biggest races on the world stage, including the WGPC, and became the show-piece event for every domestic motorsport calendar. The track is a blend of quite a few high speed corners and long straights - the kilometre long pit straight is the longest in Eastfield Lodge, if not in the WGP2 calendar - but there also plenty of slow corners and elevation changes to test the cars and the drivers.

Starting just after the halfway point of the start-finish straight, the tight first corner is far enough away for the field to spread slightly, but needs precision to carry speed up the hill to the second corner, where the drivers will find a mirror image of the first corner. A short straight before we reach the Turn 3 hairpin, where the prevailing wind can scatter a fine layer of salt, originating from a nearby salt plain, over the tarmac, a feature which will really test the cornering abilities of car and driver.

From the hairpin, it's a straight run down through the chicane (Turns 4 and 5), before we come to the hardest section of the circuit; a long climb up the hill on a long left hander, before taking a sharp left at Turn 7. The combination of the hill and the wall close to the inside of the track results in drivers being more or less blind until the last moment before turning, making for some good action for crowd to watch. The wall on the exit of 7 is a recent addition, and yet another crowd favourite. Many a careless driver have met their end underestimating this corner, and mastering it is key to winning the race.

The track then levels out as the drivers take two right handers at Turns 8 and 9, before taking the long right hander at Turn 10 back down the hill and braking hard for turn 11. From then, the track becomes quite simple - an easy left-hander with little braking needed at Turn 12, and then it's down another hill, before reaching the Turn 13/14 chicane before the pit entry and the last corner, after which it's a sprint to the finish line. Beware of the pit exit if you're overtaking on the pit straight - cars coming out of the pits are injected straight into the inside line.

Usually, the weather in the region is pretty dry and sunny, often with a stiff breeze as noted above - except for when the WGPC circus rolls into town, when it always rains for some reason. Dry races tend to be the more exciting at this track, so fingers crossed the weather decides to behave normally this time. As mentioned earlier, the circuit is a mixture of long straights and all manner of fast and slow corners; the track was deliberately designed to put as much strain on the cars as possible without especially favouring power or downforce. Overtaking as a whole isn't too difficult, with a few opportunities for everyone - if you're really brave on the other hand, the whole track is your playground pretty much.

Note: Where there isn't a gravel pit or a wall indicated, you can assume it's a tarmac run-off for the corners and grass/turf for the straights.

About Eastfield Lodge

The Imperial Commonwealth of Eastfield Lodge is a vast conglomerate of nations and states that resides almost entirely in a separate dimension to the reality you all know and all - a bubble universe would be an apt description (the why is a long story). The one bit of the country that lies in the normal dimension is a tiny island in the northern Rushmore seas, which serves as a transport hub for travel across the region by conventional transport, and for travel to the Imperial Commonwealth via Void Ship.

The history of the country is long and complex, but the key overview is that it is a very socialist Muslim constitutional monarchy, with a noted reputation as being one of the nicest places to visit in the entirety of the known multiverse - the most recent WA census puts the Imperial Commonwealth in the top 100 nations in several measures such as Safety, Compliance/freedom from crime, Tourism, Weather, Compassion, Niceness and Environmental Beauty, amongst several others; most of which are also ranked as the best in the Rushmore region.

However, there are some key points you must be aware of when you come here:

• No Alcohol. At all. The podium champagne ceremony will be done with a non-alcoholic substitute.
• No smoking or recreational drugs at all. Visiting team members/fans will be given replacement/cessation therapy if struggling to cope.
• No public displays of affection. What you get up to in the privacy of your own hotel room is up to you, as long as it stays there.
• There isn't a legally enforced dress code, but at least dress respectfully, the locals will appreciate you.
• Cities are by and large car-free zones; make use of the extensive public transport system.
• Don't worry about a language barrier, there is an inbuilt telepathic translation circuit within the visas that you will be issued - it translates all speech and text into a language you understand instantaneously.
• No unhealthy junk food will be available, the country is too healthy for that. Also, the food will all be halal, but there is an extensive range of vegetarian/vegan options for those who insist.
• Ignore all the cameras and the police presence. They're for the safety of everyone.
• High-level technology pervades every aspect of society and life here, get used to it.

About Mount Salt City

One of the largest cities in the Imperial Commonwealth in both size and population, Mount Salt City is a sprawling megapolis with over 10 million people. It's also the first city you come to when you enter the nation through the Void, and as such is the central hub for tourist travel all across the nation, despite not being the capital (that belongs to Lodgertia). Mount Salt City has a reputation as the main sporting hub in the country (aside from football), as the city hosted a regional Olympics for the now defunct region known as The New Empire of Gallifrey. The facilities for visiting athletes and tourists were world class when they were built, and have been continuously updated since, just in case another big sporting event comes to town. The city hosts Olympia FC, one of the country's top footballing sides, and it also home to the Mount Salt Raceway, the centrepiece of domestic motorsport in the Imperial Commonwealth. But what if you wanted to do something other than just watch sport? Well, if you're into hiking, or general highland/mountain exploration, the mountains around Mount Salt City are a great place to start. The city itself is chock full of sights to see, from art and theatre to music and so on.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Race 12: Grand Prix of the Imperial Commonwealth
Friday Practice

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: DRY
Tyres:

• Super Soft (+0.0s, 6 laps)
• Soft (+0.5s, 9 laps)
• Medium (+1.8s, 19 laps)

P   # Driver              Team				Best Time	Gap to Best
1  13 Jang Xiaopeng       Vannish Motors Racing     	0:01:30.899	0:00:00.000
2  33 Jenna Vandersen     Vannish Motors Racing     	0:01:30.911	0:00:00.012
3  23 Cocoabo #23         Tropicorp Engineering     	0:01:30.913	0:00:00.014
4  66 Jack Kelly          Katara Racing     		0:01:30.927	0:00:00.028
5   5 Timo Jänkirinää     Katara Racing     		0:01:30.945	0:00:00.046
6  15 Rebecca Darlington  Nexus Racing     		0:01:30.950	0:00:00.051
7  31 Cesaro Whittaker    Tropicorp Engineering     	0:01:30.995	0:00:00.096
8   7 Juracai Klianiota   Novikov Racing     		0:01:31.023	0:00:00.124
9  63 Dalia Dahl          MSA-SinVal     		0:01:31.073	0:00:00.174
10  3 Armo Lehto          Academy Racing     		0:01:31.089	0:00:00.190
11  9 Jannik Markner      Academy Racing     		0:01:31.105	0:00:00.206
12 11 Luna Estrella       Novikov Racing     		0:01:31.117	0:00:00.217
13 29 Nikolai Niskanen    Yogutz Lantzia     		0:01:31.128	0:00:00.229
14  4 Manny "Lil E" Epula Obey Sport GP     		0:01:31.182	0:00:00.283
15 30 Saya Kaseo          Nadakei Sport AYDP     	0:01:31.183	0:00:00.284
16 26 Shinno Soukuba      MSA-SinVal     		0:01:31.207	0:00:00.308
17 89 Marcus Schwarz      Junixwagen     		0:01:31.271	0:00:00.371
18 17 Lourdina Westgrens  Team Ignis     		0:01:31.300	0:00:00.400
19 94 Alyn Terfel         Team Ignis     		0:01:31.309	0:00:00.410
20 18 Gorria Bildostegi   Yogutz Lantzia     		0:01:31.336	0:00:00.436
21 61 Renho Virzi         Obey Sport GP     		0:01:31.365	0:00:00.466
22 19 Dom Falepeau        Junixwagen     		0:01:31.551	0:00:00.652
23 27 Lukar Urdaneta      Nexus Racing     		0:01:31.721	0:00:00.822

[Vilita and Turori]

Grand Prix of the Imperial Commonwealth, Mount Salt Raceway, Eastfield Lodge:: The Tropicorp Engineering team arrived in Mount Salt and began unloading for the final event of the WGP2 Season knowing that they needed a perfect race weekend to complete a come-from-behind Constructors triumph. It was a thought that would have seemed farcical before the start of the Tour of Rushmore when the Tropicorp Engineering team had half as many points as the leaders from Vannish Motorsports. But now, with Cocoabo #23 having won the previous Grand Prix event; the WGP2 Race of Liventia, and the series culminating at the Grand Prix of the Imperial Commonwealth, the home track of Tropicorp Engineering's other driver Cesaro Whittaker, it seemed anything was possible.

Couple that with the recent struggles of the Vannish team - recording just one points paying finish in the Rushmori swing, the door was wide open should the Tropicorp Engineering team be able to hold it together and capitalize on it. There was no expectation that lap record set by the famous Eastfielder Louis Krindle would be challenged over the WGP2 race weekend but for the Tropicorp Engineering drivers the target wasn't to be the best ever... just to be the best on the weekend. Just beating the Vannish Motors Racing cars would not strictly be enough to claim the constructors title, however, as the point gap is still large enough that a 1-2 finish would not assure the team title for Tropicorp. With some help, however, they could achieve the ultimate prize and it would all start with their performance on the track.

Unfortunately, once the drivers finally did take to the track it was the Vannish Motors Racing drivers who were fastest with Jang Xiaopeng leading the way and teammate Jenna Vanderson just behind. Cocoabo #23 had kept pace with the Vangazi drivers however and posted a fast lap just 14 hundreths of a second off Xiaopeng's fast time knowing that they had to finish ahead of both Xiopeng and Katara Racing's Jack Kelly to have a shot at the driver's title. And it was the Katara driver Jack Kelly who himself was just 14 hundreths behind Fast Cocoabo as all the key championship contenders were bunched up at the top of the chart in practice.

There was a slight gap between the leaders and Tropicorps home-track driver in 7th place - Cesaro Whittaker who, along with Vilita & Turori driver Juracai Klianiota found themselves about a tenth of a second off the pace.

Still, if the drivers could reproduce those times during the two-tier qualifying session on Saturday they would be able to advance to the final round and lock a good place on the grid, setting themselves up for a championship challenge at Mount Salt Raceway on Sunday.

[Vangaziland]

Vannish Legends of the 11th Century

The 10th & 11th centuries saw a lot of moving and shaking within the independent Vannishlands. The events which took place on the continent were shaped by the political and military aspirations of a handful of rulers. Their battle to control the continent would be the basis for the formation of an united Vangaziland. Out of the many Jarls, a handful of Kings and a Chieftain or two, an Empire would be forged.

Above all others, two individuals rose to almost mythic status. There was Runolf Vang, the son of a native Vann explorer and a Gazilian trader. The other was Ivar Vandersen. The two were born about five years apart. Neither would have guessed that their lives were due to intersect in a way that would bring one of the most influential Empires of its time. By the mid 1400s, the Vannishlands would be a united force against some of the world's more barbarian practices, including slavery and manipulation through religion.

Runolf & the Havvang

The name Runolf Vang is one of the most recognizable in Vannish history. His father Hjebert, son of Vannger (or Hjebert Vanngersen) led the first expedition to land Scandinavian Vanns in Vangaziland on behalf of the Havvang nation. 'Hav' translates into ocean in Norwegian, Swedish and Vannish. Havvang territory stretched from today's Emeros to modern Blue Coast and inland for about 450 miles. The city now known as Blue Coast was once Skorlda, an early port, where Vannish ships sailed off to Europe and beyond.

The Vang in modern Vangaziland comes from the surname Hjebert gave to his son, taken from Havvang. He did not follow the typical patronymic naming system of the time, instead naming Runolf as the 'son of the continent' (and later 'continents' to include Gazi).

Hjebert landed in the West African land of Gazi in 980. He made the "Land of the Sun" his home, integrating with the locals and exchanging culture and language. The first mixed Vann-Gazi settlements were here in Africa as more and more Vanns landed in search of trade and wealth.

Unlike other European/African ties, the Vanns and Gazi had a beneficial relationship. This bond would lead to Vannish anti-slavery policies leading into the late 13th century and beyond. Runolf Vang was born in the year 985 AD. By the year 1010, Runolf was an explorer of his own rite.



After travelling various parts of Europe between the years 1003 - 1012, Runolf tired of the sea. He was ready for stability. A family. Land. He had earned a fair bit of coin as an explorer, working in his father's footsteps of peaceful 'Viking' exploration.

As other Scandinavians sacked and pillaged, the Vannish (and especially the Havvang) were in favor of trading and diplomacy. The Havvang often looked for nations embroiled in war, offering to help in exchange for land or even acceptance of colony status.

Runolf found himself fighting in a few of these conflicts, including the battle at Rivverbjorn. The city on the river got it's name for Runolf's company of soldiers. Bjorn translates into bear. The staunch defense by the Havvang here became one of Runolf's first legends. It was here in 1005 that he officially became known as the Black Viking.

His company fought as Vanguard to the local militias. Together, they flanked and outmaneuvered a larger enemy force. Havvang naval ships also kept the foreign navy from sailing into the brackish river, holding the bay and inlet.

The Vang family was influential, earning wealth and prestige through some of the most exotic sailing trips ever undertaken by any Vangazi, past or present. By 1018, the stage was set for conflict as the Havvang swelled to power. Other nations in the Vannishlands saw Runolf and the Havvang as a threat.

This was most true for the Bergevans or the 'Mountain Vannish'.

Ivar and the Bergevans

Even before the clash with the Havvang, the Bergevan became notorious in their own right. The word translates into 'Mountain Vann'. Their territory is mostly made up of today's Central Vangaziland, although their borders did stretch to the River at New Brook. They were based out of today's Imperial Hills, where an eccentric ruler named Ivar lived.



He became known as Ivar the Odd, because of strange habits and customs. His hair was a fiery red rarely seen throughout the Vannishlands (but more common in an island to the east called Wrexwic). Ivar wasknown to spend much of his time in a cavernous fortress, reinforced with ornate buttresses and lit by candlepower. He believed himself to be a vampire and indulged on his appetite. Some of the most frightening Hollow's Eve tales were those of Ivar, some of which were based on true stories. Ivar's Vangaziland would have evolved much differently than the peaceful, but defensive Empire of today.

Ivar believed in ruiling with an iron fist. He took care of his citizens as best he could, but many were left to fend for themselves. It was the opposite of the Havvang, where a communal environment was being developed. Ivar wanted all the wealth and power for himself.

The legend says he first 'drank of the sanguine human chalice' in 1017. Leaders of other Vann nations protested this once they learned of it. It remained in the minds of the Vanns well into the year 1025 when the Havvang and the Bergevans squared off in war. The battles were located mainly between settlements which are today Auster and Emeros, the two largest and most influential cities of today's Vannish Empire.

Today's history buffs can follow paths of these ancient soldiers and can even visit some of the battlefields. Many artifacts are on display in various museums, some in travelling exhibits around the world.

The war lasted two years of on and off combat. Throughout that time, soldiers rotated in and out of conflict from the deepest ranges of either territory. No accurate casualty count was taken, but it was the most costly conflict in Vannish history until the 1400s.

Throughout the conflict, Ivar became more and more detached from reality. Eventually he had a son named Vanderle. Vanderle would go on to marry one of the first Gazilian female settlers to move to the Vannishlands, from the Land of the Sun. Two dozen years after the end of the conflict, Vanderle and Shelva formed a new house... That of Vandersen.

Vang-Vandersen Relations

Even twenty years after the conflict's end, tensions were still high between the various Vannish settlements. The coastal Vang and the highland Vandersen were still at odds. Skirmishes and territorial disputes were common. In 1026, an older Runolf Vang met with Vanderle, who was still younger than 30.

They made an agreement which would join their lands, combine their empires and set up two houses. The Bergevan also pushed for the inclusion of a council of Jarls, each one representative of a certain territory within the landmass. This 'Council of Jarls' would be spread evenly and hopefully check the power of either house. They would also represent the commoners and serfs. It was also to stand as protection from another total ruler like Ivar ever returning to power. Over time, the various other Vann tribes would join this alliance.

Today, the House of Vang and the House of Vandersen are the two most influential houses in Vangaziland respectively. Long gone are the days of sailing in longboats or military barracks in the form of longhouses. But the events of the late 10th and 11th centuries can still be felt today.

[Tenburg]

One car.

All Jack had to worry about was one car.

On blue and red machine.

As long as he could finish ahead of one car, he could potentially lock up the title, barring a catastrophe.

As he looked at the practice results, however, Jack knew he had his work cut out for him. There were two other drivers between him and the 13. It was just another thing he'd have to improve on.

Rick joined alongside him.

"Don't worry yourself. Nothing on that board you can't fix."

"I know." Jack looked back behind him. With news that the other guy who shared his name finally got a big deal, Myra said she'd try to be there for the final round. She hadn't been for practice. No sign of her now. Jack's heart sank.

"Hey." Rick nudged him on the shoulder. "Ye've done well for yourself. Just have to concentrate a few more times. Don't worry about her. If she makes it, she makes it. If not, oh well. You know she's still supporting ye."

"Aye."

It was more than that. Jack found himself unable to function without her on his mind. He shook his head and chuckled at himself.

Rick handed him his helmet. "Right, go qualify."

Jack took the helmet and threw it on over the fireproof mask. He climbed into the car, the smell of gasoline permeating around him as he fired it up. He flicked a few switches, put it in first and headed out of the paddock while something flashed in the corner of his eye. As he drove out, he looked in his mirror.

Myra was stopping herself from running out of the paddock after him.

He smiled. "Right. Time to work."

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Nexus Racing HQ, ???
21st of October

To: nrpm@nexusracingwgpc.nim
From: sport.minister@gov.nim

Timothy,

You will be pleased to hear that I have approved the relocation of Nexus Racing to the new Crossbay Circuit facilities and that Adam Chamberlain has similarly given clearance for the full demilitarisation of Nexus Racing’s inventory and its transfer from the Wilds Plateau site. Removals are intended to begin two days after your race in Eastfield Lodge; good luck to all of you there.

Jacob Gibbons, Nimban Minister for Sport

Postscript: In case you are interested, Chamberlain’s current intention is that your old building be repurposed as a laboratory complex and your testing circuit converted to a firing range.

Guard chuckles as he reads the email. It’s still amusing to think that we are still technically a military endeavour. Look at us now… The clearance will be a pain. Still, it is worth it to transfer to Crossbay; the facilities that we will have there are -

He blinks. Wait. We are still technically a military subsidiary.

We, a military subsidiary, have travelled to numerous foreign nations as representatives of our state without the appropriate diplomatic sanction from their governments.

Timothy bursts out laughing. Oh, Imagination! How many treaties and accords must we have broken? I shudder to think! Calming down, he gives a smirk. Well, that’s best swept under the rug, aside perhaps from an email to the Ministerial Offices for Warfare to warn them against making similar mistakes in future.

He sighs in his mirth, following it with a chuckle. While outwardly the season had been somewhat abysmal, the progress made internally was more than acceptable. For one thing, the team now had a car with a turning ability far, far greater than that of a Soviet oil tanker, thank you very much, as well as new water-clearing Imagination convertor capabilities and a self-replenishing tank of Imagination. So long as Gertrude hasn’t been lying to him all season, Ryker and Jean’s UHSGV-2 will be more than ready to compete with whatever improvements the rest of the field has brought to the WGPC next year. Besides that, though Lukar hasn’t exactly taken to the team’s way of doing things and has given signs that he will be leaving next year, it’s clear that Nexus Racing has found a real gem in Rebecca Darlington - one that needs a little more cutting, yes, but a gem nonetheless.

This season hasn’t been the best start for her, yes, but that is as much our fault as hers. She will go far.

I just hope that we can help her on the journey.

[Eastfield Lodge]

The Lodger Online Gazette

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Sport >>> Motorsport

WGP2: The Melee for a Title

As the inaugural season of the World Grand Prix 2 Championship makes its final stop at the Mount Salt Raceway, the race for both the Drivers and the Constructors Championship titles are still extremely hot, with 9 drivers and 4 teams still in mathematical contention. Here, we’ll look at what each driver or team needs to win a coveted trophy.

There have been 11 races so far this season and a shade over 1,000 points have been dished out to the 25 drivers and 12 teams that have been taking part thus far. It’s been a season full of chaos, with many twists and turns throughout, but we’re finally here at race 12, with just another 91 points to be dished out across the field. And with all the twists, there now isn’t a clear leader in the pack, and as such there are 9 different drivers all with a mathematical chance of winning the Drivers’ Championship - the top three are all just separated by a single point. The Constructors’ Championship is a little more straightforward, with Vannish Motors Racing leading the pack of 4 teams with a small gap to 2nd.

Drivers' Championship Standings
Pos	#	Name			Team			Pts	Wins
1	13	Jang Xiaopeng		Vannish Motors Racing	76	2 (1x2nd)
2	66	Jack Kelly		Katara Racing		76	2 (0x2nd)
3	9	Jannik Markner		Academy Racing		75	1
4	61	Renho Virzi		Obey Sport GP		70	1
5	23	Cocoabo #23		Tropicorp Engineering	67	1 (1x2nd)
6	33	Jenna Vandersen		Vannish Motors Racing	67	1 (0x2nd)
7	11	Luna Estrella		Novikov Racing		60	0
8	26	Shinno Soukuba		MSA-SinVal		56	0
9	5	Timo Jänkirinää		Katara Racing		53	0

Constructors' Championship Standings
Pos	Team			Pts
1	Vannish Motors Racing	143
2	Katara Racing		131
3	Academy Racing		122
4	Tropicorp Engineering	113

Drivers’ Championship - The Outsiders

Timo Jänkirinää
The Timorian driver, driving for Constructors title hopefuls Katara Racing of the same country, currently lies ninth in the table, and lies at the edge of mathematical possibility. Three podiums in the middle of the season and three other points finishes has lead him here to 53 points, but to win the title, he simply needs to win the race, to take him to 78 points, and hope that none of the eight drivers ahead of him manage to overhaul his points total - at best, Jang Xiaopeng and Jack Kelly can finish 10th, Jannik Markner 9th, Renho Virzi 5th, Cocoabo #23 and Jenna Vandersen 4th, while Luna Estrella and Sinno Soukuba would be eliminated by Timo’s win. Unlikely, for sure, but in this season who knows what could happen.

Shinno Soukuba
The driver from Hodori has been the main point generating package for the Eastfielder MSA-SinVal team this season, having racked up 56 points vs Dalia Dahl’s measly 29, putting the Hodoran driver into 8th with two second place finishes as well as another podium. Much like Timo Jänkirinää, Soukuba is in the mathematical hopes section of the spectrum - again, Soukuba will need to register a victory to stand a chance of taking the title. For that dream to come true, Xiaopeng and Kelly can only finish 7th at best, Markner 6th, Virzi 4th, Cocoabo and Vandersen 3rd, whilst Estrella can even finish second and miss out.

Luna Estrella
A promising driver from the Iron Syndicate who had a big falling out with her domestic team at the start of the season, she has done well for her troubled Abovian outfit Novikov Racing, grabbing 60 of the team’s 70 points this season after Juracai Klianiota’s struggled, getting two runners-up finishes along with 5 other points finishes. Estrella is the first driver who can finish second and still take the title - she’ll just need more or less the same set of situations outlined earlier by Timo Jänkirinää - Jang Xiaopeng and Jack Kelly 10th, Jannik Markner 9th, Renho Virzi 6th, Cocoabo #23 and Jenna Vandersen 4th, with Soukuba and Jänkirinää 3rd at best. Should Estrella win, it’s a whole other ball game as she moves to 85 points, eliminating Jänkirinää and Soukuba on points and Vandersen on countback. Cocoabo could overtake her on countback by finishing 2nd, whilst elsewhere Estrella needs Xiaopeng, Kelly and Markner all to finish 5th or lower, with Virzi at best 3rd.

Jenna Vandersen
For a long time, it looked like the Vannish driver would romp her way to the Drivers’ title, having lead the competition after all but one of the first eight races, despite only winning on the opening weekend and scoring just one more third place finish afterwards, being kept buoyant by a series of points finishes but recent poor performances and misfortune has seen her fall from the summit to 6th, with a lack of a runner-up finish keeping her behind the fastest non-human driver in Cocoabo. With 9 points between her and the championship lead at the moment, she would still realistically need a win to take the title - if she does, she needs Xiaopeng, Kelly and Markner to finish 3rd or lower, whilst a win would see off Virzi’s and the Cocoabo’s challenges. In second, that would force the top three down to 5th or lower for Vandersen to get the title, with Virzi, Cocoabo and Estrella 3rd or lower. Third would see her needing the top three to finish 7th or lower, Virzi and Cocoabo 4th or lower, and Estrella and Soukuba both 2nd and lower.

Cocoabo #23
The Cocoabo Project has been touching many different sports across the multiverse, from the Turori national football team to the Olympics, and motorsport is no exception as the Tropicorp’s lead driver is yet another Cocoabo, labelled as #23 and nicknamed ‘Fast Cocoabo’. This Cocoabo has been quite a success, all things considered, having won the most recent race in Liventia to add to the two podiums scored earlier on in the season, but a few non-point weekends has scuppered the potential late season charge to the title, leaving the Cocoabo tied on points with Vandersen and nine off the top. And because of that tied gap, Fast Cocoabo needs exactly the same results that the Vannish driver needs. Based on recent form, one could argue that the Cocoabo is in the much better position of the two for a run at the title in this final race, but you can never count Vandersen out.

Drivers’ Championship - The Main Contenders

Renho Virzi
Not much is known about the Audioslavian driver, driving for the Esmerelian outfit of Obey Sport GP, but he clearly has made his mark in this competition with 70 points, including a race victory in Spaam and a 2nd place finish on his home turf, contributing almost all of Obey Sport’s 81 points so far. He has been the most reliable (or lucky, depending on your point of view) driver of the nine challenger, recording just the one non-finish in the 11 races and only finishing out of the points a further 3 times - evidently, it is this reliability that has put him in this position, only 6 points off the leaders, but yet still only 4th. A 6 point gap is nothing in the grand scheme of things - a win in Eastfield Lodge will give Virzi the Drivers’ title, no questions asked. If Virzi was to finish second, he’d need the trio of Xiaopeng, Kelly and Markner to finish 4th or lower, with the duo of Vandersen and Fast Cocoabo at 3rd or lower as well. In third, Kelly and Xiaopeng would have to finish 6th or lower whilst Markner can hit 5th and not overtake Virzi. Fast Cocaco and Vandersen again would have to be 3rd or lower, and Estrella would have to fail to win the race. Anything lower than 3rd, and it’d be almost impossible in normal circumstances for one of the top 9 not to overtake him.

Jannik Markner
Moving onto one of the real contenders, Markner is a bit similar to Fast Cocoabo in that they both threw their hats in towards the end of the season. Driving for Ironian outfit Academy Racing, the Timorian driver has decently outperformed homegrown teammate Armo Lehto, although the two together have put the team in contention for the Constructors’ title. A win in Togonistan and two 2nd place finishes, especially the most recent race in Liventia, has left Markner in third and only one point off the top two of Kelly and Xiaopeng - for all intents and purposes, this is a straight race to the finish for those three, with others looking in. However, he has only won the one race compared to the two wins the others have, so needs to beat them by more than the single point - Virzi behind by less than a first-second difference is also a threat, but a second place will save him if one of Fast Cocoabo or Vandersen win the final race. All-in-all, this race is in Markner’s hands - win and it’s sorted.

Jack Kelly
Surely the story of the season is that of Tenburg driver Jack Kelly, driving for Timorian outfit Katara Racing. To be tied for the lead in the championship on points having missed two races after a devastating near-fatal crash in Spaam is nigh on a miracle, and the story is even better when one remembers that he won his comeback race having been barely fit enough to race - WGP Committe investigations into medical fraud as to his entry are still ongoing. Astograth wasn’t the only race he won, having won earlier on in the season at Lisander as well - combined with three mid-pack points finishes puts him onto 76 points, but the lack of a podium is what separates Kelly from Xiaopeng. But going into the final race already tied means that countback will be irrelevant (barring the unlikely case where these two are still top after the race without getting any points), and Kelly just needs to beat Xiaopeng, Markner and Virzi to stake his claim - he can finish second whilst beating the other three to be assured of the title, as Vandersen and Cocoabo are too far back.

Jang Xiaopeng
Last but certainly not least, we come to the Championship leader, Vannish street-racer-turned-track-superstar Jang Xiaopeng. Part of the all Vannish outfit at Vannish Motors Racing, Xiaopeng very much played second fiddle to Vandersen in the early part of the season as she dominated the early proceedings - however, come the Rushmori swing, Vandersen faltered and Xiaopeng has taken over the Championship lead since then. His happy-go-lucky carefree style of driving has certainly won him fans all over the multiverse, with his habit of drifting and generally throwing caution to the wind proving a very popular tactic. It’s also a tactic that shouldn’t have worked, giving him only 4 points finishes from 11 races. Fortunately for Xiaopeng, those 4 points finishes have consisted of a win in the Cocoabo Forest and Hodori, with a second place finish and a 4th place finish to boot. As Kelly and Xiaopeng are both on 76 points and countback is unlikely to play a role here towards the title (although Xiaopeng has the advantage on countback), the same scenario that applies to Kelly will also apply to Xiaopeng - beat Kelly, Markner and Virzi at all costs, and second place doing that is good enough.

Constructors’ Championship

The race for the best team is also quite wide open, featuring 4 teams and 8 drivers. Although it may not be as close as the race in the Drivers’ Championship, the Constructors Championship is still a prize to fight for, and for some drivers, their only chance at major silverware this season. It’s also the chance of a very prestigious Championship double for 6 of the 8 drivers, and that is a real feather to have in the cap as the senior WGPC series looms around the corner.

Tropicorp Engineering
A team with so much potential coming into the season, having been built from the ashes of the famously dominant VTR team of WGPC14, things really didn’t go right for the team from the get go, as they struggled to land their target drivers and repeatedly had to readjust their strategy, finally ending up with Fast Cocoabo and MSA-SinVal reject Cesaro Whittaker. The season started OK as Whittaker grabbed a podium in Vilita, and they made some progress before the Rushmori swing with a set of other podiums, registering 4 in all to put them in a decent position. However, Whittaker was struggling to score points, only registering 4 points finishes in the 11 races whilst failing to finish another four, although two of the finishes were podiums, whilst Fast Cocoabo was getting more points finishes, but not scoring much in them. However, the win in Liventia in the penultimate race has kept the unlikely dream of a comeback alive, with a 30 point deficit to leaders VMR, with Katara 18 ahead and Academy 9 ahead. Assuming Tropicorp manage a 1-2 finish, VMR can only get a total of 12 points (4th + 9th or 5th + 7th), Katara 25 points (any combination) and Academy 34 points (any combination). Anything less than a 1-2 finish will more or less eliminate them.

Academy Racing
A team marred by controversy from the start, the Ironian outfit have managed to fight their way to third in the rankings, but one wonders what could have been. A lot of the controversy seemed to be related to nepotism, in a manner of speaking - Luna Estrella was unceremoniously removed from the team in the initial pre-season preparations after what was reported to be a serious argument with the team executive, who also happened to be a relative of Estrella’s, concerning the selection of Armo Lehto over her. Estrella left and was picked up by Novikov Racing, and is still with an outside shot of the Drivers’ title. The other major controversy was around the appointment of a new team principal in Carsen Bold, a famous Ironian racing champion in his own right but reported to be the father of Armo Lehto, a fact which the driver seems to hate, purportedly causing a lot of bad blood in the backrooms. On track, it’s been a different story, with Academy getting off to a very slow start, only getting ten points in the first four races before Timorian driver Jannik Markner grabbed 2nd place in the Nexus Wardship. A few good point finishes in the Multiversal swing along with Markner’s victory in Togonistan closed the gap slightly, but it was a late season climb that put them into outside contention as Armo Lehto’s third place finish in Astograth was combined with a 2nd and 3rd place in Liventia to leapfrog Tropicorp and narrow the gap to the top to 21 points, with Katara just 9 points in front of them. A 1-2 finish would see them needing VMR to only gain at most 21 points (3rd + 6th, 4th + 5th), whilst they would beat Katara for sure.

Katara Racing
Compared to the first two, the Timorian team of Katara Racing have been racing more consistently, keeping pace with leaders VMR but always a few points behind. Tenburg driver and Driver’s Championship co-leader Jack Kelly has been a goldmine for them with his 76 points and two race victories, but that doesn’t diminish the contribution of local driver and teammate Timo Jänkirinää, who with 53 points of his own has an outside shot at the Drivers’ title as well. A slew of 5 podiums in 7 races, including Kelly’s two victories in Lisander and Astogath, kept their progression very good, but there haven’t been many races where both drivers finished well. And had Kelly not been critically injured in Spaam, who knows how many more points they could have gotten over those three races, instead of the two points that replacement driver Lera Kozel scored in Togonistan. With the team currently on 131 points and only 12 points behind VMR, the story could have been reversed, but 12 points is still a very easy gap to climb; should Katara manage a 1-2 finish, they will overtake VMR regardless of where the latter finish.

Vannish Motors Racing
The frontrunners from the very start of the season, Vannish have been setting the pace for all the other teams, and have in the process become the team that everyone wants to beat. Lead by the famous Jessica Franssen, who set the WGPC field alight back in WGPC14 when she demolished the field in the 6 races she was a part of, the VMR team have been going from strength to strength with two excellent drivers in Jenna Vandersen and Jang Xiaopeng under their helm, both with very realistic chances of winning the Drivers title themselves. The team has recorded three victories - in Vilita, Cocoabo Forest and Hodori - along with a couple of podiums and a decent number of points finishes, giving them a total of 143 points thus far, but Katara have been keeping pace all the way, just a few points behind, and currently VMR only have a 12 point lead. It’s not a big lead, but in a season as chaotic as this, it may be all that they need. VMR have actually been faltering as of late, only recording one point in two races since Xiaopeng’s second place finish in Astograth, so they’ll be looking for a strong finish to this season at the Mount Salt Raceway to springboard their WGPC journey. The 12 point gap is enough that a 2nd and 4th place finish for VMR would be enough to guarantee the Constructors’ title, but with two drivers both with a realistic shout at the Drivers’ Championship, things could get very spicy on the track.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, the race in Mount Salt City is going to see both the Championships' title races change so much over the course of 40 laps that you can't keep your eyes off the action. So many different stories that could be finished in so many different ways. But that event is tomorrow. First, we have to go through the spectacle of qualifying, and that is where the race could be made or broken for many of the driver and the stories that need writing. Tune in to the action and watch the mayhem unfold.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Race 12: Grand Prix of the Imperial Commonwealth
Saturday Qualifying

Drivers had fifty minutes to record up to six flying laps of the circuit. The slowest drivers will occupy spots 11-through-24 on the grid. The ten fastest drivers are then entered into a fifteen-minute qualifying session to decide the order of the top ten for Sunday's race
Conditions: DRY
Tyres:

• Super Soft (+0.0s, 2 laps)
• Soft (+0.5s, 4 laps)
• Medium (+1.4s, 9 laps)

First Qualifying Session
P   # Driver              Team				Best Time
1  33 Jenna Vandersen     Vannish Motors Racing		1:30.936
2   7 Juracai Klianiota   Novikov Racing		1:31.016
3  66 Jack Kelly          Katara Racing			1:31.083
4   5 Timo Jänkirinää     Katara Racing			1:31.084
5   9 Jannik Markner      Academy Racing		1:31.107
6  63 Dalia Dahl          MSA-SinVal			1:31.109
7  31 Cesaro Whittaker    Tropicorp Engineering		1:31.125
8  15 Rebecca Darlington  Nexus Racing			1:31.158
9   3 Armo Lehto          Academy Racing		1:31.175
10 23 Cocoabo #23         Tropicorp Engineering		1:31.186
11  4 Manny "Lil E" Epula Obey Sport GP			1:31.206
12 61 Renho Virzi         Obey Sport GP			1:31.437
13 94 Alyn Terfel         Team Ignis			1:31.594
14 13 Jang Xiaopeng       Vannish Motors Racing		1:31.605
15 89 Marcus Schwarz      Junixwagen			1:31.684
16 30 Saya Kaseo          Nadakei Sport AYDP		1:31.919
17 19 Dom Falepeau        Junixwagen			1:32.149
18 29 Nikolai Niskanen    Yogutz Lantzia		1:32.357
19 18 Gorria Bildostegi   Yogutz Lantzia		1:32.378
20 26 Shinno Soukuba      MSA-SinVal			1:32.609
21 27 Lukar Urdaneta      Nexus Racing			1:33.000
22 11 Luna Estrella       Novikov Racing		1:33.482
23 17 Lourdina Westgrens  Team Ignis			1:34.974

Second Qualifying Session
P   # Driver              Team				Best Time
1   7 Juracai Klianiota   Novikov Racing		1:30.829
2  31 Cesaro Whittaker    Tropicorp Engineering		1:30.901
3  33 Jenna Vandersen     Vannish Motors Racing		1:30.984
4   9 Jannik Markner      Academy Racing		1:31.010
5  15 Rebecca Darlington  Nexus Racing			1:31.046
6  66 Jack Kelly          Katara Racing			1:31.699
7   5 Timo Jänkirinää     Katara Racing			1:31.804
8  63 Dalia Dahl          MSA-SinVal			1:32.035
9  23 Cocoabo #23         Tropicorp Engineering		1:34.469
10  3 Armo Lehto          Academy Racing		1:53.943

Final Qualifying Grid
P   # Driver		  Team                 
1   7 Juracai Klianiota   Novikov Racing
2  31 Cesaro Whittaker    Tropicorp Engineering
3  33 Jenna Vandersen     Vannish Motors Racing
4   9 Jannik Markner      Academy Racing
5  15 Rebecca Darlington  Nexus Racing
6  66 Jack Kelly          Katara Racing
7   5 Timo Jänkirinää     Katara Racing
8  63 Dalia Dahl          MSA-SinVal
9  23 Cocoabo #23         Tropicorp Engineering
10  3 Armo Lehto          Academy Racing
11  4 Manny "Lil E" Epula Obey Sport GP
12 61 Renho Virzi         Obey Sport GP
13 94 Alyn Terfel         Team Ignis
14 13 Jang Xiaopeng       Vannish Motors Racing
15 89 Marcus Schwarz      Junixwagen
16 30 Saya Kaseo          Nadakei Sport AYDP
17 19 Dom Falepeau        Junixwagen
18 29 Nikolai Niskanen    Yogutz Lantzia
19 18 Gorria Bildostegi   Yogutz Lantzia
20 26 Shinno Soukuba      MSA-SinVal
21 27 Lukar Urdaneta      Nexus Racing
22 11 Luna Estrella       Novikov Racing
23 17 Lourdina Westgrens  Team Ignis

[Tenburg]

Jack looked down at the magazine in his hand. Myra had just given it to him. He reflected on how long he'd been at this racing thing. He thought back to the dirt ovals where he spent the race with one hand on the wheel and the other switching between the stick and wiping his visor clean. He thought about F10, and racing in the rain, and the fist fight with Conor McElroy. He thought about the time he raced his dad's truck and got pulled over by six cops. It had all lead to here.

He was staring at himself on the cover of a magazine.

THE FUTURE OF SPORT, the cover read, below the image of five athletes. He stood to the far left, in an all-white firesuit, helmet hanging from his hand. Next to him was Donald Black, who played gridiron football for the Greystone Pirates. He was 6'7", and his eyes snarled like a ferocious dog, but he was actually a nice man.Leaning against him with a bottle of whiskey in his hand, was the other Jack. He played baseball, and recently took a massive contract to play internationally. To the right of him, in an association football kit, with an ice hockey goalie mask, was Killian MacDonald. He played both futbol and hockey on the professional level, and excelled at both.

He smirked to himself. "I hated doing that."

"I know," Myra replied with a chuckle. "We'll try to limit those going forward but I can't make any guarantees."

"Well we can worry but that when we're done here," Rick said as he entered the hotel room, a bottle I'm his hand.

"Is this the new Tennish sporting tradition?" Myra asked.

The three of them laughed as Rick poured out some shots. Lynch had spoken of the pre-game shots he and his team would do before almost every game of World Baseball Classic 40; Donald and Killian both laughed and admitted their clubs did the same.

"To us," Jack said as they picked up their shots. "No matter what happens tomorrow... well I dunno. I guess we did good."

They all laughed again and knocked back their shots.