WGP2 Season III [Roleplay Thread]

[Krainin]

Edward Baker is sitting by his fireplace looking at recent WGP2 news. All of the teams he applied for, including the one he raced for VTM, filled up there second seats. He put his phone down defeated.

“Damn, I was really looking to race during this off season.”

He gets up to make a sandwich. He comes back and sees a notification on his phone.

“SinVal? Never really thought of them as a option. So they have me as first option for second driver. Well, I’ll take it.”

Edward Baker accepts the invitation to be SinVal’s second driver

(OOC: Sorry if this isn’t really good. It’s late and I’m rushing to put this out before the qualifying scorination)

[Somehow Related to Rarity]

Whoop time for another long ass RP
Carmichael Fire

---

Poison, trap, toadstool you can set them up
I’ll survive in the end, whatever it takes
I know your traps, you set them up
And I stomp on them tougher
There’s only one answer, you just have to open it
Miroh

---

The last few days went by in a flash. I was at the private test myself, I had to attend some interviews, fan meetings, you name it. That's just part and parcel of being a celebrity. Those few days you're free are treasured, because you may not be able to gain it back.
There were also new human Advisors introduced. However, they were female. As far as I was concerned they looked darn lost in a place filled with unicorns, ponies, pegasi and alicorns.
Testing was a bit disappointing as I finished 14th out of 20. Well, maybe for a rookie it wasn't THAT bad, but I was still quite slower than the leader. The car felt smooth however, especially the engine. Dang, humans make really good engines, as well as songs.
After testing, I didn't have enough time to enjoy the scenery at Willitya before I had to move over to Nekoni for the first race of the calendar. I heard from some random people at my fan meeting that Nekoni was a pleasurable place to be at. Well, it didn't disappoint. But I was escorted into the team van without being able to peek into the city life.
Practice was a huge improvement from testing, landing 8th out of 24 drivers. My teammate Sara Luna was 10th, which was not bad. It seemed that Adelphia was really storming out there. My car never felt so good, and I was happy I didn't join WGP3 for another season.
Qualifying wasn't as bad, though I dropped a place and finished 9th. Luna didn't do as well though, because 18th out of 24 wasn't really a good place to start on the grid. Anyways, I congratulated her.
I was having dinner after qualifying, when Mr Breeze came up to me with another mare. She looked suspiciously familiar, as if I saw her recently. Then I remembered. She was one of the mares on the cabin I was in. She looked a bit shy, because her red cheeks were prominent in her purple fur.
'Hi Carmi. Well, we got you an agent. Actually, we didn't. She just came up to us and asked if she could get a job here. I mean, her resume did look convincing, although she doesn't have experience in motor sports. Well anyways, say hi to Ms Sparkle I guess?'
'Hewwo. I'll be your agent as far as your racing career continues, I guess?' She was looking down, which meant she was either reading from cue cards or it was just pure embarrassment, 'Also, don't call me Ms Sparkle. Call me Twilight instead.'

---

435 words

[Hapilopper]

Circuit Arnaud, Faranelle-les-Halles, Nekoni
Leading up to the WGP2 Race of Nekoni
In the last several weeks, Drake Stevenson had learned a lot about the Chase Cutter, that eight-wheeled Imagination-powered vehicle that would be his trusty steed for the coming season. He had taken it easy at the Diamond Bay test and turned one of the slowest times of all the field during the official pre-season test. But Drake chalked that one up to learning the car – after all, he was still a stock car driver, and there were few things as different from each other as a stock car and the Chase Cutter.

Drake slowly strolled around the Circuit Arnaud, legal pad in hand, writing down notes around the track. He knew this would be a great time to make a good impression on the rest of the multiverse by running quick around this circuit, so he had to learn all he could during this track walk. As he made his way through the Le Toboggan section of the circuit, Doug Goodman, a reporter from the Hapilopper Television Network, caught up to him on a golf cart.

“Think you can do something good today?” Goodman asked. “I mean, this looks like a tough track.”

“I sure hope so,” Drake said.

“I mean, people are questioning how slow you’ve been since you got started,” Doug said.

“Well, that’s because I’ve never driven a car like this in my life,” Drake said. “I’m getting used to it. I figure by qualifying, I’ll have the hang of it.”

That turned out to be an interesting bit of foreshadowing. As time drew for his turn to hit the race track, Drake, still trying to figure out how Imagination worked, warmed the Chase Cutter up slowly, and started thinking to himself about how this lap would go.

What’s the worst that could happen? Don’t think too much into it, Drake. Hit your marks and have fun, he thought to himself.

He took the green flag, and not giving it a lot of thought, he hit his marks. Calmly but deliberately, he pointed the Chase Cutter into every corner, giving it as much speed as he thought he could give it. As he exited the chicane onto the long Pleiades Straight, he realized that this lap had gone quite well. Almost too well. All he had to do was not screw up the last part of the lap, and he’d be good as gold.

He didn’t screw it up. In fact, for the first time since that magical weekend in Vilita, Drake felt he had done everything perfect. When he crossed the start-finish line, the time reflected that belief. 1:43.116. Drake was on the pole for the season opener.

When he got back, Drake took a deep breath and tried to take in the significance of what he had done. He wasn’t really considered a favorite to win the pole after having gone so slow in Willitya and in practice earlier that day. He realized all he had to do was do what he had done in qualifying, and he’d be as good as gold.

[TJUN-ia]

air.NK WGP2 Race of Nekoni
Circuit Arnaud, Faranelle-les-Halles, Nekoni

The eyes of the open-wheel world are falling on Nekoni this weekend as WGP2 returns for its 3rd running. Circuit Arnaud plays host to Round 1 with expectations high across the paddock for most. TJUN-ia has a driver in this series for the first time in the form of Lane Carter (brother of Prince (the footballer) and Jester (the defensive-end))

PRACTICE

The butterflies refused to leave Lane's stomach for most of Friday practice no matter what he tried. He couldn't really believe he was even in Nekoni in the first place, in the red UrGa car.

The Circuit Arnaud is a different beast compared to Diamond Bay. Where DB was smooth and flowing, CA is sharp and rough. Still, with nothing to go off other that testing, Lane wasn't sure how well he would do.

As it turned out...not bad at all. 16th in the end, just ahead of his teammate Taras Matviyenko, 8 tenths back from leader Mika Neretti. Certainly not bad at all.

QUALIFYING

One-shot qualifying is the most stressful of all the methods recognised by the WGPO. You only get one lap to set the fastest time possible, and any mistakes can be costly.

The problem area for Lane on his lap was Le Poignard, the sharp turn at the end of the Pleiades Straight. His brakes locked up a forced a compromised entry. That cost him more than a second.

But he wasn't the only one struggling. 14th, considering his costly mistake, was actually OK - he could certainly make it up in the race. Taras ended up in P16. Some drivers ended up 20 seconds back of the surprise pole-man Drake Stevenson.

No one knew what to expect in this season, but one thing was for sure: the Race of Nekoni was going to be very interesting...

[Trans-Dniesters]

"What's this? A warning?" Vasily Semyonovich Gatutin asked as he accepted the piece of paper that head engineer Konstantin Zakharovich Rezansov had handed over to him. The paper had the letterhead of the WGPO and the WGP2, and it looked official enough. "We would like to inform you of a potential violation of the regulations regarding engine power output by your team... We recommend that you deal with as soon as possible before the start of the season or we will have no choice but to penalize you... blah blah blah... This serves as your official warning. What in the world is this? What does this mean?" he asked Rezansov again.

"It means what it says, sir," Rezansov replied. "It means that unless we find a way to cap our engine power then we will suffer a penalty at the start of the season."

"Wait, how is this possible? I thought that we had already capped our engine power way before the start of the preseason," Gatutin asked.

"We have," Rezansov insisted. "It's just that our engine loves to produce power even despite our capping. We capped it at 620 horsepower as per regs, but for some reason we are still hitting somewhere around 650 horsepower on average according to our telemetry. This, I believe, is giving the WGPO the impression that we have not complied with the regulations."

"How can this be?" Gatutin asked once more.

"I don't know, sir," Rezansov shook his head. "But my men are already looking into it to solve the problem. There was a reason why we called it the Ultima 1000 engine, after all," Rezansov added knowingly. The 1000 in the engine's name indicated how much horsepower it was capable of producing orginally.

"You better make sure that the capping works this time around, Kostya," Gatutin said. "I don't want to suffer a penalty at the very start of the season, no matter where we may end up on the grid in Nekoni."

---

For a few brief moments, William Archer really thought that he had missed the chance to get a seat in his first ever WGP2 season. All that hard work and training spent in the CGPRA wasted. But then he'd received the email: Bitten Heroes was signing him to their second seat alongside Lourdina Westgrens. It was an incredible change in fortunes for William, who had spent the days waiting for a call from any WGP2 team watching his father Guillermo tearing it up in NSSCRA.

Since William had missed the preseason test in Wilitya, there was little time for him to get to grips with his new car. One thing that he really liked was how his helmet actually kind of fit in with the overall livery of Heroes (all-white helmet with only three stripes in the colors of the Fleftic flag offset over his left side).

William had spent all of the qualifying session in Nekoni just testing out what the car could do. He tested out the car's handling and aera on hard tyres before taking the soft tyres for a spin to test out acceleration and top speed. Probably why he ended up in third place in the practice standings, but everyone knows that practice means nothing when it comes to quali.

"You have only one shot at this, William," the engineer assigned to him said. "One lap. Make it count."

"Yes, sir," William replied. The KS-03 hummed rather than screamed as William revved the engine, and then the pit crew gave him the go signal to get into the pit road.

William tried to keep his mind away from any thoughts of the clock. He knew that he had to be fast if he wanted to make a good impression of both himself and his team, and if he started thinking about seconds and milliseconds any move he could do to gain time might actually make him lose it.

William barely noticed the checkered flag waving as he passed it by. And then his engineer gave him his time. "43.245, William," the engineer said. "You're on provisional pole."

"No way! Really?" This was the first time ever that William had ever been in P1, even if just for this moment. Back in the CGPRA with UrGa the highest he ever got was P6. But he also knew that it wasn't over just yet. There were still drivers who had yet to take their qualifying laps.

But as William watched all the other drivers turned in slower times than he did. By the end there was only one driver left to pass the checkered flag; Drake Stevenson, driving the eight wheeled UHSGV-4. William thought it was a weird car; it definitely wouldn't have made the cut in CGPRA just for the sheer number of wheels.

Stevenson didn't look like he really had the handle of the car in practice, but everyone knew practice didn't mean anything. And as the Hapiloppian stock car driver turned open wheel racer crossed the line, everyone looked with bated breath at the standings.

P1 STE, P2 ARC.

"No way," William repeated, this time in a quietly shocked and disbelieving tone. This was gonna be a very interesting season.

[Auruna]

Free Practice Session
Circuit Arnaud, Faranelle-les-Halles, Nekoni

"There's no point getting into a race with the others out there, we just need the data for setup." The race engineers say to both drivers as they are out on their practice laps.

The team tries to do their practice programme they have planned in under two hours. They know that they will have difficulties with the circuit due to the long straights and the fast corners making up most of the circuit. The VL-01A will surely struggle, especially at the straights.

"Okay Olivia, try to push at the straights next lap, let's see how the car performs there." The calm words uttered by race engineer Erik Halenna to Olivia Stone as she approaches the final two corners.

The sound of a V8 can be heard at the distance, revving high as the car exits the final corner then on to the main straight where it flies past the Viska pit wall.

"Alright, keep pushing this lap then box next, we'll be focusing on race pace for the rest of the session."

[Togonistan]

Circuit Arnaud, Nekoni
Qualifying

Dom Falepeau drove his flying lap. Heading into Le Poignard, he saw Isaia Fanene's Kaylan in front of him heading to the pits. Exiting the corner, Dom was forced to cut off the track to safely pass the car on in-lap, thus losing some solid seconds there.

''Arrrrrgh! That Kaylan there...''

''Yes Dom, we saw it.''

''That's some bollocks, I literally had zero room to pass him there. What a shame.'' Dom mumbled as he shook his head in misery.

[Diarcesia]

Sara Luna
During the practice
By the end of the second lap, Carmichael Fire had caught up. He followed my lead and was sitting in 11^th, just behind me. The other ones behind me feel that they are faster as the round went on: they were able to make up time and pass me by...

---

Qualifying
It was bad enough that I was in 21^st at some point. It was far from over though, I made do with what I had.

The Poignard was my saving grace, for it gave me an edge over some of the more... eager competitors. It was a great place to pass those who make mistakes in negotiating this turn. I had faith in my car. I had faith in my braking. I had faith in my steering. I was ready to give my all this weekend. There was a fire within me that told me this race was possible. I just need to identify what was causing me to fall behind after a relatively smooth start. It's like the Adelphia-VMR test runs again.

---

Afterwards
I didn't know what to make of it. My teammate's congratulations seemed to pass from my left ear to the right without any effect. The reality that all what I did for practice was for naught and landed me in the 18^th position in the starting grid means that this race will be an uphill battle for me and this occupied my mind. I was left wondering if maybe I overreacted in some of my decision making during the round.

What I did next seamed automatic: I told Carmichael how much I appreciated the offer from the team and returned his congratulations. I asked him what he thought about my chances of doing well in the season. I'm still unsure of how it will go: I'm new blood in this series and new lessons are presented to me almost daily. Becoming a mainstay here will take real work. While Tier Three races appear to give me the foundational basics, my first actual Tier Two race is vastly different (again, even if it's a qualifying round). Maybe having access to a mentor will help?

---

Phoenician Tires Representative
"I'll be sure to do my part. This is going to be a relatively hot year. First race day is right around the corner. It's going to be a blast once the season is in full swing. There's so much excitement."

Her body language told another story. It appeared as if she's preparing for the worst. Something had to give when you're the guy expected to do everything. The truth is that even she didn't expect to do too much this year. It was bound to happen eventually, that Phoenician will seek to expand their presence eventually. She was now a reflection of the company to Adelphia-VMR. For her employer, the stakes of screwing things up are too great to wave off.

"How did the tires perform?" she asked a blond-haired technician.

"They seem to perform reasonably well, the newest compounds employed in the tires in use by the team gave data consistent with our simulations with the higher average speeds of a WGP2 race. The flip side is that at the current rate of wear and tear, I estimate that the needed pit stops at worst might increase by about 5%. Not visible in a single race, though it will show over the course of the season."

[574 words]

[Auruna]

Qualifying
Circuit Arnaud, Faranelle-les-Halles, Nekoni

It's time for qualifying, and the unforgiving format is used for the weekend. All drivers only have one attempt and they will be sure to make it count. Viska has been pretty silent after practice, and it looks like they will put up a fight despite a car not suited to the full-throttle sections of the circuit.

While the car is being prepared to be sent out on track, Erik and Alexi are having a conversation at pit wall.

"We're purple on sector 1 in practice, not too close in 2 and 3. How about you guys?" Erik asks Alexi over the sound of the cars out on track.

"Just a bit behind." Alexi answers, looking at the two violet VL-01s.

"Don't worry about it mate, it's just practice. Let's focus on quali now."

Alexi sighs. "Alright." Then he signals the mechanics. "Ready up, we'll be starting our runs soon!"

Erik is now planning on doing a tow for both cars. "We could use a tow on the Pleiades Straight... Hm... I think it could probably work." Erik now informs Alexi and Jöna about the plan.

"The plan is to give both cars a tow on the longest straight here. That's where we struggle the most due to our focus on aero. Now, send one car first then right before the timed lap starts, send the other out so that the first car gets a tow during their timed lap by the other in the out-lap. Then the second car out will get a tow in their timed lap by the other in the in-lap."

Alexi, astounded by the plan asks. "I think it's a great plan if it works, but is it allowed?"

"Let's find out then." Jöna's final decision to go forward with the plan will hopefully go well in their favour.

Well, good news, it did. Both drivers placed third and tenth respectively.

"Not bad. We have tough competition but we're quite happy with the results."

[Savojarna]

STV2 live broadcast of the qualifying in Nekoni

The camera switches onto the out lap of Roman Arjenko. Weather is alright, as it has been all session, and the car glistens in the Nekoni air. Arjenko pulls into the final sector, warming up his tyres and brakes a bit. His name and a small Savojar flag appear in the bottom left of the screen, the timer showing 0:00.00. Above, there is another bar, showing the current leading time by William Archer. The car goes into the final corners.

“And now, he comes into the last few corners. Here, you want to take up some speed, get ready for the upcoming track, and take out as much speed as you can onto the last straight. Come on Roman!”

The car pulls out onto the finish straight with speed, the time starts running against Archer’s 1:43.245. Arjenko positions himself for the first turn, getting the SVJ 2 smoothly around the corner and into the sweeping kinks that come up.

“Very precise steering here by Roman. He loses the car ever so slightly in the Four, but now we get to the meat of this course. This is the first important turn, Turn Five, and he slightly misses the apex here but we’ll see how much that cost right now… it’s a little bit, one and a half tenths down. All of that can be get back in the second sector, let’s go!”

Arjenko runs a little bit wide in Turn 6, and has to correct in Seven. The SVJ 2 slingers a tiny bit around the end of the car as it turns into Toboggan, with Arjenko holding it perfectly on track to hit the exit well.

“Now comes the most important part of this track as we have seen in the previous few runs. The exit from the Eleven onto the long straight is so important. The speed on Pleiades Straight will not be what decides this thing but it will play a really important role I think. Let’s go into this! Hits the first one good, and now watch out to not accelerate too fast. The key is to enter the chicane slowly and then accelerate early. Steady around the Ten, now speeds up… YES! This looks good! Arjenko gets out very fast, look at that meter. The electric engines do their job here on the exit, and we’re approaching the second intermediate… down to .09 seconds. It will be a thriller in the last sector!”

The car slows down to approach Le Poignard, flinching through the final corner as it pulls out of the tight corner and losing a little bit of speed, but quickly making it up with the acceleration power of the car. The final combination has to decide, with the times extremely tight.

“This looks good through thirteen and fourteen, but Archers last sector was good. What is in it for Roman Arjenko and SVJ Racing? We’re approaching the final corners - NO! Runs wide in Sixteen! This tightening corner is treacherous, and the time is gone for Arjenko in regards to the pole, but we can still hope for a good time. And he approaches the finish line in… Fourth place! Fourth place, with Kowalski, Goita, Stevenson and Aurora still to go”

[Nekoni]

Despite being a local round, the first round at Arnaud was a bit of a new experience for Mika. She had certainly driven hot laps around it before, but never in a racing situation...and never in something quite as fast as the cars she'd be driving this season. It was a bit of a touch-and-go start to the season, too: she wasn't able to get the practice she really needed in the new car as the team's status and drivers were still up in the air right up until the night before the first qualifying session, however, after a few practices around Polestar's test track, the car was beginning to make sense to her. An eighth place at the pre-season test was solid enough, especially on a circuit that had all the flow of well-laid tarmac, but Arnaud was the first scorable test, and it started well.

Although the circuit was a fast, aggressive one, the old-school character of it made learning it fun. Its flow was something else: every part seemed to directly influence the part directly after it, sometimes two or more after. Stringing a lap together on this track required skill, but God, the payoff was worth it, as she'd find out after nailing the fastest time of the day on the Friday.

However, Saturday's qualifying required the consistency, with the added challenge of only getting one lap to do it. Fair? Probably not, but certainly just. If one wanted to be a championship-quality driver, one must be proficient with both endurance and sprint driving. As the fastest on Friday, she would have the final qualifying session, and her time to beat was cemented. "103.116 seconds. Beat that, and you're on pole in your first race. If you want to make a statement, this is how you'd do it."

---

First sector, done. The car kissed the inner kerb of turn 5 as sweetly as she'd ever done it. Firing round the toboggan, she felt that this was it. As she mastered the immediate chicane and powered down the long straight, the radio echoed through the car. "This is elementry, mate. Nail the next turn and you could smash the record." As the Polestar blitzed the track, she could see the road ahead of her narrowing as the stadium beckoned. Le Poignard. There naturally weren't as many in the stadium as expected for a non-raceday, but the crowd was still quite audible, and of course they would be loudest for their nation's driver. Their team was already sitting nicely in the second row thanks to Greanaya-Matthewson's fantastic 4th place run, but now it was time for the breadwinner to come on.

Neretti's brain blocked out the sound of the outside world for the most important turn of the track. She instinctively braked hard at the 100 marker, dropped the gear down to second, turned sharp left, and...just before she could correct the steering out, Mika felt a sharp pain in her neck. She roared in pain, and reached for her neck with her left hand...the one she was trying to control the car with. It steered directly into the wall, bouncing off and leaving the car backwards as the crowd looked on in stunned silence.

"Jesus Christ! What happened!? Are you OK!?" the radio shouted out to her, and in the heat of the moment Mika froze. What had happened? Was this a remnant of her accident a couple of years ago? Surely this would have healed up already...right? Of course, as the thoughts raced through her head, the clock was still ticking. Mika managed come to her senses, and bite through the pain just long enough to bring the car home, but the damage had already been done. 22nd. Third worst.

Back in the trailer that night, her neck was still in pain, but Neretti had to relax it. With a fair few painkillers down her, and a big bag of ice on her pillow, she laid back on her bed and studied the course with her tablet. Taking pole would be 'making a statement', the pit boss said this morning. Well, just getting a point from her position tomorrow might make a bigger one.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Nexus Racing HQ, Crossbay Circuit, Nimbus Bay, the Nexus Wardship of Former Citizens of the Nimbus System
8th of February

“Right!” Gertrude folds her arms, Drake Stevenson-directed grin wide on her face as she places a hand on the sidepod of her, and his, UHSGV-4. “I’m sure you’ll want to get to know how this beautiful machine works. Valen will go through everything with you later, but as an introduction…”

She points towards the car’s convertor cover. “Three sources of forward thrust! First are the Imagikinetic convertors, which apply force across the car. One stays forward, the other changes direction as you turn the wheels; both push the car downwards when you don’t need the power. They can also be partly directed to the other car, if either of you need it. The other is in the wheels! Each has an in-hub motor powered by electricity from the Imagielectric convertor, brake regeneration and photovoltaic paint.”

“Speaking of wheels, there are eight of them! More grip, better braking and acceleration – and it gets better.” Gertrude smiles, crouching alongside the front fender and gesturing for Drake to join her. “See the way they don’t quite line up with the edge right now? In Motion have given us cambered tyres – the inside’s narrower than the outside, so you’ll have better grip through the corners as the car leans on the outer wheels. More than that, though, as you get up to speed on the straights,” and now she grins, “they tilt up to ride on the hardened outer edge. Less friction, higher top speed. Oh, and you don’t have to worry about tyre temperature – the Imagithermal convertor does that for you.”

“Now, aerodynamics!” Gertrude stands, tapping at the car’s upper pylon. “Almost every surface can move to increase or reduce drag. Probably the most valuable feature that people outside the team don’t talk about; Vance and Tiffany are constantly improving it. There’s also the tri-fan array, which slashes the underfloor pressure to add downforce.”

“In terms of driver aids, you have the most sophisticated suite on the grid. Your overalls have tiny motors woven in to support your body and quicken your reactions and we’ll fit your helmet with a projector to display information about the car and the race, visuals from the onboard cameras and supercomputed predictions of your opponents’ lines. There’s also automatic suspension, braking and power adjustment by the car’s onboard computers. And, of course, we’ve still got the automated starting, which I’m sure you’ve seen! First mid-season upgrade we brought and it’s still working wonders off the line.”

“Finally: safety. We pioneered the DIADEM – that’s still here. Two Imagikinetic systems make the air around the car and the car itself that bit ‘stickier’ to stop it from disintegrating in a crash and another neutralises projectiles. Beyond that, everything’s isolated from the grid so it can’t be hacked, not after what happened to Jean. You are not getting hurt on our watch.”

“Questions?”

Circuit Arnaud, Faranelle-les-Halles, Nekoni
Qualifying

Gertrude leans back in her chair on the pit wall.

“Mmm. Think he’s got it.”

[Filindostan]

Circuit Arnaud
Faranelle-les-Halles, Nekoni
air.NK WGP2 Race of Nekoni Qualifying

Bryant Gambal watches on the pit garage of Badai Angin-IGR, with a keen look on both cars of Dom Falepeau and Rod Gozum. The team had a less-than-ideal testing session at Willitya, despite Rod's top five finish, the Togoni driver had a tough outing driving the TT02, finishing dead last of the 20 drivers testing that day in the Diamond Bay Circuit. Bryant still felt confident about the chances of the new car, with Dom only having several days before the first test to adjust and acclimate more to the car prior to the first race weekend, a short flight from Filindostan northeast to Nekoni at the Circuit Arnaud in Faranelle-les-Halles.

Bryant's fears were not so much confirmed, despite Rod's failure to crack the top ten, he was well within a second of the top driver Mika Neretti. More good news was that Dom was only a few hundredths off the Nekonian driver in second. The mood at the IGR camp was optimistic before the qualifying session the next day.

The day qualifying came, and the team struggled to make their performance yesterday make count, as the very nature of the qualifying session made it difficult for the two drivers to impress. Dom almost had a run-in with compatriot Isaia Fanene and had to let his hot lap compromised. That caused the lead driver of the team to lose precious seconds and struggle to complete his only qualifying lap. Rod though had a worse outing. Thinking he could set up as many laps as he would like, he coasted the first two corners of his flying lap. His engineers were perplexed at the sight, as they see nothing wrong with the systems of the car.

"Mate, what are you doing? This is your only flying lap."

"Uhm, sorry, I thought this is not a one-shot session."

"We repeatedly told you that you have only a lap to set a time. Okay, push hard now, let's just make it up in the race."

"Roger."

With the pedal to the metal and fuil throttle, Rod pushed the car to its limits. However, he was already nine seconds off the fastest time after two timed sections. Rod was speeding in the straight leading to the chicane at turn 10 and 11, when he lost grip of his Solymok tyres, and lost even further ground, nearly hitting the barriers at the run-off area at the start of the Pleiades Straight. He lost a further eleven to twelve seconds recovering in the straight, eventually clocking in last of the 24 drivers and will start the race from the back of the field.

It was a nightmare opening round for Bryant and the crew, but they have the race itself to rectify any issues that they had today.

---

Over in the Kaylan garage, Barnabas was focused on one goal - to beat Rod on the track. It was on his mindset when he realized he was being pushed out of a seat he had already a dibs after a rubbish rule preventing teams signing drivers from their own nation or signed in their driver programme. Barnabas was signed on both Solymok and Badai Angin's driver program, so it would be a conflict with Rod's seat as well. He could have sabotaged the test presented to him at Kaylan, but the offer of an increased sponsorship as well as the opportunity to beat Rod fair and square at the track pushed him to snag a seat at the Togoni team. Despite not being the fastest in the private test, Abdoulaye Goita's preference meant that the second seat at Kaylan was his to take.

In the tests, he was still acclimating at the Kaylan car, despite already having Solymok Tyres aboard the car. He was two seconds off the pace from Rod at the Willitya test, but had the Filindostani's number at the practice and qualifying sessions at Nekoni, clocking in fourth in practice, but will start alongside Dom, in which he would have been driving if the rule wasn't there in the first place.

Barney and Rod will have a mountain to climb if they want to score their first points of the WGP2 season.

[708 words]
OOC Note: Barney still has the Gergary racing license, hence the IC justification of Nimbus' driver allocation rule.

[Vilita and Turori]

air.NK WGP2 Race of Nekoni, Circuit Arnaud, Faranelle les Halles, Nekoni :: It was a deal that had been on the backburner since the NSSCRA campaign but never finalized. A spot of light on the NSSCRA circuit for debut entry Valkyrie Motorsports from Valentine Z, Jolyn Helen Maxine Caulfield Ceeta qualified for the NSSCRA Chase as the top performing driver from her team even picking up a Race Victory along the way. At some point, however, Jolyn realized she wanted to try something else. She wanted to try open wheel racing. While there was no Grand Prix team in Valentine Z, she had made a number of contacts during her time on the NSSCRA circuit and began inquiring with them about the possibility of joining a team on the World Grand Prix 2 circuit to gain experience in an Open Wheel car at a high level of competition with a potential view to competing in a future season of the World Grand Prix Championships. In the end, Vilita & Turori Motorsports with Tropicorp Engineering stepped in and offered Jolyn a drive. She was fast in the pre-season test session at the Diamond Bay Circuit posting the 6th best time and faster than her more experienced teammate Cocoabo #23.

It may have been a bit of beginners luck as Jolyn had issues during Qualifying in Nekoni and will start her debut Grand Prix from 23rd spot on the grid, a long way to go if she will finish in the points. However, VTM Tropicorp saw what Jolyn could do in her first season driving an NSSCRA Stock Car and is hoping that the learning curve will be short for the driver of the #40 VTM Tropicorp WGP2 machine and she will soon be competing for podium finishes as the VTM Tropicorp Engineering team look to compete for the WGP2 Constructors title.

Of course, the other half of that equation will be Cocoabo #23. "Fast Cocoabo" is a veteran of the WGP2 circuit having now competed in all three seasons of its existence. Cocoabo #23 was the Runner-Up during the inaugural season of WGP2 competition and is still searching for that elusive championship performance that would prove they are ready to advance to the World Grand Prix Championship level. While Cocoabo #23 was outperformed by their less experienced teammate during the pre-season testing, it has been all business for the Cocoabo since arriving in Nekoni with the #23 posting the 6th best time in practice and 8th fastest time in the Qualification session.

Perhaps more concerning, however, is the fact that Cocoabo #23 is the only driver on Tropicorp Sifaka tyres starting the race inside the Top 10. While InMotion Tyres occupy two of the top 3 spots and three in the Top 10 it was an uncharacteristically unimpressive display from Tropicorp. After Fast Cocoabo, it would be another Vilita & Turori driver, Jama'obo Pegasii, posting the next fastest time for a Tropicorp Racing Supply backed driver as Pegasii will start 11th on the Grid. While much of the pre-season chatter surrounded Nexus Racing's unveil of the 8-wheel beast of a next generation WGP2 machine, it is perhaps' Pegasii's Naval Corps Grand Prix ride that has turned the most heads, appearing to have been fashioned straight off the dockside with excess parts from the construction of a steam-powered submarine. The reflective glow of the Vilaye Energy Drink logo against the unpolished iron backdrop turned perhaps as many heads when it was first unveiled and now many are wondering if the two unique machines will be competitive against the field when the green flag drops in Nekoni.

[Recuecn]

Abdoulaye clapped Roman on the back as he climbed out of the car. “Congratulations, man. Sweet lap.”

“Thanks!” It was obvious that Roman was pretty pleased with his qualification time—and he deserved to be. He’d definitely be starting within easy reach of a podium, unless somehow everybody left did even better than he had, but that was unlikely: Kowalski, doing her lap now, was already struggling to some extent, still getting used to the car—and who could blame her, the US Navy vehicle probably handled something akin to ironclad battleship. Abdoulaye and Stevenson as well, who were still to go, had performed very poorly in practice…

As Roman left the garage to continue celebrating his qualification and begin whatever he had to do to prepare for the race, Markko, Abdoulaye’s race engineer, pulled him aside and addressed the elephant in the room. Already he could tell what was on Abdoulaye’s mind, which was impressive, given how inexpressive Abdoulaye was. But on the other hand, given the context, it was pretty clear that Abdoulaye—and his team bosses—were still concerned about his poor performance in practice.

“Look, you’ve just gotta put that out of your mind and focus on just nailing the one lap. It’s just one lap, so don’t stress about it. Either it’ll go well or it won’t.”

Abdoulaye wasn’t having it. “Yeah, but Markko, that’s exactly the problem. If I couldn’t get within three seconds of the lead in three hours of practice, how am I supposed to beat my best time in a single lap!? And by a full six seconds, just to be in the top half of the grid? It’s not gonna happen.”

Juri walked past just then. “Goita, get in your car, you should be on the track already.” Abdoulaye grimaced, and shared a look with Markko. The terseness was deserved—Abdoulaye had no excuse for his performance in practice. The car had been totally fine, he’d just been consistently mediocre—for three hours straight.

“How does this happen,” Abdoulaye moaned. Am I just not good enough? he thought. I do actually belong in the WGP2, right??

Markko ushered him aside, but Abdoulaye pulled away, pointing to the car. “I need to go—”

“No, listen to me,” said Marko. “You can’t drive worth shit in this condition. Pull yourself together. Close your eyes.”

“What?”

“Close your eyes, I mean it.”

Abdoulaye did as he was told.

“Take a deep breath. Forget about practice. Remember how you felt in Wilitya? Think about that. Keep that feeling in your head. Keep breathing. You can do this, we know you can, you know you can, you’ve done it before. Sure, you’re not consistent. To hell with that. You don’t need consistency, this is one lap. Now show us what you’re fucking made of.”

---

01:43.313. Fourth, for now. Apparently Abdoulaye was made of some good stuff, and it was a reminder he needed.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

---

WEEK 2
Circuit Arnaud, Nekoni

---

Conditions:			Light Showers
Laps:				29
Event:				air.NK WGP2 Race of Nekoni
Safety Car Deployed on Laps:	3, 4, 15, 16, 17, 18
Cars on Grid:			24

Start		After 7 Laps		After 14 Laps		After 21 Laps
 1 ▍STE		 1 ▍WES +0		 1 ▍STO +0		 1 ▍GTA +0
 2 ▍ARC		 2 ▍STO +11.952		 2 ▍JHC +12.799		 2 ▍JHC +1.281
 3 ▍STO		 3 ▍ARJ +17.214		 3 ▍GTA +13.073		 3 ▍WES +6.448
 4 ▍LGM		 4 ▍GTA +20.629		 4 ▍LNA +15.479		 4 ▍FAN +12.07
 5 ▍GTA		 5 ▍BAK +23.631		 5 ▍WES +17.981		 5 ▍STO +12.237
 6 ▍ARJ		 6 ▍C23 +24.316		 6 ▍LAU +18.816		 6 ▍LAU +12.68
 7 ▍WES		 7 ▍GOZ +25.022		 7 ▍C23 +28.267		 7 ▍NER +14.177
 8 ▍C23		 8 ▍JHC +26.006		 8 ▍ARJ +33.153		 8 ▍C23 +14.713
 9 ▍FIR		 9 ▍FAN +28.165		 9 ▍AKS +34.763		 9 ▍LNA +17.78
10 ▍AUR		10 ▍PEG +29.284		10 ▍PEG +42.607		10 ▍FIR +18.105
11 ▍PEG		11 ▍LGM +29.606		11 ▍FAL +48.23		11 ▍AKS +20.117
12 ▍LAU		12 ▍LAU +32.241		12 ▍GOZ +48.453		12 ▍ARJ +25.716
13 ▍BAK		13 ▍ARC +32.872		13 ▍FIR +51.528		13 ▍PEG +27.649
14 ▍CRT		14 ▍LNA +39.796		14 ▍ARC +53.063		14 ▍LGM +27.678
15 ▍FAN		15 ▍AUR +42.447		15 ▍NER +61.721		15 ▍GOZ +27.776
16 ▍MTV		16 ▍NER +42.731		16 ▍BAK +66.805		16 ▍MTV +30.382
17 ▍LYN		17 ▍LYN +43.033		17 ▍LGM +67.374		17 ▍LYN +30.725
18 ▍LNA		18 ▍STE +43.346		18 ▍MTV +76.23		18 ▍STE +32.274
19 ▍MAT		19 ▍AKS +44.186		19 ▍FAN +81.639		19 ▍MAT +33.547
20 ▍FAL		20 ▍MTV +46.692		20 ▍MAT +86.251		20 ▍FAL +40.672
21 ▍AKS		21 ▍FIR +50.831		21 ▍STE +92.684		21 ▍BAK +47.929
22 ▍NER		22 ▍CRT +51.875		22 ▍LYN +97.501		22 ▍CRT +52.557
23 ▍JHC		23 ▍FAL +53.308		23 ▍CRT +104.485		23 ▍ARC +77.42
24 ▍GOZ		24 ▍MAT +68.794																					Fastest Lap Bonus Point: 40 JHC	117.965

Pos  # DRV Name				Team				Time		Pts
  1 77 GTA Abdoulaye Goita		▍SVJ Racing			01:14:27.515	25
  2 17 LAU Janne Laukkanen		▍Nexus Racing			00:00:03.373	18
  3 75 ARJ Roman Arjenko		▍SVJ Racing			00:00:06.662	14
  4 37 PEG Jama'obo Pegasii		▍US Navy				00:00:07.999	10
  5 97 BAK Edward Baker			▍SinVal Racing			00:00:13.506	8
  6 23 C23 Cocoabo #23			▍VTM Tropicorp Engineering	00:00:15.623	6
  7  7 WES Lourdina Westgrens		▍Bitten Heroes Academy		00:00:20.065	4
  8  3 STO Olivia Stone			▍Schkeska-VSK Viska Racing	00:00:27.251	3
  9 69 FIR Carmichael Fire		▍Adelphia-VMR			00:00:28.485	2
 10 73 LGM Lorcan Greanaya-Matthewson	▍Polestar Racing			00:00:34.015	1
 11 19 FAL Dom Falepeau			▍Badai Angin-IGR			00:00:42.262
 12 49 NER Mika Neretti			▍Polestar Racing			00:00:42.781
 13 40 JHC Jolyn Caulfield		▍VTM Tropicorp Engineering	00:00:43.519
 14 76 AKS Adriana Kowalski		▍US Navy				00:00:46.687
 15 21 MTV Taras Matviyenko		▍UrGa Motorsports Division	00:00:48.559
 16 18 FAN Isaia Fanene			▍Kaylan Racing Team		00:00:59.014
 17 44 GOZ Rod Gozum			▍Badai Angin-IGR			00:01:10.137
 18 72 MAT Barnabas Mate		▍Kaylan Racing Team		00:01:14.481
 19 81 STE Drake Stevenson		▍Nexus Racing			00:01:14.809
 20 33 LYN Laurencia Lynds		▍SinVal Racing			00:01:22.689
 21  8 ARC William Archer		▍Bitten Heroes Academy		00:01:30.964
 22 11 CRT Lane Carter			▍UrGa Motorsports Division	00:02:08.867
DNF 85 AUR Baxen Aurora			▍Schkeska-VSK Viska Racing	Ret. lap 14
DNF 50 LNA Sara Luna			▍Adelphia-VMR			Ret. lap 22

---

Pos # DRV Name				 Team                          Tyres           Pts
 1 77 GTA Abdoulaye Goita                SVJ Racing                    Solymok         25
 2 17 LAU Janne Laukkanen                Nexus Racing                  In Motion       18
 3 75 ARJ Roman Arjenko                  SVJ Racing                    Solymok         14
 4 37 PEG Jama'obo Pegasii               US Navy                       Tropicorp       10
 5 97 BAK Edward Baker                   SinVal Racing                 Tropicorp       8
 6 23 C23 Cocoabo #23                    VTM Tropicorp Engineering     Tropicorp       6
 7  7 WES Lourdina Westgrens             Bitten Heroes Academy         Stellenbosch    4
 8  3 STO Olivia Stone                   Schkeska-VSK Viska Racing     In Motion       3
 9 69 FIR Carmichael Fire                Adelphia-VMR                  Phoenician      2
10 40 JHC Jolyn Caulfield                VTM Tropicorp Engineering     Tropicorp       1
10 73 LGM Lorcan Greanaya-Matthewson     Polestar Racing               Cypress G2      1
12  8 ARC William Archer                 Bitten Heroes Academy         Stellenbosch    0
12 11 CRT Lane Carter                    UrGa Motorsports Division     Tropicorp       0
12 18 FAN Isaia Fanene                   Kaylan Racing Team            Solymok         0
12 19 FAL Dom Falepeau                   Badai Angin-IGR               Solymok         0
12 21 MTV Taras Matviyenko               UrGa Motorsports Division     Tropicorp       0
12 33 LYN Laurencia Lynds                SinVal Racing                 Tropicorp       0
12 44 GOZ Rod Gozum                      Badai Angin-IGR               Solymok         0
12 49 NER Mika Neretti                   Polestar Racing               Cypress G2      0
12 50 LNA Sara Luna                      Adelphia-VMR                  Phoenician      0
12 72 MAT Barnabas Mate                  Kaylan Racing Team            Solymok         0
12 76 AKS Adriana Kowalski               US Navy                       Tropicorp       0
12 81 STE Drake Stevenson                Nexus Racing                  In Motion       0
12 85 AUR Baxen Aurora                   Schkeska-VSK Viska Racing     In Motion       0

Pos NAT Team				Tyres          Pts
  1 SVJ ▍SVJ Racing			Solymok        39
  2 NIM ▍Nexus Racing			In Motion      18
  3 SHW ▍US Navy				Tropicorp      10
  4 EFL ▍SinVal Racing			Tropicorp      8
  5 V&T ▍VTM Tropicorp Engineering	Tropicorp      7
  6 LIS ▍Bitten Heroes Academy		Stellenbosch   4
  7 AUR ▍Schkeska-VSK Viska Racing	In Motion      3
  8 STW ▍Adelphia-VMR			Phoenician     2
  9 NEK ▍Polestar Racing			Cypress G2     1
 12 PDN ▍UrGa Motorsports Division	Tropicorp      0
 12 TGN ▍Kaylan Racing Team		Solymok        0
 12 FID ▍Badai Angin-IGR			Solymok        0

[Somehow Related to Rarity]

Carmichael Fire
Nekoni

---

Before the race I was in a daze. Yeah, finishing in 9th for qualifying was cool, but would it be enough to get a race win? I was pushing myself to at least get a step on the podium. At least I would gain some international recognition.
Another thing was the surprise employment of my (super)agent, who just appeared out of nowhere without prior warning. The thing I was concerned about was her lack of experience in motorsports. She claimed she ‘had read everything up about motorsports’, but was I supposed to be convinced or something?
The good thing was her super organisation. She was quite neat and she had a truck load of books. Her “resume” said that ‘she successfully organised a winter wrap-up’. That sounded convincing enough, because the team was constantly busy, and I couldn’t handle anything with my messy nature.

Just before the red lights went off, I was constantly praying that I, as well as Sara, wouldn’t mess up during the race. As a rookie team our goal was to prove that hooves could shape cars as well. In other words, don’t come last.
My fears were almost confirmed when I spun off track at Le Poignard, lap 5. That turn was daunting because of the acuteness of the turn. I had kept a steady pace for the first few laps, but my worries were piling up. Would I make it? That made me turn too wide, which left me stranded on the gravel. A LOT of cars passed by me, and by the time I had come back to the track I was languishing in 21st place. What sucked more was the fact that Sara had gained some places.
From laps 8 to 14, I didn't let my worries hinder me and I managed to creep up the standings to 13th place. By then, Sara was prowling around in 4th place, looking to make a move on Goita, who would have been my teammate. At lap 21, I managed to break into the points, but I was back where I started. Luna, however, retured a lap after because of something. It was a shame because she was in a position to snatch a podium.
I didn't make any progress after that, because I stayed 9th until the end. Despite getting 2 meagre points, I still felt bad for Sara, because she would have a chance to win the race.
After the race, I comforted Sara, 'Don't worry. It's the first race you have several other races to prove yourself.' After that I left for the team office.
[433 words, 890 words in total this week]

[Trans-Dniesters]

William Archer hated rain. He never could race as good as he wanted when he was on inters. He didn't know if it was a mental block or something else but he just couldn't be as aggressive as he wanted in rainy conditions. Every position that William lost, he was never able to regain.

William also remembered why he hated one shot qualifying. It gave everyone a false sense of superiority for those at the top and false inferiority at the bottom. One lap time wasn't indicative of what everyone's cars could really do. William thought he had a great car when he got P2 but now it turned out that he still had much more to learn about the KS-03 than he thought.

At least he didn't mess up big time like UrGa did. What were they thinking, slapping on full wets in only light rain conditions? Part of William was glad he wasn't driving for UrGa this season. He could already imagine Vasily Gatutin slamming the table in frustration as his drivers dropped further down the table. Not that William could speak. 2nd to 22nd was perhaps the steepest drop any driver had ever had in this race.

---

"Our forecast predicted the rain would get worse, which is why we went for wet tyres," Taras Matviyenko said in the press conference. "But obviously it never get any worse than light showers. I got off as soon as I could, but I don't know about Lane. You'll have to ask him."

[TJUN-ia]

In the end, it was the tires...

That was what set Lane back in this race...the tires. UrGa had put wets on, believing that the weather could get worse as the race went on. It never did. For a definite chunk of the race, all he could hear was Ukrainian shouts into his radio. But because Ukrainian has still an enigma to Lane, he didn't get the message ("Pit NOW!") until it was too late.

After he pitted, it was just coasting to the finish. Two retirements spared him from further suffering.

P22. He had surely fucked up.

Next up: Filindostan and the WGP2 Ras Kabishawan Puroll on the streets of San Marco...

[Auruna]

Race
Circuit Arnaud, Faranelle-les-Halles, Nekoni

The race went into chaos because of the rain. As the the cars are getting packed together as the safety car gets deployed lap after lap. Jöna already knows that this will be a difficult race for the team. The fast circuit's surface is wet and because of that, chaos ensued at certain sections of the circuit.

"Be careful mate, track's wet, let's change setup next lap." Alexi says while he is guiding Baxen Aurora through the slippery circuit. "Don't push too hard, let's try to finish this race."

Lap 14

Setup changed and Baxen Aurora is just cruising along, trying to keep his position. Everything seems fine to him and his race engineer, Alexi. Then Baxen got in a little race with one of the Adelphia-VMRs.

Alexi noticed it. "Mate, don't get too aggressive with them. We want to finish the race."

Baxen managed to defend at Turn 5, full throttle at exit. Turns 6 and 7 are both fast corners, and with the wet surface, an accident will probably happen. At Turn 7, even with a millimeter of contact with the wet parts of the track, Baxen lost all grip and slid off the track. Because of the high-speed nature of the corner, he slid at speed which carried him to the wall. The brakes are not an option anymore as grip is non-existent. Then... crash.

"Nie--!" Alexi quickly contacts Baxen with the radio, concerned after the crash. "Baxen, are you alright? That was a hard impact, please tell us that you're alright."

Alexi is worried until a response came from Baxen. "I'm alright, not hurt at all."

"Whew, I was really worried. We care for our drivers here in Viska, so any crash like that will make all of us worry." Alexi is now relieved to know that Baxen is alright.

Viska is now one car down but Olivia Stone is in the top 10, still holding strong.

"Safety car out next lap, save tires."

The third safety car of the race will be deployed on the next lap, bunching up the cars. Reset will be chaotic, just like the race itself.

[Togonistan]

Circuit Arnaud, Nekoni
Race

Tanielu Felafa kept a close eye on the race from the Kaylan pit garage. The way things were going right now put a taste of bitterness to his mouth. Fanene had done rather well at the start of the race, gaining places and battling for points until he had made an error of misjudging a corner on the lap 12, which caused him to lose a lot of time. Mate, meanwhile, had a bad start and struggled behind. As the race head on, a series of on-track incidents caused a safety car to be brought out for 4 laps in a row. They needed a plan, if they were to fight for the points still in this race.

''Isaia, pit this lap. You're going on slicks.'' It was a bold decision, however, with the rain having toned down a bit, team engineers had calculated that slicks should be a little faster in the current conditions.

''Got it,'' Fanene said and came in for a stop, dropping all the way to P19 on the grid after the exit.

''Okay, set engine mode 3. ERS mode 4. Let's push!''

The next following laps saw Fanene flying through the track, taking over one opponent after another. Approaching lap 21, he was battling Lourdina Westgrens.

''Are we full power?''

''Affirmative. You're P4, Westgrens in front.''

Getting to Pleiades Straight, Fanene turned on his DRS and got into Westgrens slipstream. As he was about to make his move to overtake, he heard some crackling noises from the engine.

''Guys, I heard some noise in the engine... is everything okay?''

''Roger, checking it...''

''I'm losing power. Losing power. I think the engine might be toasted.''

''Set engine mode 1. ERS mode 3. Bravo setup 2. We need to finish this race.''

''Got it... I'm like a sitting duck here though.'' Fanene looked around as one car passed him after another.

''3 laps to go, just hang on and bring the car home.''

Eventually, Fanene finished the race on P16, passing the finish line a mere second before Rod Gozum. The engine failure on his car had ruined what could have been both his as well as the team's first ever WGP2 podium.

[Diarcesia]

THE FOREIGNERS ARE READY TO FIGHT.
BUT DANGEROUS SPIRITUALS ARE HIDING.
THE SAME WITH THE DARK UNKNOWN.
THERE IS A LEADING LEAGUE OF VETERANS, BUT IT IS NOT MAJORITY-FREE.

She was sure of it this time: she pushed her car too hard and thought she can carry on one more lap without doing a stop. Oh was she so wrong. Just when she knew the trick behind mastering the track, and the podium was in her reach despite of her disadvantageous starting position...

"Yes, who's this?" Sara paused the heavy metal music she's listening to when the door knocks caught her attention.

It was Carmichael Fire, her teammate. Perhaps he was seeking to check on her. Sara was visibly upset in the pit garage in the aftermath of lap 22. Not angry, only upset.

"Don't worry. It's the first race you have several other races to prove yourself," he said.

"Well, I'll have to start slow for sure", said Sara. She looked at the clock. This was a difficult situation given the results of the first qualifying session. The starting order had already been determined in only one lap, and the errors were made in that segment surely rippled into the race itself in the form of suboptimal decisions.

"I had faith in my car," she said. "It's got to run fast on this track. I know it can put up some fast times, and it did. If not, I'll experiment. What will probably work out for us will hopefully do us well in the next race."

The duo chatted about the upcoming race in Filindostan, and what motivates them to push to succeed.

[274/1000 words]

[Valentine Z]

Jolyn and Adriana – Qualifications and Actual Race @ Circuit Arnaud, Nekoni

JHC: 23 / 08 / 02 / 02 / 13 (Standings)
AKS: 21 / 19 / 09 / 11 / 14 (Standings)

Their very first Formula Race, they thought to themselves. It could have been better, but at the same time, it was not too bad, all things considered. The two Valentian women, after attending the debriefings and watching their results, decided to stroll off to a nearby park.

“So…” Adriana trailed off, “What do you think of today?”

“The light showers,” Jolyn replied with a degree of confidence, “I am just glad that the weather is in our favour. I very much prefer the humid but cooling weather. You know what happened to me in NSSCRA 8, right?”

“Ohh yeah, that was terrible!” Adriana exclaimed, recalling the time when Jolyn had a near-accident when she fainted during the race, “I’m glad it didn’t happen here.”

“I’m glad as well, although… I wonder if I could ask the folks to install a quick-and-dirty AC system inside the car, you know? Just somewhere around my legs, cooling me down and whatnot.”

“But that is going to increase fuel usage, Jolyn!”

“Yeah, that I know, but… I probably need to do it. I cannot take this blasted heat! Maybe I should have asked the Valentians in the lab to give me heat tolerance. I just love my original body, even after they offered me the synthetic choices.”

“Well, goes to show that you love yourself!” Adriana remarked, giving a soft smile to her dear friend.

“Why, thank you!” Jolyn replied back with a chuckle. Two Valentians in a strange world around them, with little to no one that they know. This time, it was much, much different from NSSCRA; this time, the crew and the vehicles, they are not Valentian property. Any kind of accident, whether intentional or not, might have to come from the Valentian budgets. The money seems to be not a problem, but the reputation.

“So how do you feel representing the US Navy?” Jolyn once again asked curiously.

“It was all right!” Adriana exclaimed, barely able to keep her excitement as always, “Despite the comments, they have been very, very accommodating, and well-meaning! I only feel a bit sad that I was not able to win them any points.”

“But you finished right behind me! Or at least the results show so!”

“Yeah, but I guess you and I are the cut-off points. So the race went all right, but I have to take… new measurements and calculations. The rain, to be very honest, messed with my data. I was used to the dry conditions from the qualifications… and this rain, just made all the data and prediction trends I have more or less inaccurate.”

“Hmm, I see. Maybe we just need to work on that more. You know, instead of waiting for the qualifications, you could practice in a simulator and change the weather settings accordingly.”

“That sounds brilliant! I never thought of those before; it was my memory carried over from those arcade game days. You know how they are not too accurate, right?”

“Oh yeah… they are fun, though!”

“Hm hm, definitely! What about you, Jolyn?”

“Ehh, same old,” Jolyn would say, almost the same answer as Adriana. Deep down, she wanted to answer something else, but it was not because she did not trust Adriana; she simply did not want to worry her friend. After much coaxing, Jolyn finally spilled the beans. The team that she was in did not ask for any of this, but she felt the commitment and the duty to do as well as she did back in NSSCRA 8. Jolyn felt like the world of racing is watching her once again – to see how much this NSSCRA rookie can make it in the world of WGP2.

That, and the mystery of why Jolyn chose to go for Formula One racing out of all things, if she was fearful and annoyed by road courses in the first place. Perhaps her adventurous nature was simply taking hold of the situation, giving Valentina the key to her #15 on that one day before they depart Valentine Z to make their way to separate destinations. At the very least, Jolyn was simply glad that she got Adriana around to keep her in check. Jolyn thought of herself as much more experienced, but there is perhaps something about Adriana’s nature. Ever since Day 1 since they met each other, Jolyn knew that much like Clarissa, behind the computing mind of a robot is a friend who will always be there for her. That, and the fact that she is 11 feet tall (and somewhat of a muscular tone) would prove that two of them would have safe travels, whatever the threats they might have.

“Well, we could take a picture!” Adriana exclaimed, “This park reminds me of Valentine Z’s beauty, and I want to bring back something out of this.”

Click on the image for a bigger version.

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The next day, Jolyn would write up and nicely ask the staff and people at VTM Tropicorp Engineering regarding her request.

"... And so, I don't really mind the heat of the engines, don't worry about that! It's much better than being in a Stock Car. All that said and done, I was wondering if you folks could add an air conditioner or some sort of a fan into my suit, or my helmet? I know that the AC on the car itself might not work, since I am already wearing this racing suit. So... maybe in the helmet itself?"

(904 words, excluding the headers and the pre-tagged position indicators.)

[USS Monitor]

The Navy engineers were getting a lot of weird looks from the other teams, and sometimes from their own drivers, as they puttered around the paddock with paper and slide rules using words like "impracticable" to describe the difficulties of improving their cars. They had plenty of energy and enthusiasm -- especially after drinking liberal quantities of Vilaye Roast -- but no high-tech devices.

The drivers seemed intrigued by the Navy's strange vehicles and Atlantean algae, but wary of the slide rules and drafting paper. The engineers saw that the other teams had devices that were unknown to the men of the 19th century, but they did not understand what all the devices were or why everyone was giving them such strange looks when they pulled out their slide rules. Surely, people must still need slide rules even in the modern world?

Regardless of any doubts they had about the slide rules, Adriana and Pegasii drove well and were surprisingly competitive. The Navy man who had initially tried to turn Adriana away because she was a woman looked very sheepish now that he saw how well both drivers were doing. The engineers were pleased with how the cars were running. They'd worked out the worst of the kinks in the design, making them easier to steer, which in turn made it possible to drive faster without rolling over. The thick steam clouds billowing out of the exhaust seemed to annoy other drivers, though. They couldn't figure out how the other cars ran so cleanly, without spewing smoke and steam all over the track.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Circuit Arnaud, Faranelle-les-Halles, Nekoni
Post-Race

Olivia Stone pulls back into the pit lane. Slowly, surely, its tyres slick against the damp ground, her VL-01A rumbles its way towards the queue of cars and slides to join its end. She slumps in her seat, attempts to bring her hands to her head and, when she fails to be capable of doing so, slowly clicks the visor up and down. Imagination. Between Baxen’s safety car and spinning…

Baxen, come on. These are your conditions – you should have been right there! Why…

She turns her head, craning her neck to look up at the podium, frustration and wistfulness mingling in a gaze obscured by gathered droplets.

Olivia sighs. Then she clenches a fist and breathes, before pushing up the HANS device from around her neck. I’ll be there. We’ll be there. Just gotta keep going.

She strides towards the weighing area, half a dozen optimisations already flickering in her mind.