Part 3 – Same Team, Different Directions.
Augustine Lorenzo Vinto Silas Imparato stood 651.99 centimetres tall, dressed nicely in a smartly casual navy blue suit with olive green accents. Beside him stood Angeline Joyce Estefania Mik Nogueira, 692.53 centimeters tall, and also dressed in a navy blue blouse and skirt, but with cyan accents here and there. Some would call them a couple but for the Valentians, they are not in any particular romantic relationship as far as they are concerned. They see each other as a close friend to rely on, and they are simply here for the Rally racing, not so much of anything else dubious in particular. As per their recent actions, they got the offer from ENSADRINK WSR Tarogama Mazaregi, and it was definitely their first choice from the very get-go, overlooking any other teams regardless of performance. With the contracts signed, Angeline gave a cheerful remark to the staff members, “Thank you very much for the offer, we really appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts! As you may want to know a little bit about us, we have definitely driven and co-driven for your team for the first season of this wonderful rally sports, and we are glad that you are able to give us the offer. We Valentians are a little bit like that – give us the offer for our very first foray, and we will stick with you for the subsequent seasons, and we will definitely try our best!” Augustine then nodded, adding in more words and input of his own, “You may have heard of the likes of Adriana and Angela, for example. They first got their experience on WGPC and WGP2 via Fireline and Eminent respectively, and from what they have told us and from what we have seen, they have been with them ever since. It will be very unlikely that they will change teams, and we intend to do the same for ENSADRINK as well. We will definitely try our best, and again, grazie!”
The ENSADRINK WSR Tarogama Mazaregi team possibly have had doubts about how in the world the Valentians were going to fit in their car. Which, of course, the Valentians got it covered. Using techno-magical abilities, they’re able to shrink themselves down to much more manageable sizes, with Augustine at 195.8 cm and Angeline at 208.0 cm after shrinking down by 3.33 times. They got into the car, did a bit of trying here and there, including going for a practice runs that are up and coming. For all intents and purpose, it would have taken them a bit of time to get used to the car once again, and it showed with the first pre-season test whereby the Valentians have nothing to write home about. It would be the second pre-season test in Hjortborg Rallysprint, when it started raining and Augustine and Angeline surprisingly got a crowning moment of awesome. The practice session was not as good, but the qualifications was when they picked up the pace, dominating the field with having the fastest timings for all the three quarters. “Well well, how about that!” Augustine remarked, patting Angeline on the back as they watched the scores and looked around at the rest of the teams. The rain was getting a bit heavy, and everyone else seemed to be taking shelter or going back into their own cars. Augustine and Angeline, however, looked at one another as they smiled sweetly, and then back to the scoreboard, “It’s amazing, we have never done this before! I mean, I know it’s just qualifications, but… it’s still something, right?” Angeline asked, to which Augustine nodded, “Oh, it totally is, of course. The actual races are just around the corner, and it would seem as if the two Valentians are ready to take it on, consoling and reassuring each other as they then walked towards their car, drenched but still very elated.
Of course, what happened in the next races would have been something else entirely – a rather average finish, along with the DNF that happened at the 2nd Special Stage of Wakkanai Winter Classic. It was a little too early for a DNF, they thought to themselves, sitting down and having a break while they mull over what they should do next. Already with the penalty that have been mounted on them for the DNF, they have to think of a miracle to happen for the next race before they screwed the pooch on this winter course. “I should have practice a little bit more for the winter conditions,” Augustine remarked to Angeline, who was sitting cross-legged on a log near the car as she was flipping through the notes. Augustine went on, “Maybe I underestimated how difficult they really are. Still, at least we didn’t crash that badly, so that’s good. Just need to kink the car’s body a little, then we are good to go. I hope.”
