World Grand Prix Championship Season 15: Roleplay Thread

[Audioslavia]

Raceweek 5 - Race Two
Gran Premio de San José Guayabal

Conditions: Dry
Laps: 58

Pos # Driver               Team			Race Time	Behind Preceding car	Pts
 1 17 Eaoueaiou Aeouiouie        	1:42:16.681	+0:00.000
 2  1 Terho Talvela              	1:42:20.179	+0:03.498
 3 91 Ilyas Nurlibaev            	1:42:31.871	+0:11.692
 4 94 Ryker Lane                 	1:42:35.757	+0:03.886
 5 80 J. Jensen-Fletcher         	1:42:36.441	+0:00.684
 6 37 Axel Novikov               	1:42:58.490	+0:22.049
 7 23 Moisés Delgado             	1:43:24.160	+0:25.670
 8 20 Mick Schramm               	1:43:24.685	+0:00.526
 9  5 Julianos Lemos             	1:43:24.848	+0:00.163
10 51 R.L. Cruisin               	1:43:52.672	+0:27.823
11 14 Oliver Bliss               	1:43:53.211	+0:00.539
12 53 Denholm Kingsley           	+1 Lap		
13 99 Maria Cattaneo             	+1 Lap		+0:00.013
14  7 Ethan Ellis                	+1 Lap		+0:03.512
15 77 iBen Toralmintii           	+1 Lap		+0:03.807
16 16 Alexander Lund             	+1 Lap		+0:03.168
17 42 Alex Dimitrianov           	+1 Lap		+0:01.289
18 63 Kurt Censki                	+1 Lap		+0:02.972
19  6 Marika Pedanovic           	+1 Lap		+0:08.608
20 74 Alexander Mayari           	+1 Lap		+0:01.200
21 89 Will Madison               	+1 Lap		+0:02.587
22 29 Esteban Guilhermez         	+1 Lap		+0:05.540
23 55 Asao Nadakei               	+1 Lap		+0:18.265
24 52 Sayono Souzare             	+1 Lap		+0:33.685
25 24 Victoria Gardner           	+1 Lap		+0:05.483
26 18 Louis Krindle              	+1 Lap		+0:01.614

Drivers' Championship Standings

1	1	Terho Talvela		MRT		32
2	17	Eaoueaiou Aeouiouie	Telaris		25
2	6	Marika Pedanovic	Nexus		25
4	37	Axel Novikov		Telaris		24
5	80	J. Jensen-Fletcher	Fireline	18
6	91	Ilyas Nurlibaev		Kjeligsted WGPC	14
7	94	Ryker Lane		Nexus		10
8	55	Asao Nadakei		Arada		8
9	42	Alex Dimitrianov	Fireline	6
10	5	Julianos Lemos		Bitten Heroes	5
11	23	Moisés Delgado		MRT		4
11	14	Oliver Bliss		RSR		4
13	20	Mick Schramm		Bitten Heroes	3
14	53	Denholm Kingsley	Eelandii WGPC	2
15	51	R.L. Cruisin		Arada		1
15	16	Alexander Lund		Wilson		1
17	89	Will Madison		MSA-SinVal	0
17	18	Louis Krindle		MSA-SinVal	0
17	52	Sayono Souzare		McPahan		0
17	63	Kurt Censki		McPahan		0
17	74	Alexander Mayari	SFeG		0
17	24	Victoria Gardner	SFeG		0
17	7	Ethan Ellis		Wilson		0
17	29	Esteban Guilhermez	RSR		0
17	99	Maria Cattaneo		Kjeligsted WGPC	0
17	77	iBen Toralmintii	Eelandii WGPC	0

Constructors Championship Standings

Telaris		49
MRT		36
Nexus		35
Fireline	24
Kjeligsted WGPC	14
Arada		9
Bitten Heroes	8
RSR		4
Eelandii WGPC	2
Wilson		1
MSA-SinVal	0
McPahan		0
SFeG		0

Thanks again for your patience during the delays this weekend. One-day delays are the norm, as real life occasionally renders it impossible for me to be at my computer all weekend, but two-day delays should be few and far between. I'll also try to update car liveries properly this week.

Cutoff for Friday's practice session should be late on Friday night, after 10pm.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Ryker Lane's Chase Cutter surged from his grid slot, the new auto-launch system triggering the Imagikinetic and Imagielectric converters in the same instant as the lights' dimming. His own car, itself silent as ever, was filled instead with the noises of the other racers starting around him.

The noise on Ryker's left got distinctly louder as Terho, just as predicted, swept over to cover his right flank against any potential attack from the Nimban, putting him most definitely alongside the champion, his nose about half a meter from Terho's right rear. Ryker set his eyes forward, keeping on the power as the two tested their vehicles' acceleration against one another; the UHSGV-1, having begun its increase in velocity earlier and kept straight as an arrow in contrast to the manoeuvring of the MRT, began to draw alongside. The Nimban driver smirked; everything was apparently going to plan.

Now for the difficult part; Rohrmoser Street approached. Ryker briefly glanced in his left wing mirror - EA had made a good start, yes, but nothing too threatening in a car with worse acceleration than either his or Terho's machinery - then focussed again on the task at hand. His job was to get around the outside of the first corner while staying alongside the Abovian, to whom he was still relatively inching forward, so that he could have the advantage into the second. Here the UHSGV-1's various support systems would help him out - the UPRS gave him unparalleled downforce while the CS-TCCL simply made the line a whole lot easier to trace - but it would still ultimately come down to Ryker's own skill.

The two cars neared the sharp left-hander. Terho braked first, preparing to turn in; Ryker touched his own pedal lightly a moment later, preserving his momentum for -

What in the universe is that?

A white and blue blur shot forward, blasting alongside the MRT just before Terho could turn in; the Abovian, unable to keep to his line, was forced wide - and that left Ryker nowhere to go. The CS-TCCL, rapidly performing the calculations needed to keep the Chase Cutter on circuit and off the wall, briefly locked all four tyres before limiting power to the right front and rear alone. The result was a huge billow of smoke from the UHSGV-1.

The team's response was immediate; even as Ryker wrestled the car round the first bend (and letting Ilyas Nurlibaev through in the process), somewhat stunned as to how things could have gone so wrong so quickly, Gertrude was on the radio. "Ryker, assessment is L heavy, R medium level - switching to mode E2 now for safety."

"I hear you!" The Nimban driver, now having to cope with horrible vibrations as he watched who he realised had to be Eaou - Eaouea - EA and Terho just behind speed away from him, barely registered the message; 'E2' was the emergency mode opposite to the 'E1' used at the previous race, diverting all Imagination flow to the Imagielectric converter as opposed to solely calling upon the Imagikinetic converter. This mode was slower but provided greater control and kept the vibrations relatively stable, as opposed to the erratic bouncing that the team had experienced when testing with flatspotted tyres while using Imagikinetic power during development.

Ryker barely kept the rest of the pack behind him through the second corner as Martin threw his hat into the communications ring. "Ryker, we are now defaulting to Plan C with a 1/6 box. Hold any challengers up for the moment."

Easier said than done, the Nimban mentally grumbled. His outward response - "Understood; on the defensive!" - was, of course, more measured and less irritable.

[Mattijana]

"That's more like it!" Exclaimed Johan Struna, and pretty much everyone else in the MRT garage.

After a very Rocky first weekend, in which they had somehow scraped a podium finish and 15 points, the team seemed to be showing some of the form that they had got out of the car in testing. Practice had been poor, but expected after some experimentation and slight overprotection of the gearbox, which had failed in the previous qualifying session. However, once the engineers began to turn the wick up, things immediately improved.
Both cars did enough to get through to the second qualifying session, Terho without even using a set of his fastest-compound tyres, and things looked to be close to top potential as Terho set a blistering first lap in the second session, which no one was particularly close to. he was reeled in at the beginning of the second runs, going out to cover for any surprise lap. But he needn't have worried as his closest competitor, Ryker Lane in the Nexus, finished almost 3 tenths down on that first lap.
Things were more frustrating for Delgado. A mistake on the first lap cost him about a second and a half and he found himself wedged in what was seemingly the only bit of traffic on the racetrack on the second run, rendering him unable to improve. A top 10 was a solid result though, particularly after the disappointment of last weekend. He saw cars that he could pick off as well.

the start was crazy. EA in the Telaris had made a blistering start, whilst Ryker Lane was right in the mix from second on the grid. Yet it was the Chromatikan who made the most ground at the exit, shooting down the inside of the Chase Cutter, round the outside of Terho, and somehow into the lead of the race.
Lane had been caught out by the brave move, losing control for a split second and needing all his car's engineering prowess to keep him out of the wall. Moises, caught up in the resulting mosh pit, managed to make some ground as Torlamintii took evasive action, breaking his front wing on the corner of the Nimban's machine. Delgado fought his way down the inside, exiting turn 1 with the two Bitten Heroes cars directly in front of him.
They had had a good quali and a decent getaway, but were no match for the MRT over the long slog of the race and Moises picked them off one by one, planning a move over the third sector of the track and then eventually making one stick into turn one, the only clear overtaking opportunity over the course of the long lap. That hauled him into an impressive 6th after the 20 lap mark.

An imminent battle with Axel Novikov, the young, but immensely talented Abovian rookie ensued after a smart strategy call after the first tyre stint. Numerous overtakes back and forth came, but Novikov managed to grind out a lead, which was capitalised on over the second pit stop round as Moises' undercut attempt was almost successful, but repelled by a par of soft tyres on the Telaris. That seemed to settle things, with both Terho and Moises unable to find a way past their respective opponents.

Things were undoubtedly better than before however. Terho had scored another podium, improving from 3rd to 3nd, whilst Moises had risen marginally up the field to score a respectable points finish in 7th. Despite losing some ground to EA, Pedanovic's relative disaster in 19th had put him back in the place he wanted at the top of the driver's standings. A good double points finish for the team had moved them up into second too, with only the impressive Telaris ahead of them. It was going to be a tough fight, but at least the weekend in SJG had earned them a foothold in that fight.

[Audioslavia]

"I'll spare you the details" said Gilles, running a hand through his mess of curly brown hair, wincing, ready to give his boss some bad news, "but we're getting about 85% of the power from the engine that Link promised we'd get from the V6."
"We knew we were taking a hit with regards to top speed and total output when we switched from the V8" added Stewart Clark, nodding at his fellow lead engineer, "but not this much. The boost we get from the reduced weight.. it isn't enough at the moment"
Stan McPahan might have torn his hair out if he'd had any left. As it stood, he simply removed his hat and discarded it into a corner of the conference room.
"How long?" came the team owner's only question. Stewart shrugged.
"Until we can get it fixed? Until we're back at least in the middle of the pack, power wise? Weeks"
"And until we're back in the top three?" asked Stan, knowing the answer already.
"It might not be possible this season" said Roger Bunn, as diplomatically as possible, "Nexus have the tech advantage, MRT got the better drivers, Telaris have the lighter car, Bitten Heroes will have the home advantage next race, Fireline have more brute-force power than our car, while WGPC Kjeligsted are benefiting from a partnership with Olson, who we weren't expecting to have started so strongly"
"That's the problem" said Jackie Johanson, twirling her own McPahan baseball cap around a finger. "We've had, what, four years straight of focusing on the next race. Other teams, those with a bit of riches and a bit of time, have been able to innovate."
"We've made steps forward" reasoned Gilles, "Radoslav has done well with fine-tuning the inner workings, oils, pistons, even down to the paint, but it's marginal gains"
"We're just... we're just doing things the old McPahan way aren't we?" said Johan Johanson, Stan McPahan's right-hand man. It was a rhetorical question, greeted by silence from Stan, who merely looked over, quizzically. Johan continued.
"We fine-tune and we lighten and we remove whatever's unneccessary while others bolt trinkets and gimmicks to their machines. To put it another way, we're here with our trusty old book entitled 'How to make a great racecar' and we've ripped out all the pages and paragraphs and words which we think we don't need until we're left with a pamphlet that describes, as we see it, the optimum layout for the classic racecar."
"What's your point?" asked Stan.
"My point is that, well, other teams.. they just buy new books. Maybe... I don't know. Maybe we should be starting from scratch. Rip up the old book and throw it away. Redesign. Rethink every single step. Question everything we thought we'd learned."
"What, now?" asked Stan. "Practice for the Lisander grand prix starts in less than 48 hours"
"No, not now. But soon. Next season. Either way, I think if we've learned anything in previous seasons it's that we're getting left behind, technology-wise."
"How about the drivers?" asked Stan. "What's your verdict?"
"Too early to tell. Censki struggling, still, Souzare knows what she's doing but, hey, it's not easy"
"Get as much as you can from them" ordered Stan, nodding. "Back to the garage, you lot. We've work to do. Ask Radoslav for ideas. See if the crazy old man has any tricks up his sleeve"
"Will do, boss" chorused the room.

[Aboveland]

Terho yanked Anni to the right as soon as he got off the line in a cloud of smoke, Lane's Chase Cutter gaining ground fast. It had gotten off to an exceptional start, with absolutely no loss of traction or power delivery at all, in stark contrast to Terho's sloppy, unfocused launch. He'd not lost enough time to fall back, however, and going into turn one he was right ahead of Lane, with fewer than a couple of meters to spare. Finishing behind Lane would be embarrassing in more ways than one. If his tough talking reply to Lane's challenge proved futile, he'd look like a complete idiot.

The reigning champion lunged into the inside of turn one, hugging the wall bordering the raised kerb and making sure to brake early, so as to catch Lane off guard and force him to take the outside line. However, his plan had cost him much needed speed, and while he had pulled ahead of the Nimban he wasn't counting on third placed Aeouiouie shooting past him on his right. EA squeezed right through the precise gap between Anni and the leading Chase Cutter, emerging from a plume of tyre smoke the leader, with incredible speed.

The stubby Telaris machine had had way more speed than Anni going into the corner, and on the follow through it showed. However, Terho wouldn't let her go. He planted his right foot square on the right pedal and rocketed forwards with immense speed, courtesy of MRT's spectacular power unit. However, the shorter wheelbase on the car ahead reigned supreme on the city circuit, and it wasn't until lap 9 that Terho managed to overtake EA on turn 20, but only just.

Axel had had a much more harmonious start in contrast. After a second qualifying mishap he'd been banished to tenth place on the grid. This time, a podium would be much more difficult. As he went into turn one he immediately took the outside line, going right around the first four cars ahead of him. Unfortunately, the leading Nexus Racing machine blocked him out of another overtake, and soon both he and iBen Toralmintii were locked in a two wide battle into the second turn, Novikov on the inside. Toralmintii made an aggressive lunge into the turn from the outside, prompting a heavy brake from Novikov and thus losing him fifth place. However, Toralmintii relaxed his driving following the frantic first turn action, unleashing a rabid Novikov into the wild. On turn 13 he dove into iBen's left side, braking extremely late on the inside line and narrowly avoiding a race ending collision. The Turorian, now forced to back off towards the outside, gave way for the Abovian rookie to snatch fifth position. While he was no pushover, he was no match for Novikov's exemplary car control.

Terho and EA had been swapping positions since the ninth lap of the race, and it had taken its toll on both drivers' tyre wear. Terho had pulled ahead by five seconds and the gap was steady; however EA's more carefully conserved tyres had given her a large advantage. The world champion pit a lap earlier than he had anticipated, ruing his decision to attack the Chromatikan so aggressively. His woes continued in the pits as a tyre changer fumbled about with the fresh medium compound rubber, losing two seconds.

Most of the rest of the race had been quite uneventful. On Terho's last pit stop, he'd opted to change the strategy entirely: after two stints of aggressive driving on medium tyres, rather than stopping twice more for a softer compound allowing him to attack EA more effectively, he opted to go on one final Medium run, but pledging to care for his tyres extensively. The arguing with Edvin via the team radio had cost him precious moments of concentration, yet finally his friend gave in. Terho pit for one last set of fresh Medium tyres that he hoped would last him until the end.

Further back, Axel had lost fifth position on his first pitstop and had fallen as low as 13th on his second. He, however, was going to go for the more aggressive strategy Terho had shunned. On his last stint of soft tyres, he clawed back all the time he'd lost from his strategic stops. A late pit from the three guys ahead of him saw Novikov shoot into sixth position, over a third of a second ahead of the train behind. It hadn't been such a monumental success story as the previous race had, but sixth was good enough for the Abovian.

Terho, however, was in trouble. He had managed to stay clear of EA since his last pit stop, but his strategy hadn't gone accordingly to plan. His two aggressive stints before had greatly lengthened his final stint, and the medium tyres were just not cutting it. He'd been conservative enough to stay ahead of the Chromatikan by three seconds going into the final two laps, but by then they could go no further. While some aggressive blocking techniques and late braking plumes sufficed to keep the rookie behind him, it wasn't enough to cancel out the time loss he endured on every corner. On turn 23, lap 58, his front right tyre endured no more punishment. In a tantalizingly slow shred, it lay out various strips of rubber on the track, which were dragged out across the turn into the outside line. With barely a few scraps left on his rim, Terho powered into the pit straight, watching EA cross the line with the excitement of a first win. This was the last time he'd ever favor a conservative strategy on such a tight race.

Still, it wasn't all that bad. As the initial disappointment settled, Edvin cried victory on the team radio. "Terho, great job," he started. "I told you so, but you did a great race. Now take that frown you probably have off your face and bask in the glory of the podium champagne. You're leading the championship, baby!" He finished with a chuckle, and Terho answered with the same. "Damn, the one time I don't listen to you!" he replied, cheerfully.

Once on the podium, Terho drenched EA in champagne as she did the same, with a priceless grin on her face. She deserved the win more than anyone. As the bubbly drink trickled down Terho's hair into his back and onto his ears, he too let out a laugh. His win would surely come eventually; his championship hopes were alive as ever.

[The Serbian Empire]

Message to Nexus Racing from Tigar Tyres

We're issuing a set of tyres between the super hards and the mediums in hardness. The blistering issues on Marika Pedanovic's car were worrisome enough to warrant four pit stops. We believe that the optimum hardness is actually between the two despite Ryker Lane finishing in 4th yesterday. This is why we have the hard tyres on the ready for the next GP. Less grip than the medium hardness tyres, but more than the super hard tyres that were victorious in Eastfield Lodge. Tyre life should be comparable to the super hards. Lap times were fastest in the field for Marika, but trying to drive the way she was trying to get into the points will only result in tyre issues. Medium tyres are probably best suited for tracks with lower speed corners at this point.

Marika Pedanovic's Press Conference

"Why did you finish 19th?" a journalist from the Beograd Journal asked.

"Four pit stops, two for blistering of tyres from trying to run the corners as fast as the others in hopes of overtaking them. Hard to win when you lose a full minute on the track from pitting two extra times. The Nexus UHSGV-1 is a fast car and reliable, but the systems make for cornering issues where one's either overheating tyres or not cornering as fast as the competition. In this case, going around trying to push 1:42.100 each lap in race trim and passing others only led to tyre issues as the laps were good for keeping pace but one of the blistered sets went down. Went from 5th to 14th in that lap and lost a good 15-20 seconds just trying to get back to the pits and came out 22nd. That was lap 13. There was no way to keep pace in traffic without going to a 3 pit stop strategy and I kept to the pace but the tyres gave out on the 3rd set at lap 51 with the feeling of the blistered set again. If I kept going, a crash would have been certain and I pitted in again going from 12th to 20th. Overtook Mayari with two to go but could go no further as the gap to Censki was a good 9 seconds. At least I ran the fastest lap in the race at 1:41.426 but a fast lap means nothing when you have softer tyres blistering from my own driving in hopes of getting points. I'm definitely not the most aggressive without driving over the capabilities of my car. And it's very easy to push it too hard with softer tyres to the point I went way under the target lap times but fried the tyres doing so," Marika responded.

"So how disappointed are you with today's result?" a journalist asked Marika.

"Well, I'm more disappointed in myself than in the car or tyres. Pushed the car beyond what it could maintain the tyres with. I am strongest with tyres much harder than today's set. That and great in the rain. This weekend was bone dry and the tyres are softer. Easy to overdrive when starting from 12th realizing points aren't far away. It's really easy to overdrive with the softer tyres as more grip means more boldness and more wear," Marika said.

[WGPC]

Raceweek Six - Friday Practice


Grand Prix EON Lisander - 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

Pos # Driver			Team			Fastest Lap	Behind Leader
 1  5 Julianos Lemos               	0:01:29.518	0:00:00.000
 2 23 Moisés Delgado               	0:01:29.535	0:00:00.016
 3  1 Terho Talvela                	0:01:29.540	0:00:00.021
 4 37 Axel Novikov                 	0:01:29.584	0:00:00.066
 5 94 Ryker Lane                   	0:01:29.586	0:00:00.068
 6 20 Mick Schramm                 	0:01:29.611	0:00:00.093
 7 51 R.L. Cruisin                 	0:01:29.690	0:00:00.172
 8 18 Louis Krindle                	0:01:29.759	0:00:00.240
 9 14 Oliver Bliss                 	0:01:29.789	0:00:00.271
10 63 Kurt Censki                  	0:01:29.827	0:00:00.309
11 53 Denholm Kingsley             	0:01:29.856	0:00:00.338
12 77 iBen Toralmintii             	0:01:29.876	0:00:00.358
13 80 J. Jensen-Fletcher           	0:01:29.883	0:00:00.365
14 52 Sayono Souzare               	0:01:29.907	0:00:00.388
15 99 Maria Cattaneo               	0:01:29.925	0:00:00.407
16 17 Eaoueaiou Aeouiouie          	0:01:29.931	0:00:00.413
17 16 Alexander Lund               	0:01:29.948	0:00:00.430
18  7 Ethan Ellis                  	0:01:29.958	0:00:00.440
19 24 Victoria Gardner             	0:01:29.979	0:00:00.461
20 89 Will Madison                 	0:01:29.995	0:00:00.476
21 74 Alexander Mayari             	0:01:30.002	0:00:00.484
22 91 Ilyas Nurlibaev              	0:01:30.014	0:00:00.496
23 55 Asao Nadakei                 	0:01:30.063	0:00:00.545
24 29 Esteban Guilhermez           	0:01:30.159	0:00:00.640
25 42 Alex Dimitrianov             	0:01:30.192	0:00:00.674
26  6 Marika Pedanovic             	0:01:30.743	0:00:01.225

Cutoff for Saturday's Qualifying event should be after 10pm UTC on Saturday. There shouldn't be a delay this time (touch wood) but, as always, there's the chance that we may scorinate on Sunday and Monday instead of Saturday and Sunday.

[The Serbian Empire]

A hotel room chat on the phone.

"Remember the last time you were last in practice?" Predrag asked.

"Yes, I won from that situation. I think that the gap this time is much closer than last time and thus there's a decent chance I can do it again presuming blistering doesn't happen like last time. If rain comes into play, I might as well have it won. But the forecast isn't a guarantee. Even the best meteorologists are only accurate about 70-75% of the time. Anyways, how is the construction of Orsava going?" Marika asked.

"They're working on the pit garages right now. They should be ready by Orthodox Christmas," Predrag responded.

"That's a couple months before the start of the season. I think that's good news for us. Have you seen anything of the Onyx Marenisko OMR-18 lately?" Marika eagerly asked.

"Yes, they're got the chassis all constructed and attaching bodywork for next season's regulations. They're only a few weeks away from being able to test although Orsava won't be ready for months more. I don't know who they're going to bring into test the car though since you're at Nexus for the remainder of the season. Maybe Jovan Ortelli from the Dalmatija region would be testing it, but he's still in lower tier racing at this time," Predrag said.

"Well, ain't that a surprise. Maybe he'll be able to make the jump as well. I don't know how he is able to do this though. He's not visibly backed by big money sponsors or a multiple series champion. So he must be a driver who provides very good feedback for car development. Any team who has him would be like having another engineer on staff," Marika remarked on her contemporary.

"Yes, that's exactly why Jovan's being sought after to test the car. He's not good enough to race in the WGPC yet since you kind of crowded him out, but he's leading in the Serbian Open Wheel Championship points right now. Your absence has proven how at least competitive he had to be to be runner-up two years running. He's probably little more than a driver capable of lower level points finishes week in and week out. No threat to win, no threat to be a backmarker. But why would they seek a test driver, the WGPC rules have made them obsolete?" Predrag pondered.

"I have no idea. All I know is that I have to check the telemetry of practice to see what went wrong as to put me off pace," Marika mentioned.

"Alright, I'll let you be. Bye... and don't forget to bring me some of those pastries from Lisander. They're delicious," Predrag said.

Why does he want frickin' pastries. I'm no servant of his.

[Taeshan]

Oliver was rather happy with his practice performance for the third race of the season. In dry conditions he had done well in the practice for the Gran Prix Eon Lisander. In a place he had never been he came on track and did rather well in only really his first day at one of the shortest and fastest tracks on the schedule this season. He honestly really liked it, but knew that much like previous weeks all the teams were likely just getting notes and would likely pass by the seemingly unable to perform in qualifying, RSR equipment.

Beside him Enrique was having completely different thoughts. While yes Oliver's performance had been great in the previous two weeks including gaining 15 spots in the last race from start, ultimately he only had his 4 points from the first game and he wasn't getting help from his Krytenia teammate Esteban Guilhermez. The team had thoughts of competing for championships and right now they were barely competing for top 10s with their first driver and the second driver was busier flicking off his former teammates in the middle of races more than anything else.

The hope was that this time instead of qualifying badly and using the race to get a top spot that maybe the teams could qualify fast for once and actually compete through being close enough to the front to do so. Really Oliver pretty much was the driver picking up the most positions in the season so far moving from relatively far in the pack each time to finish rather well in each race. Now they just needed to really work together to actually get some real results and get back to competing out there on the race track.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Guard checks the times. "So, Marika is last, but she's running her race setup as usual. That's absolutely fine. In fact, being only a second behind is noteworthy; this could well be a repeat of Week One. Meanwhile, Ryker's up in fifth... Promising. Promising."

"Indeed." Martin looks over from the next pit wall seat. "Though anything less than victory in two days' time will not be satisfactory for him, I fear... He really does worry me."

"Speak of the stromling..."

Ryker's car reverses into the garage, his path traced by the eyes of those sitting on the pit wall. The Nimban driver immediately gets up out of his car and walks back towards the portal room, not even stopping to take off his helmet. His race engineer's eyes widen, worried, despairing. "This idea, Timothy, had better be a good one."

"It is. Now, if we're talking about good ideas, there's something else we have to mention..."

Timothy grins, turning in the other direction to train his gaze upon a supremely smug Gertrude Thompson. "Say it."

"That worked awesomely, Gertrude." Guard raises his hand to the sky. "Not a scratch on the car. Not a scratch!" He turns one digit to point at her. "Fantastic work."

"Yes, yes it was." Gertrude nods enthusiastically. "Aside from ramming it into a wall, there is nothing external to the UHSGV-1 that could possibly damage it."

Guard's grin turns wry. "And internally?"

Gertrude raises her hand to her chest, her expression one of mock outrage. "Why, Timothy, you wound me! 'internally' indeed! My design is beyond fault and you suggest that it might fail? The absurdity of it!"

The two burst out laughing and, despite his worries, Martin cannot help but smile. This truly is what makes the Nimban people and, by principle of reduction, Nexus Racing, great: the trust, friendship and harmony that lets them harness their differences, critique and build upon the work of one another, suggest and try left-field ideas that might be ridiculed in other nations as absurd.

Difference works. Creativity works.

You just have to embrace them.

[Vilita and Turori]

Circuito Callejero Plaza de Armas, San Salvador, San Jose Guayabal:: Despite a top 5 qualifying run and a lot of promise heading into race day at Circuito Callejero Plaza de Armas, Eelandii WGPC driver iBen Toralmintii once again struggled to keep pace during the race and finished a lap down to the race winner.

Having spent much of his World Grand Prix Championship career on works teams, iBen Toralmintii is perfectly familiar with having to struggle through a long day at the track, just hoping that drivers ahead of him would fall out of competition to allow him - the consistent, smooth running veteran, to sneak into the points.

Then, expecting to be a Works driver again during Season 14, Toralmintii got thrust into what ended up being one of the most dominant WGPC rides in recent history with the Tropicorp-funded Vilita & Turori Motorsports team. The dollars dried up after the season and as teammate and drivers champion Terho Talvela took his sponsorship dollars to Telaris racing, Toralmintii and the Vilita & Turori Equipment were sucked up by the Works system - and it would seem, into the grasp of mediocrity yet again.

As the circuit heads to Circuit Grandeville for the Grand Prix EON Lisander, Toralmintii has to be looking in the rearview mirror, wondering if World Grand Prix Championship 14 was as good as it was going to get as far as his driving career would go. With a capable test driver waiting in the wings, and a driver that Toralmintii had become close friends with during the previous two seasons - Juracai Klianiota - it would not be surprising at all to see the Turorian Terror step aside if things don't start improving fast for #77.

But its just two races into the season, and anything can happen. If you compare Toralmintii's performances through the first two races of WGPC Season 15 with the first two races of any season other than Season 14, Toralmintii is off to an average start. If you compare it to last season, however, the sky is, most definitely, falling.

As for the other Vilita & Turori driver on the circuit, R.L. Cruisin has also struggled to start the season but did end up claiming his first point of the season with a 10th place finish in San Jose Guayabal.

Far from the level of competition that the Vilitan driver was expecting when joining Hodori's Arada Motorsport team, but, at the very least, Cruisin is not tied for last place in the drivers standings with iBen Toralmintii. Cruisin will look to build on any potential momentum gained by seeing a non-zero digit in the points column and look to extend his streak of race victories in World Grand Prix Championship seasons. Next Stop: Lisander.

[WGPC]

Raceday 6: 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: WET

Pos # Driver			Team		Fastest Lap
 1  5 Julianos Lemos          	0:01:32.938
 2 37 Axel Novikov            	0:01:33.023
 3 51 R.L. Cruisin            	0:01:33.187
 4 20 Mick Schramm            	0:01:33.190
 5 77 iBen Toralmintii        	0:01:33.386
 6 14 Oliver Bliss            	0:01:33.391
 7 94 Ryker Lane              	0:01:33.406
 8  1 Terho Talvela           	0:01:33.420
 9 63 Kurt Censki             	0:01:33.421
10  6 Marika Pedanovic        	0:01:33.450
11 29 Esteban Guilhermez      	0:01:33.466
12 99 Maria Cattaneo          	0:01:33.504
13 42 Alex Dimitrianov        	0:01:33.563
14 17 Eaoueaiou Aeouiouie     	0:01:33.620
15 89 Will Madison            	0:01:33.643
16 91 Ilyas Nurlibaev         	0:01:33.691
17  7 Ethan Ellis             	0:01:33.716
18 23 Moisés Delgado          	0:01:33.802
19 74 Alexandra Mayari        	0:01:33.818
20 16 Alexander Lund          	0:01:33.848
21 24 Victoria Gardner        	0:01:34.031
22 55 Asao Nadakei            	0:01:34.044
23 52 Sayono Souzare          	0:01:34.207
24 53 Denholm Kingsley        	0:01:34.392
25 80 J. Jensen-Fletcher      	0:01:34.537
26 18 Louis Krindle           	0:01:34.644

Cutoff for RPs for tomorrow's race will be at 23:30 UTC tomorrow.

[Vilita and Turori]

Grand Prix EON Lisander, Circuit Grandeville, Lisander :: The rains rolled on Saturday at the Circuit Grandeville in Lisander and that was perfectly acceptable for the experienced Vilita & Turori racing duo of R.L. Cruisin and iBen Toralmintii. While other less experienced drivers saw their times drop in Qualifying when compared to the Practice session, and, admittedly so did Cruisin and Toralmintii's - they didn't drop as much, comparatively.

Of course, competing at his home track, Julianos Lemos and the Bitten Heroes Grand Prix Engineering #5 entry paced the field just like he had in the opening practice session. However, much to the delight of Vilita & Turori Motorsports fans, R.L. Cruisin will have his brightly colored Arada Motorsports entry right behind Lemos in third place on the grid. Right behind Cruisin, starting from the 5th position will be Eelandii WGPC's iBen Toralmintii.

Both drivers showed their skill in considerably outpacing their teammates. Cruisin's Arada Motorsport teammate Asao Nadakei put in an abysmal 22nd place showing, nearly 20 places on the grid behind Cruisin. but that wasn't as bad as Toralmintiis teammate Denholm Kingsley who will be even further back in 24th position.

With no teammates likely to ever be around to help, it begs the question as to whether Cruisin and Toralmintii will be able to put constructors differences aside and take a page out of the Eel-Cat Thing Manual of Collaboration between Nations of Colonial Origin and work together on Sunday as quasi-teammates to protect their Top 5 position and attempt to kick start the season for both drivers who have to this point struggled to finish in the points. If the rains remain it seems likely that One or both Cruisin and Toralmintii could be in the competition for a podium finish along with the two Bitten Heroes drivers and Telaris Racing's Abovian secondary sensation Axel Novikov.

[Taeshan]

The hive around the RSR headquarters at the racetrack in Lisander was bumping as everyone was chattering away almost as excitingly as they ever had. Both cars from the team had managed to finish in the top half of qualifying, with Esteban Guilhermez just .016 seconds away from being a second top ten qualifier. From the bad runs of previous weeks to a much more competitive qualifying for the third race of the season. The team seemed to have the cars firing on all cylinders, the drivers had them working at capacity and Oliver Bliss was sure that since for once he wasn't starting at the back of the pack he could work his way up to the top of the leaderboard and challenge for a win rather than have to work his way through much of the pack just to be in the points.

Oliver's 6th place speed was one of the best starts he'd had in his two seasons of racing and he was sure he could convert that into some major points in the third race of the season. Baring a freak accident he felt he could definitely compete, and it looked like the 2nd team was also working towards victory as they had found speed they had previously been lacking. With both cars in the top 11 that surely meant that at least one of them could get points for the team over the weekend and hopefully both could find a way to finish in the points grabbing them their first ever double points race, but also pushing the team to a different level as they looked to compete with the leaders after the first weeks of racing.

Oliver was ready to perform in the upcoming race and knew that if him and his team continued to push themselves his first win would be soon, he could feel it. In the last race he had drove up 15 spots by the end, and although not able to get a final spot to get at least 1 point he definitely had proved his worth, and was one of the most interesting cars to watch the past week as he worked his way from a terrible qualifying position to a respectable finish. Rewatching the live telecast he could see the amazement of the program's pundits at how he managed to almost effortlessly pass cars at times, but then seemingly took to long to catch up to the next.He had had his work cut out for him at the beginning and he had pushed to succeed. Now he just needed to continue to do so and soon the milk and alcohol would be all over him and not some other driver.

[West-East Timor]

Circuito Callejo Plaza de Armas, San Jose Guayabal

And there they were again. The journalists on the starting grid, asking always the same questions.

"Mick, you're starting from 8th position today..."

"Yes."

"Last time you started from eleventh position..."

"I know."

"Do you think you'll finish in points today?"

"I hope so."

"Ok... Is that all you have to say?"

"Well, I hope so. If I finish where I start, I'm in points, if I win places I will be in points, I can even lose two places and still be in points. So, if nothing goes wrong, I should be in points. I don't really like this track, but I'l do what I can. So yeah, I hope so."

The journalists had to go away, and Mick finally could get into the car.

"Ok, Mick", Max said. "You are starting on the inside line, so try to overtake Jensen-Fletcher in the first corner. I know you can do that. Then we'll see about the rest. Good luck!"

The warmup lap started. On the startimg grid, Mick's teammate would be in front of him now, but he'd concentrate on overtaking some cars on the first corner's inside line. He got back to the grid. The lights got red. And now, they were out.

In the first corner, Mick had no chance overtaking Jensen-Fletcher, instead, he and Juliano Lemos were overtaken by Moisés Delgado, on the first corners outside line.

In lap 10, Mick was overtaken by Denholm Kingsley in turn 12, but five laps later, he managed to get his 9th position back braking late in turn 8 and overtaking the WGPC Elandii on the inside.

In lap 30, he overtook iBen Toralmintii, who seemed to had a bad race. After his next and last pitstop, Mick was 9th again.

"Why am I 9th? Who overtook me?", Mick asked via teamradio.

"That doesn't matter, Mick. Try to catch Juliano, but don't risk too much trying to overtake him, we want both cars in the points."

Mick actually got very close to Lemos in lap 50. He tried to overtake him in turn 21, being to fast and touching Lemos' car, but luckily not causing a crash.

"Mick, damn! Be careful!", Max shouted.

One lap later, Mick managed to overtake Lemos in the same, and therefore finishing in 8th place, just where he started.

"Well done Mick. You're first points in your second race. Not too bad.", said Max. "I guess not even Marek can say that is bad..."

"Oh well, he almost crashed into his teammate, I wouldn't call that good.", Marek reacted immediately.

"Well, yeah, that was actually a bit too risky, Mick."

"I know.", Mick said. "Sorry."

---

Circuit Grandeville, Lisander

This was Mick's team's and his teammate's homerace, and therefore maybe one of the most important races of the season. Mick really wanted to impress here

Juliano already had finished first in practice. He seemed to be very motivated. Mick was as well. He got sixth in practice, not a bad result, he thought. He liked the track as well.

This was the first qualifying with only one session thus season. Mick was fast immediately, and finished fourth.

"Congratulations.", Max said when Mick got back to the garage. "Really good grid position!"

"Thanks!"

"But look at the leaders board who is on pole..."

"No way! Juliano is first? That's great. I should congratulate him.."

Mick went went over to Lemos.

"Hey, Juliano! I've seen you're on pole. That's great man! Congratulations! First and fourth... Chances are good Bitten Heroes are gonna have a good day tomorrow, eh?"

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

"Ryker, we plan to run a two-stop race to make best use of the tyres. The track is generally smooth but some sharp corners are present, so remember: make the corners into arcs that are as large as possible."

"Understood."

The tone is stony, unmoved.

"The cars ahead of you are clearly slower, so we expect that you will be able to take two places off the grid. From there, it will be a case of out-powering opponents on the straights."

"Understood."

No emotion.

"The only problem is immediately behind you. You know, I am sure, that Terho Talvela has a car of the same speed in eight place. With the automatic launch you will almost certainly have a faster start immediately; you, however, have traffic to contend with, while the track ahead of him is, due to your position, clearer. Be on your guard."

"Understood."

Nothing.

There is a brief silence on Martin's end of the radio, then a sigh. "Good luck, Ryker."

Ryker Lane, leading driver of the Nexus Wardship of Former Citizens of the Nimbus System, does not respond as he slides into his position on the grid after the warmup lap. He will win this race. Terho will not pass him. He will prove himself, and his nation, to the world.

Nothing else is acceptable.

[Audioslavia]

It was a full grid, this season, that was for sure. Some teams were new, some old, some, like his own, familiar but with unfamiliar colours and names. One thing they all had in common, though, was expectation. For every single team on the grid, from the established names such as MRT, Telaris and his own McPahan, to Wilson and Arada, down to the WGPC motorworks outfits and the newcomers like Fireline and Nexus, the idea of finishing outside the points was unpalateable. From the Cruisins and Talvelas and Toralmintiis to the Ellises and Krindles and Jensen-Fletchers, everyone expected points, podiums, glory, champagne, women, man, yachts, the lot. Twenty-six drivers from across the world, and each of them with one goal in mind. First. Number one.

Alex received the signal through his earpiece that it would be time to put on the helmet and get in the car in just three minutes. He nodded, affirming to the pitcrew that he understood. He looked up to see Alexandra Mayari, one car in front.

The two exchanged a glance. The glance conveyed a lot of information.

"Here we both are" it seemed to say. "Former World Champions, formerly the best the sport had to offer. 19th and 20th on the grid. Whatever happened to us?"

For Lund, maybe a little bit of age and a perhaps a lack of hunger that went along with having lived the dream already. A year or two of living a bit beyong his means, when it came to balancing his new found fame with the need to maintain fitness, perhaps had something to do with it as well. For Mayari, who knew? She, like Alex, had started terribly slowly in her championship winning season, yet had come through in the final stages to take a deserved World Championship, denying Lund a second in a row in the process. Both drivers had similar styles. Safety at all costs. Get the car round the track. Don't do anything flashy. Let the others make the mistakes. It had been enough for a World Championship each in seasons twelve and thirteen. Season fourteen? Neither of them had been anywhere near being on the pace. The sport itself seemed to be changing around them. Here they were, relics of the past, tailing along behind the young guns.

Both Alex Lund and Alex Mayari attached their helmets. They exchanged another glance, and this time a nod, as they had their helmets adjusted by the crew. Alex Lund remembered the look on Mayari's face as he'd shaken her hand (paw?) after her driver's championship.

Mayari remembered looking up at Lund's stricken car, balanced precariously on a bridge overlooking the circuit, back in season 12. She remembered the same driver spraying champagne everywhere after the last race of season 12, a newly crowned champion as she herself would be a season later.

Here they were again. Different cars, different opposition, but largely the same people themselves.

Here's to another go-round. The Alexes entered the chariots.

[WGPC]

CUT OFF for Race 3.

[WGPC]

Raceweek 6 - Race Three

Grand Prix EON Lisander

Conditions: DRY
Laps: 57

Pos # Driver               Team			Race Time	Behind Preceding car
 1 99 Maria Cattaneo             	1:29:08.524	+0:00.000
 2  5 Julianos Lemos             	1:29:24.806	+0:16.282
 3 94 Ryker Lane                 	1:29:43.204	+0:18.398
 4 37 Axel Novikov               	1:29:50.398	+0:07.195
 5  6 Marika Pedanovic           	1:29:55.316	+0:04.918
 6 14 Oliver Bliss               	1:30:07.887	+0:12.571
 7 77 iBen Toralmintii           	1:30:08.797	+0:00.910
 8 16 Alexander Lund             	1:30:12.334	+0:03.536
 9 63 Kurt Censki                	1:30:22.147	+0:09.813
10 80 J. Jensen-Fletcher         	1:30:30.101	+0:07.955
11 91 Ilyas Nurlibaev            	1:30:30.258	+0:00.157
12 74 Alexandra Mayari           	1:30:40.338	+0:10.080
13  7 Ethan Ellis                	+1 Lap		
14 24 Victoria Gardner           	+1 Lap		+0:02.650
15 42 Alex Dimitrianov           	+1 Lap		+0:22.275
16 89 Will Madison               	+1 Lap		+0:05.367
17 53 Denholm Kingsley           	+1 Lap		+0:09.004
18 52 Sayono Souzare             	Ret. Lap 53

DF 29 Esteban Guilhermez         	Ret. Lap 49
DF 23 Moisés Delgado             	Ret. Lap 36	
DF 51 R.L. Cruisin               	Ret. Lap 21	
DF  1 Terho Talvela              	Ret. Lap 12	
DF 18 Louis Krindle              	Ret. Lap 12	
DF 55 Asao Nadakei               	Ret. Lap 11	
DF 17 Eaoueaiou Aeouiouie        	Ret. Lap 7
DF 20 Mick Schramm               	Ret. Lap 1

Driver's Championship

1	37	Axel Novikov		Telaris		34
2	6	Marika Pedanovic	Nexus		33
3	1	Terho Talvela		MRT		32
4	17	Eaoueaiou Aeouiouie	Telaris		25
4	99	Maria Cattaneo		Kjeligsted WGPC	25
6	94	Ryker Lane		Nexus		24
7	5	Julianos Lemos		Bitten Heroes	23
8	80	J. Jensen-Fletcher	Fireline	19
9	91	Ilyas Nurlibaev		Kjeligsted WGPC	14
10	14	Oliver Bliss		RSR		10
11	55	Asao Nadakei		Arada		8
12	42	Alex Dimitrianov	Fireline	6
13	23	Moisés Delgado		MRT		4
13	16	Alexander Lund		Wilson		4
13	77	iBen Toralmintii	Eelandii WGPC	4
16	20	Mick Schramm		Bitten Heroes	3
17	63	Kurt Censki		McPahan		2
17	53	Denholm Kingsley	Eelandii WGPC	2
19	51	R.L. Cruisin		Arada		1
20	89	Will Madison		MSA-SinVal	0
20	18	Louis Krindle		MSA-SinVal	0
20	52	Sayono Souzare		McPahan		0
20	74	Alexandra Mayari	SFeG		0
20	24	Victoria Gardner	SFeG		0
20	7	Ethan Ellis		Wilson		0
20	29	Esteban Guilhermez	RSR		0

Constructor's Championship

Telaris		59
Nexus		57
Kjeligsted WGPC	43
MRT		36
Bitten Heroes	26
Fireline	25
RSR		10
Arada		9
Wilson		4
McPahan		2
Eelandii WGPC	2
MSA-SinVal	0
SFeG		0

In the interest of transparency I'd like to point out that, while scorinating, I noticed a bug in the part of the scorinator that deals with driver retirements. The bug (which, due to a mis-placed zero, only generated a chance of retirement for the first four laps of the race, but none after, which is why we had only one retirement in Eastfield Lodge and an unlikely zero in San Jose Guayabal) has now been fixed. Drivers with low reliability ratings will have been given a small advantage over the first two races. There's nothing I can do about that now except apologise (which is what this is. Sorry guys.) and point out the irony that the only one person to crash out, Alexandra Mayari, is the person with the highest reliability rating on the entire grid.

The next event is the first mid-season test which will take place at the Uberzoomingsplatz in Schutzenphalia and West Ruhntuhnkuhnland. Scorination should be done at any time after 11pm on Friday.

[Aboveland]

Lap 12

"Voi paska!" was the last the MRT paddock heard as they watched their number one spin violently into the wall.

***

Going into practice Terho had been extremely excited. Finally, after two races at monotonous, tight, closed street circuits, he could finally unleash Anni's fury at a purpose built racetrack, complete with tight turns, flowing corners and wide, gorgeous straights. It took him a few laps to re adjust to the layout but soon enough he was back racing where he liked the most, as smooth as silk and as quick as an arrow. He ran the practice session as he'd always had, in race trim, but focused on raw pace rather than strategies this time around. Third best, by less than three hundredths of a second, was more than enough to put a smile on his face.

Come qualifying, the situation was quite different. An unexpected downpour meant the track was completely soaked on Saturday, and a steady drizzle kept it fresh. It had been ages since Terho's last wet run in a WGPC car. Hell, he'd never even tried Anni in the wet. He took the first three laps easy, to get a feel for the car on the slick tarmac. It was just as smooth as in the dry, yet the wetter patches caught the rear off guard. On this particular track, notably on the outside of turns 6 and 9, puddles would form. Terho bit the stagnant water a few times with his front wheels, sending Anni into a near terminal aquaplane more than a few times.

When he finally felt comfortable in his setup, Terho set off on his proper flying laps. Unfortunately, he'd spent most of the session tweaking and refining the car to his liking, such that not only was he running out of time, but he was also running out of laps. He set his fastest time on his final lap, just as the clock hit zero, but it was an extremely inharmonious lap. He'd set the fastest time in sector 1 and was on his way to pole, or at least third position, when he ran into his now nemesis: Ryker Lane. The Nimban, comfortably finishing his session, had been flying through the circuit until he reached turn six. His Chase Cutter, unable to corner at the speeds Anni could achieve, was going considerably slower than Terho. As the reigning champion met with the Nimban's cloud of mist, he was forced to back off the pace until he could slip past. However, with the rain getting ever so slightly harder and the visibility ever so slightly lower, overtaking would be a great ordeal. As the pair approached turn seven, Terho slightly behind, the blue flag came out. He whooped; unfortunately, he'd spoken too soon. Lane seemed to be having some slight "trouble" with his car around turns seven and eight, and in spite of the blue flag and the flashing blue lights on the side of the track, he was occupying as much space as possible, blocking Terho off and spreading the mist evenly across the narrow stretch of asphalt. Enraged, Terho had had enough. He planted his right foot down furiously, slipping ever so slightly, and shot past Lane with millimeters to spare on the outside of turn eight. As Terho overtook Nexus' number one he shot a fiery glare and stuck out his right hand, middle finger standing tall and trembling, more with fear of crashing than with fear of potential repercussions.

The slowdown had cost him precious fractions of a second, enough to shoot him down from a potential pole to eighth. As he pulled into the paddock in a glimmering Anni, he burst, violently yanking his helmet off his head and chucking his gloves down beside him.

"That fucking Nimban!" he yelled, climbing out of the car. It seemed to have turned a few heads all around the parc ferme, an uncertain fact which Edvin didn't see amusing in the slightest.

"Get a grip, damn it!" Edvin whispered, harshly.

"Fine! But I'm sure he knew. I'm certain! I'll accept that he backed off on turn six; that's something he couldn't help. But you saw the next two turns! He was a moving barrier!"

"I'll give you that, he was a bit of a dick. But get a hold of yourself! You know very well that anger translates into erratic results. You're still in the lead of the championship, you're in the top ten of the grid, and you've made much greater comebacks than the one you're gonna have to make. You've beat him in every race so far, and you're the world champion. You got this. Go to the showers and we'll hit the sauna in a while, okay? You need to relax."

"Okay... Thanks Ed."

---

Axel was highly confident this weekend. As always, he hadn't spoken much to anyone about anything, the extent of his interaction at the track being "The car is good" and "I'm hungry". This time around, nobody had been able to go with him to Lisander: the Ruuhimakis and Frida were busy doing administrative work with his creatively named racing team, Novikov Racing. Practice and qualifying had gone accordingly to plan, with him landing a good time on Friday and a spectacular time on Saturday. The rain added an extra challenge to everyone on the grid, and Axel adored it. On his in laps he'd even slide wide into puddles to have some fun.

When he pulled into the paddock with a rare chuckle of genuine fun and happiness and removed his racing gear, a cry of anger rung out through the garage. It was a familiar voice, coming from the MRT paddock... Of course! It was Terho!

While Axel was reserved, he was extremely curious. As slowly and silently as he could, he crept past the Telaris garage, through the Nexus Racing area and behind MSA-Sinval to reach MRT. He reckoned his compatriots must be ridiculously embarrassed from Terho's outburst, but from what he could tell everyone was unfazed. In fact, everybody's eyes were on his own piss poor attempt at stealthy espionage, of sorts. His acute hearing had surely made the difference. From what he could gather, Ryker Lane appeared to have blocked him out on turns seven and eight, despite the blue flag that had been in effect. He also overheard they would be visiting the sauna later on. Perhaps he could drop by and give his two cents in person.

On the way back from MRT he took a peek at Ryker Lane. Nobody was speaking to him, and the team didn't seem to have heard a thing from Terho. However, as Lane glanced at the qualifying times, he chuckled.

***

Terho and Edvin had been in the sauna for a good ten minutes and were almost ready to flip the hourglass when a visitor arrived.

"Hej," he said. "So, Ryker Lane, eh?"

The pair of pals were puzzled. Axel Novikov? Speaking first? In the same sauna?!

"Axel?" asked Terho.

"Yep. I heard what you said earlier today."

Edvin froze with fear. He knew it: Terho had been too loud. He would now become the eternal laughing stock of the WGPC.

"Don't worry though, nobody else but me heard," said Axel. It was as if he'd read Edvin's mind and relieved his fears. "Listen, we can work together."

Terho engaged himself in the conversation. "I don't know, maybe I should just put it behind me."

"No, hear me out. We're the only two Abovians in the championship. We're strong, you especially. We can't let ourselves be pushed around by a hot shot rookie. I don't suggest playing dirty, but perhaps we could work together. I could hold him back a bit to let you past, we can share setup tips and the like to get ahead of him, et cetera. Maybe we shouldn't do it every race, but tomorrow could be a day to try this out. I'm sure you could beat him on your own, but a little reinforcement wouldn't hurt, right?"

Terho and Edvin looked at each other. For Axel to speak so much and so sincerely, he must surely mean it, especially considering their former grudges locally. Axel stuck out a hand, and said "let's try it just once, see how it goes."

Assuredly yet confused, Terho shook Axel's hand and validated the agreement in the dense fog, sealing it in sweat. Tomorrow, they'd topple Lane's pedestal of salt, together. Now though, it was time to flip the hourglass in the sauna.

---

The race was on. Terho, determined to fight his way up to the podium, and Axel set on securing a good result for both Abovians at the expense of Lane. By lap nine, the recently befriended rivals were in the top five, Axel having maintained his second position and Terho just scratching fourth, by a couple of seconds. From there on out, though, hopes of an Abovian laced podium faded.

It wasn't until the beginning of lap ten that Terho had begun to struggle with Anni in the high speed corners owing to gearbox issues. Going up a gear would stall the car in neutral for a split second, and going down would take over half. As such, he had to lift the throttle in the higher speed corners where he shifted up and had to brake and shift early in the slower corners to avoid getting stuck in fifth gear at 70 km/h. A couple of laps later, he was starting to get the hang of dealing with the issue at hand, but by then he'd dropped as far as thirteenth and steadily dropped even lower. Disaster struck between turns five and six.

As Terho began to close in on twelfth placed Ilyas Nurlibaev, pressured by Louis Krindle in fourteenth, he started to gain more confidence in his stricken MRT chassis. Midway between turns five and six, he experimented with letting off the throttle ever so slightly less than he had been when shifting up a gear. As his right index and middle fingers tapped the paddle, Anni cried out in pain. The revs hit over 9000, and when seventh gear kicked in, his rear wheels spun violently, void entirely of grip. Terho entered a dire clockwise spin, and three quarters of a turn into it, his race finished. Louis Krindle, not expecting the car ahead's spin, managed to just barely turn his car right in time to not strike Anni head on, but it was not enough. His front left wheel, pointed right, grazed Terho's rear left, shearing both wheels and the MRT's rear wing off in the process, sending the stricken vehicle into a sudden counter clockwise spin onto the grass and into the tire wall on the far left of the entry to turn six. Krindle's MSA-Sinval chassis didn't fare much better, nearly going airborne and upside-down following impact, yet landing back on three wheels and crossing the grass into the gravel trap at the inside of turn six.

Moments later, Terho shifted back into an upright position. The spin must've made him pass out, but save for a mild headache it seemed no more damage had been done. It had all happened too quickly for him to recall the moment exactly, but it was important to know he was okay, mostly. He trudged out of the thrashed Anni, taking one last look at her before he climbed over the track wall, with a slight limp. While the crash had left him a bit sore, the biggest contributor to his walking impairment was the sheer pants-soiling fear he'd felt. As he walked back to the pits, he took a quick glance at Krindle's car. He 'd walked away unscathed, and his car hadn't seen too much damage. Anni's rear end, however, was completely disfigured, while her nose was slightly bent, front wing absent. The track was completely littered with carbon fiber debris as well.

As he walked back to the pits, now having removed his helmet to squeeze his forehead to eliminate his headache, he began to tremble slightly in fear of the team's reaction. His fears vanished, though, when he realized he was only partly at fault.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Ryker shoots past the chequered flag in third, his mind a tempest.

Why couldn't I do it? Why? I have the ability and I'm in what is clearly the best car on the grid. Yet I am consigned to not one but two places from victory?

I deserve better. I'm useless. I -

"Ryker?"

Guard's voice.

"You did an absolutely awesome job today. Well, well done."

"I didn't do enough."

"No, Ryker, you did more than enough. Thanks to the efforts of you and Marika today, we're back within touching distance of the championship lead. You took four places from drivers with far more single-seater experience than you, then held off Novikov absolutely masterfully - he was driving so aggressively that you might have thought that overtaking you was more important to him than actually finishing the race intact! You have acquitted yourself admirably today, Ryker - more - and you should be proud of it. Enjoy that first podium finish like you've never enjoyed anything before."

"I..."

Can he accept third place?

Maybe he can. For now, at least.

"I will."

"Besides, if anyone from another team is going to put you into third, it might as well be someone you know, right?"

Yes, well...

[The Redvale]

Maria Cattaneo + Gabriella & Magnus Olson
Circuit Grandeville, Lisander

In the past, Maria Cattaneo had been the definition of confidence. She had been the kind of racer that never doubted herself for a second and never lacked faith in her natural talents, and in her instincts. She'd lived and died with those instincts, and those instincts had led her to more successes than failures. It had been like that for her when she was racing karts and when she was racing in a lowly semi professional touring car circuit in Janford with North Star Racing, a lower division team that barely had enough funds to keep its touring car outfit going. When her wins at the GT level made the world of the Redvali Motor Championship take note, she'd gotten a thirty million drachma contract from Alex Passos and Roja Leo, before capturing the championship back home with a finish above the man she'd replaced, Jason Yamura.

Everything had went downhill from there. She'd done badly in one trial and crashed out of another, and the result was that she had been stuck on a poorly managed team with a mediocre car and a research and development staff that had needed Olson Industries to come bail them out, which had been done as a favor to Maria. Now, they were racing with one decent car and one mediocre one, with Maria's having various upgrades that had come from Olson and the other one still using old parts from McPahan. If she'd known her time would be like this, she would have just stayed home and trialed again next season for a team that was actually competitive.

That was one of the reasons why she was pissed off looking as she walked past the mobs of press members and into the raceway, and more specifically the area that led to the garages. She was flanked by Gabriella and Magnus Olson, the two billionaires that had taken enough of a personal interest in her to actually invest in upgrading her team's equipment, and her race engineer, Hans Eskildsen, was there to meet her. "It's great to see you right now, Maria. We were afraid you were running a bit late. You too, Gabriella and Magnus. The engineering team want to relay their apologies for the mechanical problems you suffered during qualifying, should be fixed now. That's what we spent the morning working on-"

"If my back wheels lock up again, someone's gonna die," Maria said calmly, avoiding looking at the cameras as they flashed away at her. "Just saying. It's kinda getting tiring to have problem after problem screw me over."

"I can assure you that you won't have any more lockup troubles. The brakes should be in better condition now... Shouldn't lock up every time you push them," stated Hans. "I hope you don't mind that one of Gabriella's friends is here to visit and hang out in the garage... She told me by text earlier that he might be able to give some good tips to the drivers on radio. His name's Asher Rawling, I think you might know him from earlier in your racing career-"

"You're talking about the Asher Rawling that's the son of former Redvali champion Logan Rawlings, who owns Rawling Autosports and turned them into a team that made his son into the only one that can challenge Lauri Maximovic in Formula AAA and in GT races? That Asher Rawling? Yeah, you could say we know each other," Maria said, shoving her hands in her pockets and looking down as they passed through the media finally and started down the hall to the garage. "I know him well, actually. You should've asked before bringing him around, though. I didn't feel like distractions-"

"Wasn't my idea, you'll have to put the blame on your billionaire friends."

"Right. Well, Gabriella, I have to say that sometimes it gets annoying when you act like you own the place and bring your friends over to the garage. Sometimes we want to focus, you know."

Gabriella just raised an eyebrow. "Why do you make that sound so crazy? Soon, I just might."

=====

This wasn't the time for experimentation, and yet Maria had received help from the last person she ever expected to see again during this race, with the radio engineer duties being split between her usual engineer, Hans Eskildsen, and the visiting prodigy who was an expert at both driving and the strategy behind it. Asher Rawling wasn't just brought in by Gabriella to hang out, but to help out the team by bringing some winning experience. Even if his presence was a distraction for Maria. And now, heading down the stretch, Asher was the one who had to try to convince her to listen to the team instruction that might keep her from getting a win. "You need to cut the tire degradation or you risk a blowout," he warned. "The team wants you to hold your position at third and not attempt to push for first, and that's an order."

"Yeah, well, I think I'm going to have to respectfully say no," Maria snapped, her tone much sharper than the polite words that she'd chosen. They were heading into the last lap soon, and she was stuck having to make up ground on the cars in front of her if she wanted a chance at moving up from third to first on the podium, after moving up from a twelfth place start. With Maria's super soft tires degrading rapidly as they spoke, she was faced with the choice between risking it all for the win or driving defensively and trying to hold third while defending her position. The team wanted her to play it safe, but with Kjeligsted's season slipping away before their eyes, she wasn't ready to give up on a win just yet.

"That's an order, Maria. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but that's what the team is telling me to say," Asher replied, apologetically. Her fellow star Redvali driver had to be the one to break the bad news to her, and she felt bad about that. But, she wasn't going to stop her push and be satisfied with a finish at the bottom of the podium.

"Well, I'm not listening to it," Maria continued, and she shifted her focus back to the road. Ryker Lane was ahead of her, and the Bitten Heroes driver, Lemos, was in front of him. She definitely wasn't going to roll over and let Lane get one over her again. She accelerated and planned her break to the outside line, going into turn eleven. When they navigated through the turn and began accelerating down the straightaway, Maria activated her DRS and cut away from her previous line, zooming past Lane and pulling up next to Lemos. They were battling for second after her surprise overtake, and now, she was aiming for first. She gunned the engine, and hoped that the Olson power unit could hold up to its fearsome reputation for having a great top speed. "Come on... Yes!" she muttered to herself, as she was able to cut towards the inside line ahead of Lemos.

Now, she just had to hold on as they started the last lap. If she could hold on, the first victory of her WGPC career would finally come, and maybe their season would turn around... Or, her tires would blow out and she would DNF after coming so far. She wasn't sure what would happen.

=====

"You guys didn't expect to see me here, did you?" asked Maria, entering the podium area with the other three top drivers from this race. "You didn't think I'd make it out of twelfth place when I qualified there. Well, that's alright, because I didn't think I would win either," she said, much more jovial than she had been in recent months. For the first time, she was able to show off her personal sponsor in the form of a Zombie Energy hat that had the logo of the company, displaying three purple claw marks against a black background.

There was champagne delivered to the podium shortly after that, except that things were a little different this time. Nimbians didn't drink alcohol, so Ryker had sparkling water. And Maria had insisted on celebrating her win in the traditional Janfordian way, with coffee. Someone had thrown her a bottle of iced coffee, and she held that in one hand and the champagne bottle in the other. When they announced the podium winners officially, Maria popped the cap off of the coffee and chugged it aggressively, allowing it to run down her face. Even racing in Maris domestically, she wasn't afraid to show her roots in Janford.

And then, when the coffee bottle was empty, she dropped that and popped the champagne, spraying it through the air until there wasn't much left. When the pressure lessened and the champagne stopped spraying, she put the bottle to her head and finished it off herself, before looking to Ryker with a small grin on her face. "That was fun," she said, her voice still softer than it had been for many of the previous races. It was hard to tell if it was because of the win or because she was talking with one of the few people who had ever made her blush. "Let's do this again next time, eh? I'd say today almost makes up for the past."

She did something that neither of them expected, and hugged him while the Olson siblings and their friend, Asher, were looking on. "I do have the feeling that this isn't the last time we'll be doing this," she mentioned, making it ambiguous to whether she was referring to the hugging or them both being on the podium. She had the feeling he'd be fine with it either way. "Don't ask me what I mean by that... We'll see, eventually."

OOC: I talked with Audio before doing this... It was his idea actually. You'll see the rebrand go into full effect in a few races.

FMZ SPORTS
WGPC Kjeligsted takeover impending! Olson and Passos to headline new look team!
By Andrea Hayano, Fraser Cady

Andrea - We're back on the road on the WGPC trail, with FMZ Sports. I'm former driver Andrea Hayano and with me is Fraser Cady, my journalist buddy that's helping me out with this coverage. We're going to interrupt our normal race coverage to talk about something very significant to any fans that are following the possibility of a Redvali team. We've been asked if there will be one, and the answer is sort of but not quite. You all know WGPC Kjeligsted by now, because of them hiring Maria Cattaneo as one of their drivers, and I'm sure you also know about Olson's involvement.

Fraser - Olson has an interest in helping Maria, as the Redvali star in this series, and they've done that by investing in Kjeligsted and supplying them with last year's power unit from Olson Motorsports, as well as a new suspension and other parts that are still under development. But for the most part, they've been helping in the background through development. Now, it looks like there will be a chance for them to make a real impact by owning a team outright, which completes their long term goal of improving the international motorsports profile of the country. Still, there's some interesting specifics to this deal.

Andrea - Abdul Yamin, the team's current majority owner, is thinking of entering politics. Because of the Audioslavian laws, he won't be able to be the majority shareholder in a company, which is going to lead to the sale of the team. The person who will be leading the group to buy the team's majority shares? Gabriella Olson, who has been paying top dollar out of her own pocket to keep them competitive this season with new technology, because she wants to help the biggest named Redvali driver on the grid. She won't be alone, though. The ownership group will also have her twenty three year old younger brother, Magnus Olson, in addition to professional gambler and Roja Leo owner Alex Passos.

Fraser - For those that don't know, Roja Leo is one of the fastest growing racing teams in the Redvale, and Olson Motorsports is their counterpart in Formula AAA. Both are owned by eccentric billionaires and both teams specialize in development, with Olson acting as a supplier for Roja Leo and testing and developing new parts for them. Olson also develops young drivers, since Formula AAA is a developmental league, and has produced some of the drivers that Roja Leo has used. But since they haven't moved up and shed their status as a farm team yet, the Kjeligsted team will be bought out in official terms by Roja Leo. Even if the actual CEO is Gabriella Olson. They'll be rebranded as Red Lion Racing, though the paperwork will take a couple of races to go through.

Andrea - The obvious difference will be the red and white color scheme of Roja Leo being introduced, though rumors of all red have been thrown around for the livery. That's not the big change, though. This means that the team may come out with heavy car upgrades and changes during the upcoming testing session, introducing more Olson Industries produced parts and less Audioslavian ones. We'll see if this helps the team, or hurts them by changing the parts up after the season already started. It should, however, spark a continuing in the good form that's shown up for Maria recently.

Fraser - Yep. It's going to be officially announced just before the testing, and it's believed that they could also reveal it by rolling out an all red car for the testing session. Most takeovers don't happen mid season, but this is a special circumstance because of the rising Redvali involvement in the sport and the team's poor beginning to the season. It could be a massive success or it could crash and burn, but no matter what happens, this will be interesting to watch. And it should provide some better results for Maria, who has only just recovered from her nightmare start,

Andrea - That's all for this breaking news update. And remember... We at FMZ Sports were the first one to break the story, as usual. Give us the credit that we deserve! We're done until next time, when we're back to bring you the next big story on the WGPC trail.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Ryker stands on the third place step on the podium. He is surprisingly okay with this. With the crowd cheering and his entire team clapping and whooping vociferously below him, it feels okay to be not quite on top. Yeah. Okay. He takes his trophy when he it is presented to him and gives a wave to the gathered onlookers. Hey, he reminds himself, this is your first ever WGPC trophy. Remember that - you'll want a nice place to put it back at home once the season's done.

Of course, he's sure that he can win the next race, if he tries. There is testing coming up, after all; that means improvements to the car and he'd put any money on Nexus Racing testing out the most upgrades. Gertrude is probably the Nimban-est Nimban in the entire team in that regard - never afraid to try something new and constantly throwing out original ideas.

He listens to the Redvali and Kjeligstedian national anthems before the time comes for the drivers to unleash their carbon-charged beverages. Ryker, suddenly caught up in the moment, grins broadly as he vigorously shakes his bottle of sparkling water and immediately turns a barrage of droplets of H₂O on his fellow top three finishers. He laughs as Maria, intercepting the majority of the spray, is soaked, then drinks some of it himself. Not too bad, though it could certainly be sweeter. Maybe I could persuade whoever organises this to use something like elderflower pressé next time.

He projects the remainder of the water out towards his team below - Timothy spreads his arms, glorying in the drizzle, while both Martin and Gertrude duck in a completely ineffective attempt to avoid it - before turning towards the other two. Julianos is looking entirely the other way, waving to the crowd; by contrast Maria has turned directly towards him, coffee-stained face lighted with a grin of her own. They look at one another for a moment before Maria speaks in an oddly soft tone: "That was fun. Let's do this again next time, eh? I'd say today almost makes up for the past."

"Well, I don't know abou-"

Ryker's jovial reply is cut off by some shock as the Redvali steps forward and, without even a hint of warning - to the Nimban's mind, anyway - embraces him. He stiffens for a moment before relaxing somewhat and wrapping his arms around her back in turn.

Her next line, though, is almost as unexpected as the hug was. "I do have the feeling that this isn't the last time we'll be doing this," she continues. "Don't ask me what I mean by that... We'll see, eventually." Ryker's eyes widen at the possible implication.

Oh, dear Imagination.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

The Bullhorn ---------------------------------------------------------------- Sport News

NEXUS RACING APOLOGY FOR DISRUPTED LAP
Chief Sports Correspondent Caitlin Morris

World Grand Prix Championships - Standings

Drivers' Championship

A. Novikov	34
M. Pedanovic	33
T. Talvela	32
E. Aeouiouie	25
M. Cattaneo	25
R. Lane	24
J. Lemos	23
J. Jensen-Fletcher	19
Ilyas Nurlibaev	14
O. Bliss	14

Constructors' Championship

Telaris	59
Nexus Racing	57
Kjeligsted WGPC	43
MRT	36
Bitten Heroes	26
Fireline	25
RSR	10
Arada	9
Wilson	4
McPahan	2

The WGPC team Nexus Racing has issued a public apology to the Abovian driver Terho Talvela after it emerged that a technical fault with their powertrain delayed him on one of his qualifying laps.

That Terho was forced to slow down on his lap was widely known but the incident had previously been assumed to be the result of the slow reactions of the Nimban team's driver Ryker Lane, who previously raced for BolterCP in the First City's Cityprix competition. Analysis of the telemetry by Nexus Racing, however, revealed that a brief failure of the Imagination pump to their 'Ultra High Speed Ground Vehicle 1' car's Imagikinetic converter resulted in a temporary loss of power which caused it to slow.

Timothy Guard, Project Manager of Nexus Racing, struck a regretful and conciliatory tone in an interview with The Bullhorn. "We are clear that this incident was no fault of Ryker's - he is a stellar driver and morally upstanding individual who would never deliberately engage in this behaviour. That does not mean, however, that there is nobody to blame for this; the mechanical failure on our car means that the team as a whole is responsible for the unfortunate incident on Terho's lap. We are looking into fixing the problem and should have a solution to it by the test this weekend. As a gesture of apology, we would also like to extend an invitation to Terho to ask for anything reasonable that we could do to make the situation up to him over the coming weeks."

The pertinent data has been released to for public viewing so that, Nexus Racing have said, those who want to can confirm that the issue was a mechanical problem. Neither Mr Talvela nor his team, MRT, have yet commented.

[Taeshan]

Oliver had finished 6th again and was able to attain points again for his team. The other car had not made it to the end of the race. Esteban was once again in a weaker car, as you would expect, but couldn't finish. The team had pushed to get both teams into a podium finish but alas niether of them was really able to do enough. Oliver finished the race at the same place that he had started it and couldn't gain the positions he had so easily gained in the previous races. His team was ready to compete but they just were unable to get the speed needed to do so.

"Are you happy with the result?"

"Yes. Points are necessary to show success, get money, and push the team forward and hopefully lead to race wins."

"Do you think you can win this season?"

"Yes. We have the talent, I have the talent. The car can be pushed. We have a test coming up and we can use that to propel us to success."

"Yes. Will you succeed though."

"Hard to tell, but we can. We will win eventually, we just have to grow and learn to compete as a team."