WGP2 Season One - RP Thread (IC)

[Esmerel]

Rebecca Darlington
Nexus Racing HQ, The Nexus Wardship
Wednesday, 05/07, 13:00

As soon as the tests in TIS were done, the team was back on the Wardship working on the areas that had been faltering. Rebecca didn't really have any of those, but a little more training couldn't hurt.

Training regime complete. Well done, Rebecca.

She had been out on the test track, running the course in reverse after the standard layout had gotten boring. Of course, that wasn't the only thing that had happened. She had met two important faces.

First was her new teammate, Lukar Urdaneta of Astograth. He was best known for his aggressive nature both on the track and on the team radio, and had managed to put on good drives in mediocre cars. Obviously not a top of the line driver (but then again, who was in this competition) but an impressive one nonetheless.

Second was her race engineer, Valen Song. He complimented her optimistic and cheerful personality and had helped her learn the machine she would be operating for the next few months. Powered by Nimban "Imagination" the car could easily best the other cars given the right driver and the right situation. Considering it was built by a championship-winning team in the higher formula, Rebecca didn't care what it was. It was going to be fast.

Valen had also felt Rebecca didn't put enough confidence in the car. It was a sentiment that Rebecca respected, but felt that the truth was because she didn't want to be overconfident in the car. She knew she was fast without needing to rely on hyper-advanced technology.

Still... I- I know this will help me. What else was it that Valen said? Give it a name?

Rebecca thought long and hard.

Yes... yes, that's it. This is my Rapier, and every weekend it will slice through the field.

With the first race approaching more and more, there was less and less time to think on what to do.

So the easiest thing to do was what you had just done. More testing? So be it.

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

Marc Loewe
Obey Sport Offices, Point Capaldi, Esmerel
Wednesday, 05/07, 13:30

The last few days had been crunch time. The car was in poor shape, and the guys back at the factory needed to make it better. Truthfully, Marc had wanted to say that the cars weren't running at full power in the test at the Ironite track, but it would have been a lie. They were down on power and had only one week to get more of it.

Aerodynamic adjustments had been made. The problem was that they prioritized reliability over performance. And while reliability was always good, if every other team on the grid were lucky enough to not be unreliable at any point, Obey were by default the slowest. So the season was certain to be an uphill battle.

There was always room for improvement. But how much was available to Obey? Only time would tell, and there wasn't much time until the car's first true test in Vilita. There, everyone would see if the test in TIS was a fluke... or genuine truth.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

The Nexus Wardship of Former Citizens of the Nimbus System
6th of July

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

WGP2 IS NEXUS RACING’S ‘NEWEST FRONT’
Chief Sports Correspondent Caitlin Morris

Nexus Racing has made its entry into WGP2’s first season official with a statement made public today:

‘We would like to confirm that Nexus Racing has a place in the inaugural season of the World Grand Prix Two. After Ryker Lane’s World Championship and the penultimate placing of the team as a whole in our initial WGPC season, we see this formula as the newest front in the grand war of the motorsport world and, as such, will be bringing all of the attributes that made us competitive there to bear now. We look forward to an exciting season to come and encourage anybody with an interest to watch the competition as it unfolds.’

In the same release, Nexus Racing has confirmed an all-new driver line-up, Rebecca Darlington of Esmerel, winner of the Esmerelian domestic racing series ESTL, and Astograth’s Lukar Urdaneta, a rising star from the Astograthian Grand Prix Championship, and posted pictures of the livery of each driver’s Ultra High Speed Ground Vehicle-series car. Darlington had previously appeared for Nexus Racing at WGP2 testing at the Red Hill Autodrome in the Iron Syndicate, placing 14th in a car whose power most experts believe had been deliberately reduced.

The Bullhorn’s own motorsport analyst, Robert Manleigh, had this to say: ‘A pair of drivers debuting on the international stage and what appears to be a relatively plain livery with new bodywork, suggesting a desire for flexibility, seem to demonstrate that Nexus Racing wants to use WGP2 as a proving ground for their efforts in their second season in WGPC. Expect to see the team adopt a more incautious approach to the racing series than their last appearance but also for them to remain as focussed and competitive as they were there.’

A press conference featuring prominent members of Nexus Racing, alongside Minister for Sport Jacob Gibbons, is to be held later today.

[The Iron Syndicate]

Luna Estrella

It could have been better.

It wasn’t a terrible time, but it could have been better, and Luna couldn’t shake the feeling that she had been slipping in the preseason and now the official test. First, she’d barely gotten the team offer. Now, she was at the closest thing she had to a home race and she hadn’t managed a top three finish despite trying harder than some of the top drivers would for a practice. It didn’t feel great being under Armo Lehto in the standings, either.

The last night had been spent doing copious amounts of weed while trying to clear her mind and increase her awareness and connection to the world. She always said that her ‘third eye’ was her biggest advantage, but actually getting her mental state right was a challenge. This time, she didn’t do it just right. She had been acting like someone with a hangover, and by the time testing came around, her reactions hadn’t been boosted by the meditation from the previous night.

That made her angry, and the anger hurt her reactions even further and caused her to slip up on the winding last turns. Twice. Having the fourth best time of testing wasn’t a bad result, but it also didn’t match up to the chip that she had on her shoulder. It really just wasn’t her day. Red Hill was Armo’s place, not hers. And this circuit was the Bold family’s fortress, it seemed.

When she returned to the garage, she looked uncomfortable. When she ripped her helmet off and set it down, her face was covered in sweat and her breathing was heavy. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “Still getting used to this. The open wheel driving, I mean. I was up late last night, too, and the gamble didn’t pay off. I know I should have done better at a familiar circuit.”

When Axel asked what the drivers thought of the car, she shrugged and slouched down next to it, catching her breath. “I think it needs to be less obvious… I mean… I guess I’m saying you need to let the drivers drive and not feel like the car is doing it for us. At least, that’s how I feel. I’d rather have my steering more loose and sensitive, and weaker antilock with the brakes. Sure, there’s always the chance of ending up in the wall that way, but I prefer to live dangerously.”

Armo Lehto

The mood was better around the Academy Racing garage when Armo Lehto recorded the fastest test times while going for maximum downforce and masterfully handling the corners and the section at the end that tripped up so many past drivers. The uphill turn seven was maybe the hardest on the track, but Armo was turning heads with the way he handled it.

He handled it in a way that reminded people of his estranged father, Carsen, who was again in attendance in his adopted city of Red Hill, here at the track where he had created a dynasty. That dynasty looked like it would be inherited by Armo, who had never been to a circuit like this until he was a teenager.

But racing ran in this bloodline, and being separated from his father because of the actions of his mother hadn’t taken that skill out of his DNA. “Armo, keep your head up. You had the best times, I don’t know what you’re sulking about,” said Grayson Chase, as their star man entered the garage after meeting with the press.

“I’m not sulking. Just feeling a little bittersweet right now,” he insisted, heading towards the garage door. “Not something that you’d get. No offense. Thanks for the concern, though,” he added.

And this whole thing grew more complicated than it had been.

[Tenburg]

Jack huffed as he looked again at his phone, to the image he had saved of the time board after testing. 1oth of 18. "God damnit..." he mumbled for probably the fourth or fifth time. At that moment he received a text from Rick. It was good to hear from him.

don't worry about it... first time @ that track, only 2nd time in car... youll get faster. its a matter of comfort and familiarity.

He supposed Rick was right. But something was buggin him.

Still could have been better. Snap oversteer in one corner kept holding me back... I wasn't ready for it.

run a few more laps... preseason is enough time... you'll handle the car come round 1. I know you

Jack sighed. He hoped to God Rick was right. He'd never ben wrong in F10.

But there was a 100-horsepower difference between the two series.

A text popped up from Myra.

So, good news for you if worst comes to worst... Izava is planning on making an in for WGP2 come next season, so if things at Katara go south, you'll have a ride. Drive it like you stole it, darling... you have nothing to lose!

Drive it like I stole it, eh? Yea... I can do that.

[West-East Timor]

Red Hill
The Iron Syndicate

Timo got out of his car after his last lap, and looked at the results. Seventh. Neither too bad, nor too good. Jack was tenth. Jannick was fifth... And his team mate first. As Jannick was one of his rivals in Formula WET1, Timo was a bit interested in that. Markner seemed to have gotten a seat at a very fast team. Maybe it should be Timo's goal to beat him... It might be a tough challenge, but that's what he wanted. He knew that he needed some motivation to drive as fast as he can.

"So, how's the car, Timo?"

"It feels good. For driving it for the first time, I got used to it pretty fast. It's not the best at the corners, but I can handle that."

"Well, good then. Not the worst result by the way."

"Yeah. I think I could have pushed a bit more, but all in all, it could be worse. Look at Obey, for example..."

"Jack doesn't seem too happy with his result, by the way. I think I should speak some official words to the team..."

Mara gathered the whole team, and someone brought a monitor into the garage, again.

"So, alright. Good work everyone! If this was a race, we would have had both cars in the points. But it wasn't, and I think in an actual race we could even do a little bit better. According only to the results of this test, the ranking you see at this monitor now would be the performance of the teams."

1. Academy Racing

2. Tropicorp Engineering

3. MSA-SinVal

4. Novikov Racing

5. Nadakei Sport AYPD

6. Katara Racing

7. Vannish Motors Racing

8. Team Ignis

9. Nexus Racing

10. Yogutz Lantzia

11. Obey Sport GP

12. Junixwagen

"So, at this test we were in the middle. But you have to consider a few things. First, MSA-SinVal, Nadakei, Ignis, Yogutz Lantzia, Nexus and Junixwagen only had one driver. So they might have seemed better, or maybe worse, if they had both drivers. Also, look at the gap between the drivers at Tropicorp and Novikov. Is Whittaker's second position the actual performance of the car and the Cocoabo is driving bad, or is the Cocoabo's result the actual performance of the car and Whittaker is a brilliant driver? We don't know. Also, most teams didn't really unleash their cars yet, and concentrated on gettong data. You know who did so? We did so. Timo, Jack, you both haven't pushed as much as you would in qualifying, have you? Also, reliability played no role here. It will play an important role in an actual race. You see, Obey Sport seem to have concentrated on reliability when building their car. This might explain why they are so slow. In an actual race, the might have a chance to get points regularly, as they will finish the race, while others won't. Academy Racing meanwhile seem to have concentrated on speed, so they did well here. But in an actual race, there is the danger of not finishing. So, they can get lots of points, but they also can get no points at all. So, how did we build our car? Like at this test, we are in the middle. We're neither fastest, nor slowest, neither most reliable, nor least reliable. If we had wanted to make the car faster, we would have had to sacrifice reliability, and end up not finishing races. If we had wanted to make the car more reliable, we would have had to sacrifice speed, and would end up qualifying last. So, we have built a car that has acceptable speed, and acceptable reliability. I think this is a good strategy. You see, imagine how it will go. We qualify somewhere in the middle. Seventh or tenth. We would be able to keep these positions, I think. So we should get some solid points in every race. And now, reliability comes to play. The cars who will have qualified in front of us, will all be the ones who sacrificed reliability in favour of speed. Many of them won't finish. And then, we only have to finish the race, maybe overtake a few, and we're on podium, or maybe even win the race. I think it is possible for us to get podium finishes, and it is possible for us to win races. And we can definitely get some points in every race. I think we're gonna do well."

---

Jannick and Mika had stayed in the Iron Syndicate for a few days, and visited the city of Red Hill. There was no need to fly back to West-East Timor when the pre-season test took place in the same city where Jannick had tested the car. After the pre-season Jannick looked at the results. He was fifth and Arml first. There was no doubt this is a great result.

"It went well, didn't it?"

"Oh yes, it did... Looks like I'm actually driving for the best team."

"That's not impossible, no. How do you think will you do in the races?"

"I want to win of course. Now I know this is a reasonable goal I want it even more."

"Well, I hope you do so. By the way, Armo seems not as happy about being first as he should be. Do you know anything about him?"

"No, I don't. I don't know much about him and he never really speaks to me. But as long as we don't crash into each other in races... But he seems to be a good driver, so, yeah... But anyways. I'll try to win, no matter what he does."

[Sharktail]

Driver Name:mark zarif
Nationality (Trigram):shk
Gender:male
Preferred Number:25(can change if in use)
Short Biography:zarif is 21 years old.He like
join race with naughty boy at
highschool.After accident ,his father take
him to hs friend and recomend him to join
race team.At past year he has been given a
chance to be the first driver for his racing
team.He want to make the best at wgp2.
Aggression (Between 2 and 5):5
Technique (Between 2 and 5):3
Reliability (Between 2 and 5):4
[Total must equal 12]

He is try to find a new team.

[Hodori Motorsports]

Standing in one of the Arada headquarters’ conference rooms, Nechiru Seozamo and Asao Nadakei looked out the plate glass windows as they waited for the rest of AYDP’s key personnel to arive. At the foothills of the mountain, construction crews accompanied a GT-A inspection team around the almost-completed massive renovations of the Dashoze Circuit.

The new layout would see its first races in the coming months, playing host to the final round of the Formula Touring championship and the penultimate round of the ENSADRINK GT Championship. In the immediate future however were the opening round of the WGP2 championship in Vilita and next week’s domestic 1000km GT race at Tarogama.

---

“Urdaneta’s out, poached by Nexus.” Seozamo sighed as she perused the small stack of dossiers. New applicants to the championship as well as the few unsigned drivers left from the start.
“Plan B’s out. Tropicorp.” Plan B, Cesaro Whittaker.
“Kingsley’s not responded to any offers.”
“Soukuba?” One of the newer aides had asked.
The suggestion was met with silent glares from the seated managers and engineers.
“She’s Tarogama, so no. Additionally, Soukuba’s taken the seat at MSA-SinVal.” Seozamo responded.
“So, of the remaining applicants who looks like a viable candidate for driver two?” Chiruno Reitoude asked as Nadakei made notations in his copies of the dossiers. After a few minutes, he answered.
“Hondo. We will offer Hakata Hondo the second seat.”

[Sharktail]

Marc zarif
Nascar circuit
Saturday, 08/07,
After the training season,zarif meet his teammate,louis.He teel louis he want to out from nascar because he think he cannot handle the this naymore.He tell he interested at wgp2.
The manager of nasrac team,Sir henry has contact a few friend and recommend zarif.Zarif driving style is agresive.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Race 1: GP2 Vilitan Challenge
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: WET (Expected Dry Time ~1:35)
Tyres available - Intermediate (damp/slightly wet conditions), Full Wet (describes its conditions)

P  No Driver              Team                    Best Lap     Gap to Best
 1 31 Cesaro Whittaker    Tropicorp Engineering   0:01:36.927  0:00:00.000	
 2 23 Cocoabo #23         Tropicorp Engineering   0:01:36.929  0:00:00.002	
 3 17 Lourdina Westgrens  Team Ignis              0:01:36.990  0:00:00.063	
 4  3 Armo Lehto          Academy Racing          0:01:36.992  0:00:00.065	
 5  9 Jannik Markner      Academy Racing          0:01:36.998  0:00:00.071	
 6 66 Jack Kelly          Katara Racing           0:01:37.012  0:00:00.085	
 7  5 Timo Jänkirinää     Katara Racing           0:01:37.076  0:00:00.149	
 8 30 Saya Kaseo          Nadakei Sport AYDP      0:01:37.112  0:00:00.184	
 9 27 Lukar Urdaneta      Nexus Racing            0:01:37.112  0:00:00.185	
10 13 Jang Xiaopeng       Vannish Motors Racing   0:01:37.127  0:00:00.200	
11 26 Shinno Soukuba      MSA-SinVal              0:01:37.128  0:00:00.201	
12 11 Luna Estrella       Novikov Racing          0:01:37.151  0:00:00.224	
13 61 Renho Virzi         Obey Sport GP           0:01:37.156  0:00:00.228	
14 33 Jenna Vandersen     Vannish Motors Racing   0:01:37.170  0:00:00.242	
15 15 Rebecca Darlington  Nexus Racing     	  0:01:37.180  0:00:00.253	
16 19 Dom Falepeau        Junixwagen     	  0:01:37.185  0:00:00.258	
17  7 Juracai Klianiota   Novikov Racing     	  0:01:37.187  0:00:00.260	
18 63 Dalia Dahl          MSA-SinVal     	  0:01:37.235  0:00:00.308	
19 74 Lera Kozel          Obey Sport GP     	  0:01:37.254  0:00:00.327	
20 89 Marcus Schwarz      Junixwagen     	  0:01:37.314  0:00:00.386	
21 18 Gorria Bildostegi   Yogutz Lantzia     	  0:01:37.672  0:00:00.745

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

GP2 Vilitan Challenge
Post-Practice

Rain, rain, go away,

Come again another day,

Little Gertrude wants her Imagikinetic converter to actually be useful,

Rain, rain, go away.

…

Okay, the third line needs more work.

Gertrude sighs to herself; the practice session had not gone well.

Lukar and Rebecca had undoubtedly done well, of course. The conditions had been tricky but they had still managed to scrape together good laptimes for themselves. Still, Chase Cutters ought to be right at the front of the field, their blazing blue light shining forth as a symbol of what the Nexus Wardship of Former Citizens of the Nimbus System could do.

Well, looks like one of their citizens just so happens to not be able to design a car with pace in the wet.

The Ultra High Speed Ground Vehicle relies on two distinct methods of power. Within the car, a (now regenerating) supply of Imagination is converted into energy by two primary Imagination converters, electromagnetic arrays designed to emulate brain activity, specifically visualisation of something, and thereby initiate the process of energy transfer normally triggered by interaction with a nervous system. The first is an Imagielectric converter, the electrical energy from which powers the car’s various electrical and electronic systems - as well as the Imagination converters themselves - but mostly drives four motors, one in each of the wheels. On its own, this would make the UHSGV a powerful car, particularly with regard to torque. Gertrude’s masterstroke, in her own view, had been to add the second Imagination converter: an Imagikinetic converter, which simply impels the car, transferring kinetic energy by the power of pseudo-thought straight to (almost) all of the Chase Cutter’s components. It is this application of Imagination that causes the UHSGV’s distinct blue glow. It is also responsible for the car’s utterly fantastic speed and acceleration; comparisons to various kinds of firearm, bow and torsion artillery over the WGPC season abounded.

Unfortunately, it is also rendered utterly useless by precipitation. Were the team to run their Chase Cutters with Imagikinetic-based power in wet conditions, the only result would be aquaplaning on a scale never before seen. In such situations, Nexus Racing switched its cars to ‘E2’, Emergency Mode Two, which diverted all Imagination flow to the Imagielectric convertor - hence losing much of the vehicles’ punch, much to their designer’s ire. Her jubilation at their new tyre-heating technology last season, intended in part to massively boost performance in the rain, had been shortlived; this problem, after all, was still holding them back.

Gah. I hate this. Why do we have to be reduced to midfielders and backmarkers every time there’s a little water on circuit?

Gertrude’s hand comes to her head as she looks down for a moment. Then she starts and looks back up. Her eyes seem to flash, a cool, determined smile appearing on her face.

Answer: We don’t.

“Victoria, how does setting up a new program for the IASG system sound to you?”

---

Pre-Qualifying

“So, we’re no longer the underdogs.”

Laughter.

“No, today we aren’t the underdogs. Instead, we are, in theory, the strongest team participating in this championship - if you follow the results of WGPC 15 to their logical conclusion, anyway. We have nothing left to prove, nothing left to say, nothing left to give. We’ve done our job.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice if it were that easy?”

“There’s a saying in the scientific field: ‘No theory is any better than the results of the last experiment.’ If we lose here and now, the results of our last outing will be nothing more than a brief spark within a far greater void. We’ll have lost our chance to show to the world who we are and what we stand for on a far more permanent basis.”

“Still, let’s remember: what is it we stand for? Our values - Nimban values. Diversity. Passion. Determination. Unity. Focus. Creativity. It is our aim to be emblematic of these things - but don’t forget that they also give us strength! We may not be underdogs any more but these qualities, these aspirations, these ideals have always been and will always be a part of who we are! Take them and harness them to their fullest!”

“I don’t want to be a spark and I don’t think that any of you do either. I say instead that we become a blaze!”

Guard’s speech concludes. The team prepares.

[Lisander]

Mikado Seigen arrived in the Vilitan Hotel in the Friday Evening. Behind him, a slender man, in his early 20's, wearing a full-black attire, compodes of hoodie, pants and sneakers. They were waited in the hall by Adam Westgrens.

"Oh, how much I hate you, Seigen. You left me to deal with a team with only one driver. Juliano is off, driving in Hodori and will arrive tonight. Why you disappeared like that? And who's that guy with you? The new driver? He's not even in the list! What the hell you're doing?" Adam was completely pissed off.

"I've been scouting a driver. But I couldn't say, since I wasn't 100% certain of his confirmation. Now I am. And he sent his application earlier today. Please, call the entire team. I'll present him in the conference hall in 10 minutes." Mikado Seigen, the team chief, had a contemplative look in his eyes.

A little after, in the Hotel Conference Room

---

"Ladies and Gentleman, I present you Alyn Terfel, from Ariannin, our new second driver."

"Who?" "Who is this?" "Have you seen something about him?" Small talk in the room. The young men uncovered his head, revealing grey eyes, light brown hair and a scar on the neck.

"I thank you, Seigen, for the opportunity. I'm Alyn Terfel, I have 22 years old and I'm from Ariannin, a small nation so small and so southerly that most of you have never heard of. I was a street driver before Seigen find me. I drove karts before, but I was in Ariannin Police before joining Team Ignis. I'm a very agressive driver, maybe this is why I've been found."

More small talk. "Wait, he was a policeman and a street driver?" "This story is very badly told". "He must be some kind of street pilot. Is not he wearing an ankle brace?" Terfel heard the comments. In his eyes, it was evident that he was annoyed at those words about him. He picked up his bag, searched for his wallet, found it, took the microphone from the pulpit and sat on the edge of the small stage.

"Ladies and gentleman, please. I'm not a liar or something like that. This is my professional ID, you can see here. Discharged from Police Service. Okay, I had problems with authority racing ilegally, but I started to using my talent in driving for the good of the law. How many of yours had this desire? Drive fast just because fast is good? Do everyone here work with racing? or this is the meeting of the Antiquarian Society? Seigen, are we in the right place? They look very plain for an 'aggresive team' " Terfel made the quotation marks with his fingers.

"Yeah, they suck!" A female voice shouted from the last chairs. It was Lourdina Westgrens.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Westgrens. I hope we can work together and gather some points this season. But with these pessimistic and discouraged people, I'm not really sure... Okay. I believe this completes my presentation. All of you, please think about Miss Westgrens said, please, please. I said it three times to fix. I may be a weird guy, but we'll be working together this season. I believe everyone here is in the same boat. Thank you. Now I believe Seigen have some footage of my driving skills to show you."

[Vangaziland]

Three people sat around a table in a bar somewhere in Vilita. It was the Friday evening following the Vilitian Practice session. They rode from the hotel to a place they looked up where they could find a drink and fun atmosphere. They found a little pub with a local vibe. They went out of the way to get here, but here they sat.

One of the senior pit crew members gave them a ride and would be picking them up. Not even a race car driver has enough skill to drink and drive. Of course they wouldn't want to drink too much before qualifying. They wouldn't be able to sleep in all morning. Besides, two of these individuals would be qualifying.

Jang Xiaopeng and Jenna Vandersen sat on one side of a booth. She wanted to sit across from the other woman, another driver of some notoriety. She was the type to have a crush on such a woman. Jenna was a lesser Royal, so she had some fame. But most people didn't really think about those sorts of families. She was just another kind of politician to most people, but with a different lifestyle.

The third person had also clout. Vannish Motors was not letting the image of Jessica Franssen fade away. But for now, she was having a few mixed drinks with Xiaopeng and Vandersen.

"So how did you guys feel as kids being towards the back of alphabetical orders?" Jess asked in a joking manner, smirking while staring Jenna in the eye. She knew about the orientation of the Baroness and she wasn't afraid. Besides, she was having some minor argument with her boyfriend, point guard Hectare Yulssen.

He flipped out in an argument and accused her of trying to break them up just because reports came out that said he might get cut from Vangaziland's International Basketball Championship team. Now Jessica wouldn't mind at least getting a few laughs from the Baroness.

"It was the Air Force where that really came into play", said Jenna between giggles. "Waiting on mail or something like that? Oh man!"

Jang popped in with, "There were always a lot of V-names in my classes. It's some Vannish thing. Vann, Vannard, Vanton, Vannington."

"I'd hate to be Vanzardo."

The two laughed in response, moderately.

"No seriously. There was this guy, Wayne Vanzardo.... In T2. He crashed all the time. He just couldn't keep it together on the track. He didn't get the braking thing."

"How could you not get the braking thing?'" Jang wasn't exactly sure what she meant, probably the approach to a turn, but he wanted to join in.

"I'm so looking forward to this race tomorrow", said Jess. "I wish you two the best of luck."

"We'll need it", said Jenna. "We're so green at this."

"You did pretty well in those last two practices", stated Franssen. "Thing is, Vannish Motors makes cars that usually go the distance. Some of the other teams are looking pretty fast though. So middle ground in this field is a good thing. Those were only lap times that the rankings went on. Way more comes into effect. Some of the other drivers are pros. Mid pack with a balanced car is about where you want to be. Keep scoring points."

The whole conversation was surreal for Jang Xiaopeng. He'd heard of these two for most of his life. The Franssen name had been in Vannish racing culture since the 1970s with Jessica's father. Jess started racing in carts before landing a contract driving touring cars. Soon she moved into open wheel T2 and T1. Then she really picked up after her jaunt in the WGPC and Cross Rally Championships.

Of course he'd heard a few things about Jenna, not much. He still had an "it's you" feeling when he met her.

Jang dropped his mug down. "I'm just a street racer. I never expected to be driving for Vannish Motors." Xiaopeng had a following of his own, mainly on the underground scene. His cars end up in magazines. His video channel went viral, where visitors could watch street races, track events, blogging and car footage.

It was not a coincidence that these three people came with a bit of a following. This was part of Vannish Motor's strategy. They actively search out celebrity drivers when they can. Jessica Franssen is a higher caliber of driver, with more experience. But they all come with a background. The exception to this celebrity policy would be VMR's entries in the Hodori Events. Drivers like Kev Schorebrook and Ade Imoju were just trying to make their mark.

Jessica turned to Jang, grinning. "Your first true pro race is coming up... Are you ready? Nervous?"

"Yup. I'm ready as I'll ever be. But I'm nervous as heck, dude. Like.... Say I clip one corner. That might ruin my chances of getting a second season."

"Jang is my little brother", said Jenna, pinching him hard. He snapped and recoiled his arm.

Sarcastically he said, "Shooot. I wish I was your brother. Then I could live at that estate and REALLY buy some cars."

She patted his new bruise. "Your time will come. You just have to get that contract. You've been running faster than me."

"I didn't know you raced, Jenna", said Jessica. "How didn't I notice?"

"It was all informal stuff. It was my life. I had a kart when I was like 14, but a competition one. I didn't race, but had this little track. At 16, I had this car with like 400 horsepower. Track courses and track time. Of course, I moved on to more powerful exotics... But from a young age, you know?" She lowered her eyelids, as she looked into Jessica's. "AND I don't get tickets in my province."

"Again, let ME be the Royal", interjected Xiaopeng. "The news would be like, 'Baron Xiaopeng busted doing two hundred in a hundred mile per hour zone'.

The two women, restrained a chuckle. They were all clearly sauced, based on this conversation.

"How long are you going to be around, Jess? Will you tour with us?"

"I can't make every race", she said while batting away with her index finger. "But I'll try."

"Come on. We need you", said Jenna coyly. "You're our mentor."

Jessica felt her cheeks warm with a bit of a blush. "Maybe I'll make a phone call and see if I can move in as an advisor. I'm supposed to be doing something with a satellite team, but that may be postponed. Let's see what the managers say."

"We'll see how it goes then."

The trio sat, drank, shared appetizers and laughed for a few hours before returning to the hotel. Jessica was actually staying at a hotel down the road. She decided to hang out at Jenna's for a bit to listen to this one album Jenna wanted her to hear.

Soon enough it would be dawn. The drivers would need to be ready fairly early for the pre-qualifying schedule. This would be their first real test. Did these two have what it took to make it in professional racing? It would take a few weeks before the answer was really known.

[Tenburg]

Not nearly as bad this time, Jack thought to himself as he climbed out of the car. He had seemed to get the handling a bit more under control. Sometimes, the acceleration still caught him off guard coming out of corners, but he figured that with a little more practice he'd get that under control as well.

He looked the car over again as the crew took it back into the paddock and began to work on it. It wasn't so unfamiliar to him now. He felt... used to it. The bright red and yellow weren't so harsh on his eyes.

"Seems to me you're getting used to it," one of the crew said to him. "These tires aren't so mangled as the sets you were bringing us before."

"Yea, she's not snapping as much as she was," he replied as he took off his helmet. "Either that or I'm just getting better at controlling it in fast corners."

"That's good. Plenty of fast corners on the circuits we'll be running."

Jack nodded. He saw that looking at maps of the courses they'd be running. All over the world, too. His mind grew lighter. This was gonna be fun.

[Aboveland]

12th place was hardly impressive for the Novikov Racing squad. The first test in Vilita had been an incredible debut for the team, finishing fourth at the hands of Luna Estrella. But now, in the first real test of speed, they'd been relegated to outside the top ten, watching on as Tropicorp Engineering locked out first and second. Maybe that was a good sign for Project AGP, but for Novikov's WGP2 efforts, it was a kick in the ass.

The entire last week had been spent testing the WGPC prototype at Lintulahti, with upgraded engine and aero components, and tweaking settings on the WGP2 car. After Luna's feedback, when she requested less aided driving, her particular car was given the treatment it needed. Thankfully, Terho himself was a raw driver, in a similar sense to Luna. He needed to feel every single undulation and pebble and crack in the road. He needed to sense the danger in locking the brakes, in turning too sharply, in spinning off the line. With the Project AGP prototype's handling being designed and refined to those standards, the HQ was chocked full of components and data specifically engineered to deliver a bare driving experience on track.

Unfortunately, it seemed the upgrades were rushed out. Klianiota once again dawdled in the bottom six of the grid, raising eyebrows in the paddock, while Luna plummeted from her impressive debut. Worse yet, both Shinno Soukuba and Lukar Urdaneta, Novikov's second choices for drivers, were ahead of Luna and Juracai. The dream of a stellar debut was quickly collapsing before the whole team's eyes, their hopes laid upon overtime shifts at HQ and a pep talk from Terho to the drivers.

[West-East Timor]

The crew rolled Timo's car back to the pit after practice. Timo got out of the car.

"The car feels good in the rain", he told his race engineer Andrew. "I think we even could have lowered the front wing a bit more. We might have been a bit faster then. But all in all, looks like a good result."

"Yeah, guess you can say that. I also thought we might lower the fron wing, but we didn't want to risk you losing control of the car and damaging it."

"Understandable. That would mean work for you."

"Exactly."

"Do we know how the weather is gonna be tomorrow?"

"Nah, not certainly. It might rain, it might not rain."

"When it won't be raining, I guess I'll need a few laps to get used to the track under dry conditions before I can actuall push for a fast qualifying lap. Shure, I've run the track in the simulator, but still, it clearly isn't the same."

"If you're fast enough after these few laps, I don't care. By the way, Mara expects at least a top ten grid position, from you and Jack. But I guess at least for you, that should be no problem?"

"No, It shouldn't. Well, I hope so, at least."

---

With time, Jannick felt more and more comfortable with the car. Driving it in the rain was a good experienced, and a way to learn a lot about the car's handling. After practice, he had a look at the results. Fifth. Again. Like at the pre-season test. Armo was only fourth this time, and the two Tropicorp Engineering cars where in first and second. Would they be this fast in qualy as well? He hoped they wouldn't.

"How was it?", Mika asked him.

"Well, quite OK. I'm slowly getting used this thing."

"That's good I'd say."

"Yeah, of course it is. I hope it's not raining tomorrow though. It's not too bad in practice, but in qualy... Meh."

"But you don't know how to drive on this track when it's dry. Do you?"

"Well, no. But the crew know the right set up, and I'm able to get used to new conditions fast. And in the rain we know it anyways now. So, we've got nothing to worry about. Except... When the Tropicorp Engineering cars are too fast for us..."

"Yeah, they indeed seem to work well..."

"Well, but they clearly will not be unbeatable. Everything will work perfectly. I'm shure."

[Togonistan]

Dom Falepeau wasn't really pleased with his result when he looked at lap times on a screen in Junixwagen's pit garage. He just stood there, looking at the results and at his car one at a time. His contract with Junixwagen was signed at the last minute, which meant he was left in a difficult situation. While other drivers had been training and working on cooperating with their team for about two or more weeks already, Dom was almost immediately going straight into competition. No, he was not trying to justify his poor performance, nor did he really have big expectations for the upcoming season, he was just trying to analyze the situation. Although he was actually faster than his teammate Marcus Schwartz, it could very easily have been a blind luck. Dom did not feel comfortable while driving his car, and something had to be done about this.

''Excuse me,'' Dom turned to Junixwagen crew.

''Yes Mr. Falepeau?'' they answered, stopping for a moment whatever they did and looking at Dom.

''Could you please get my car set, I would like to book a private test session for later today if that's possible.'' he said.

''We will get right on it sir,'' one of mechanics said.

Dom nodded as a sign of thank you before leaving the garage.

[Vilita and Turori]

Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course, Rockii Coast, Vilita :: Tropicorp Engineering Team Principle Gary Cook officially took the covers off the two Tropicorp Engineering Gp2 Chassis on Thursday at a media event ahead of the GP2 Vilitan Challenge at the Vilitan Mountain Challence Course in Rockii Coast.

While there will be no Vilitan drivers on the Tropicorp Engineer team, they will still look at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course as a home track as Tropicorp Engineering have been sharing Vilita & Turori Motorsports space for development and testing purposes and will be intimitely familiar with th course layout and all of its intricaces.

While it was widely speculated and assumed that Cocoabo #23 would be piloting one of the two Tropicorp Engineering rides during the inaugural World Grand Prix Two season, very few if any projected the Eastfield Lodge driver Cesaro Whittaker would be the teams other pilot.

Any doubts or concerns about that choice were quickly erased at the official WGP2 pre-season test where Whittaker posted the second fastest time, just over a tenth of a second back of Academy Racing's Armo Lehto who topped the charts.

It was another tenth of a second from there back to Cocoabo #23 in 9th place and another tenth back to Juracai Klianiota, the Vilitan driver who spurned any inquiries from the fledgling Tropicorp team to instead ride with the Abovian outfit Novikov Racing.

For Klianiota's part, they will be looking to become the first Vilitan driver to win a Grands Prix at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course. In fact, Vilitan drivers have had an horrific record at the course as of late particularly in the World Grand Prix Championships where Vilita's R.L. Cruisin seems to be playing a game of how to do even worse than the season prior upon each visit. After a runner up finish in WGPC Season 11 and a 3rd place finish in Season 12, Cruisin has failed to finish each subsequent Vilitan Grand Prix, and done so in even more humiliating fashion each time; barely making it off the warmup lap in the most recent event at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course before retiring.

As for Tropicorp Engineering, it is no surprise that Cocoabo #23 will be piloting the #23 machine while Cesaro Whittaker will take #31. Both chassis will carry identical paint schemes - at least to start the season, with the exception of the number; and will carry the logo of the Cocoabo Preservation Society on the tail.

---

Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course :: Information

Grand Prix Name: GP2 Vilitan Challenge
Track Location: Rockii Coast, Vilita, Atlantian Oceania
Lap Record: 1:25.440 (Stang Crax, WGPC 11)
Track Lap Length: 5.05km
Precipitation Chance: 11%

Overview:

Located in the picturesque region of Vilitan right overlooking the waters of Atlantian Oceania, the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course was carved out of the Rocks on Vilita's Rockii Coast and offers a unique challenge to all drivers. Originally more of a wide-open high intensity speed park, The Grand Prix modification of the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course was a new addition to the facility in preparation for its inclusion in World Grand Prix Championship 11. While Acceleration and Mechanical Power will be a great equalizer on much of the course, the Grand Prix boot designed by Turorian legend iBen Toralmintii mid-way through the course gives those with the ability to make maneuvers in tight spaces a chance to shine as well.

Where to Eat:

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

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

Where to get Free Stuff or Prizes:

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

The most exciting display however is the recurring Tiones Lumber display outside Turn 1. Tiones Lumber holds mini-lumberjack competitions for the fans each season ath the Vilitan Grand Prix and will be extending its coverage to the Grand Prix 2 Race weekend. At the event you can line up to compete in many famed wood-based competitions such as the 40-foot speed climb, Long rolling, the Standing Block Chop and there will even be a team relay. The best times each day win prizes from Tiones Lumber. First prize winners will be excluded from winning on subsequent days but alternate prize winners can compete for the big prize the following day. Fans who beat the all time-records could find themselves winning free Paddock Passes or other great prizes from Tiones Lumber.

Where to access the drivers:

Drivers are readily accessible to those with a Paddock Pass. However, in the Paddock the drivers are working so fans are asked to to approach the drivers. Instead, let the drivers approach you. There will also be designated driver interaction zones for fans with scheduled driver appearances posted throughout the weekend. Vilitan World Grand Prix Championship driver R.L. Cruisin will be at the Turn 7 Vilaye Energy Drink display at various times throughout the weekend while current WGP2 drive Juracai Klianiota will be making a special appearance to sign autographs at the booth on Saturday after qualifying.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Race 1: GP2 Vilitan Challenge
Qualifying

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

• Super Soft (+0.0s, 3 fast laps)
• Soft (+0.7s, 5 fast laps)
• Medium (+1.8s, 9 fast laps)

P  No Driver              Team                   Best Lap
 1 23 Cocoabo #23         Tropicorp Engineering  0:01:35.105		
 2  7 Juracai Klianiota   Novikov Racing         0:01:35.135		
 3 11 Luna Estrella       Novikov Racing         0:01:35.191		
 4  3 Armo Lehto          Academy Racing         0:01:35.199		
 5 17 Lourdina Westgrens  Team Ignis             0:01:35.206		
 6  9 Jannik Markner      Academy Racing         0:01:35.209		
 7 13 Jang Xiaopeng       Vannish Motors Racing	 0:01:35.272		
 8 94 Alyn Terfel         Team Ignis             0:01:35.323		
 9 63 Dalia Dahl          MSA-SinVal             0:01:35.388		
10 74 Lera Kozel          Obey Sport GP	         0:01:35.405		
11 26 Shinno Soukuba      MSA-SinVal             0:01:35.420		
12 89 Marcus Schwarz      Junixwagen	         0:01:35.453		
13 31 Cesaro Whittaker    Tropicorp Engineering	 0:01:35.465		
14 33 Jenna Vandersen     Vannish Motors Racing	 0:01:35.480		
15 15 Rebecca Darlington  Nexus Racing           0:01:35.530		
16  5 Timo Jänkirinää     Katara Racing          0:01:35.536		
17 66 Jack Kelly          Katara Racing          0:01:35.626		
18 61 Renho Virzi         Obey Sport GP          0:01:35.666		
19 18 Gorria Bildostegi   Yogutz Lantzia         0:01:35.735		
20 19 Dom Falepeau        Junixwagen             0:01:35.958		
21 30 Saya Kaseo          Nadakei Sport AYDP     0:01:35.981		
22 27 Lukar Urdaneta      Nexus Racing           0:01:36.406

[West-East Timor]

"HOW THE HECK DID THAT HAPPEN!?" Mara sounded quite angry. "We're behind a f*cking Obey and even behind a f*cking Junixwagen! You're ten god damn places behind of where you were in practice! How do you two explain that?"

"Well... I... Don't know. I mean, as I've foreseen, I've needed a few laps to get used to the track under dry conditions, but everything felt good. I have no idea why I haven't done better..."

"Oh, you have no idea why you haven't done better? Well, why don't you do better then?"

"Mara, I think you should calm down a bit. Look, the gaps are incredibly small. We're only four tenths behind the Cocoabo. Things were almost random.", Andrew tried to calm her.

"Well... Yeah. Maybe we can do better in the race tomorrow. I mean, in WGPC, Mick Schramm had a race I think where he drove from 22nd to second position... So... When you two, Timo and Jack, do that well in the race tomorrow... Everything is fine again I guess. I'm not expecting a podium finish, but I hope we'll get some points at least. I hope you give your best..." With that, Mara left the garage.

"Well... Timo, you 'only' have to gain six positions to finish in the points. That's not impossible. I mean, that might already happen by drivers in front of you retiring. Overtake a few opponents and then finish. I think that should do..."

"Yeah... I'll do as Mara told me to do and give my best..."

---

Jannik was quite OK with his sixth grid position. Armo did better again setting the fourth fastest time, but Jannik was only one hundredth behind him.

"This went good. I think a podium might be in for tomorrow."

"You think so?"

"Shure. Three cars are easily overtaken. It'll be no problem for me. If the car doesn't brake down and I don't crash..."

"Alright then. I'm just a manager, so, you're the expert here."

"Just one thing... What the heck is this Cocoabo thingy that is on pole?"

"To be honest... I have no idea. I think it's some kind of a bird, but I'm not entirely shure..."

"How can that thing even steer the car? Does it have hands? Or is the cockpit some special form of cockpit? Does it have a special steering wheel? Special pedals?"

"I still have no idea..."

"I think I really don't understand this..."

[Lisander]

Post-Qualifier Meeting.

"How can a Cocoabo drive?"Alyn asked.

Silence. The people in paddock looked around searching for an answer. No one had the smallest idea. Everyone laughed because everyone had the same doubt. One of the mechanics formulated a theory:

"Look, this is a Cocoabo" he said, pointing to the Cocoabo Preservation Society logo in the front of Alyn Terfel car."As you can see, they have two legs. And a mouth. He... she... uhh, whatever the pronoun, must be using legs to clutch and brake, and this long beak to drive and press the buttons... bick-bick-bick-bick-bick-bick..." The mechanic put his hand in front of his face and started to "beak" everyone. Everybody laughed.

"So, why are you discussing the sex of the angels when both of us had a worse time than the Cocoabo? You should have lots of free time. It could be used in improving the car." That was Lourdina Westgrens, kind of disappointed with her own performance.

" 'Iron Brat' at her best. Lourdina, relax. This was only the qualifier... Both of you were excellent today.In the same second of that thingy in the pole position. Remember that thingy is the local driver. Remember what happened in Grand Prix de Lisander last WGPC." Juliano Lemos, arriving in the cockpit after a hard race in Hodori. "I should be that bad. I'm remembering this, and I DNF'd again in Formula Hodori, you know... And I'm not that bad. Easier now, you're not inside the car. BTW, sorry for not arriving Vilita in time for the Qualifiers. I'll deal with airlines with more care in the next weeks."

"Good return, Boss. And you, Terfel! You should support me since both of us are the drivers making this team work!"

"Sorry, Miss Westgrens. I had a long journey from Ariannin to Vilita yesterday. I'm not yet fully recovered, I'll drive again tomorrow, and I think is fair giving me a break" Alyn answered, with a calm look on his eyes. So, when the team goes back to the hotel?

[Esmerel]

Rebecca Darlington
Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course, Rockii Coast, Vilita

Friday

It wasn't the best of practice sessions, especially about first impressions, but considering the racing conditions compared to the Rapier's performance it wasn't all that bad. Plus, the field was tightly packed. No need for a 107% rule or something like that, because all of the cars were usually within 102% at every showing so far. And no teams that had cars which were several seconds off the pace every time, much like the crap teams of the 90s like Forti, Simtek, or Pacific, all who were dreadfully slow and went bust within two seasons. Regardless of what she was talking about, the field was tight, and the margin from 1st to 15th was less than a quarter of a second.

However, it also looked like the grid would be a couple of cars short of its entry list. Nadakei Sport AYDP and Yogutz Lantzia were missing their second drivers, and Ignis had obtained their second driver at the last minute.

Nexus were in a tough position. It was just time to see how they got out.


Saturday

Once again outperformed by her teammate. No hard feelings, though. They were on equal status and it was only the first race. Some tracks she would destroy him on, others he would destroy her. Meanwhile, P15 on the grid wasn't too bad to start at. Plenty of time to work their way up the field. And Rebecca's "home" team, Obey, had struggled in the preseason but managed to get a driver into the top 10, even outqualifying one of the cars with the home field advantage.

But with the field so scrunched up and a nonhuman on pole and chances for incidents everywhere, it already looked like the race would be a good one.

[Tenburg]

Jack had been raised well by his mother and father; he knew it was never alright to hit a woman. And honestly, never before in his life had he such an urge--at least not until now. It was a new feeling for him to keep his tongue in his mouth as Mara berated him and his teammate. One of his tyre changers, Marcus, nudged him with an elbow, and when Jack turned to him, he found he was offering a cigarette. Jack took it with a quick nod of gratitude and stuck it in his mouth as Marcus lit it for him. Clearly Marcus could tell how pissed off he was at the moment. Jack appreciated that. His crew was looking after him as best they could. The slow times were by no means the fault of their setup, and he didn't perceive it to be his own either; the car felt quick throughout, and he had no trouble handling it. It just wasn't up to snuff with the top programs. But then again, that's what he'd always driven.

As she finished her rambling and left the teams alone, Jack took a puff from his cigarette and he took his gloves off and threw them across the paddock. "Fuck." He sat down on the side of the car.

"Hey, you gotta calm down, man," one of Timo's guys said. This got him a few hey-shut-ups from Jack's crew. Marcus sat down next to him.

"It's a good thing she didn't see you do that."

"That bitch ever driven a fuckin' race car before, even? What the hell does she know?..."

"I dunno myself, but let's assume she has and knows what she's talking about... let's hope so anyway. Just take a minute to cool down, and then we can look at everything and see if we can make some adjustments for tomorrow."

"Aye." His gloves were tossed to his feet by someone from the other side of the paddock. "Sorry, fellas," he said towards Timo's crew. "Got a bit of a short fuse, nothin' personal." They all seemed to accept the apology.

[West-East Timor]

"Hey, no need to apologize", Timo, who was still there and watched, said. "I'm angry too. Mara will calm down again. I know her, I've driven for teams run by her before. She can be a bit...emotional at times. And yeah, she has driven a race car before. Rallye, though."

"I'd be angry about you too...", Andrew said. "I mean, she pays you two one million and seven hundred thousand dollars. But I don't think it's your fault. I don't know whose fault it was..."

"I don't either... I have no clue what went wrong. Maybe it was just bad luck. As you said, Andrew, the gaps are very small. So... But I think I would have reacted as Mara did, too."

Someone offered Timo a cigarette as well.

"No, thanks. I don't smoke."

"So... Does anyone have an idea if we can improve the car for the race?"

"Maybe we can raise the front wing a bit. Everything was fine in the corners, but I think I had to fight a bit too much for my taste. I'm afraid we might be too slow on the straights when we do this though..."

"Our speed at the straights were actually quite good. You might have come off the racing line sometimes. We'll try it."

"Alright then. So, let's all hope we'll do better tomorrow... And Jack, you'll see Mara will be normal again tomorrow... I think. I won't tell her you called her a bitch, too.

I think I'll go to the hotel now. See y'all."

[Aboveland]

Sunday, one hour before the race

Edvin chuckled and high fived Terho. Ahead of them sat Axel, hunched over the screen at the race control booth in the paddock, with his jaw unhinged from his skull. How the team had rocketed from under the top ten to filling out the second and third grid spots in qualifying was a total mystery to him. Being honest with himself, he wasn't on top of the drivers most of the time, but rather more concerned with the reliability of the car. Thus, he wasn't sure if maybe practice had been done on a race setup, or if his drivers were on different tyres, or whatever. But to jump ten places (and even have a 17th placed driver clocking in second) in just one session was unprecedented. The gargantuan team effort to develop a WGP2 car in, what, six months (?) had paid off tremendously.

Karl ran Axel through the list of changes made from Friday to Saturday. It was an underwhelming list, with only setup changes to Luna's car and some tweaks to the engine mapping on both machines. Baffled at the improvement they'd made from a couple of changes, it hit him: what if Terho was the team's secret weapon? What if having a world champion onboard to rally up the drivers was their key to success? As Karl began a bout of small talk with Axel, the former driver drifted away towards Terho, grasping his shoulders, turning him around to face him, and looked him in the eyes.

"You have a new job in the team now."

"Wha-"

"Go to the youngsters and talk. Tell them to win it or bin it."

"Bu-"

"Go."

Startled, Terho tumbled away to gather Luna and Juracai and huddle them together as he began an improptu pep talk before the race. Axel looked on, in the background, with a grin on his face.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Dahl was sitting in the garage, just looking at the monitors with footage of her qualifying runs. Sure, it was fast, but she felt that she could get faster. Something just didn't feel right with the car this weekend. Maybe it was the need to collect data on the dry tyres now that they had a dry session to test them on. Maybe it was traffic, although the cameras seemed to say otherwise - there was nobody within 10 seconds either side of her on track when she made her fastest lap. Maybe the setup on the car was wrong in some way, although the engineers swore that they had set it up as per specification.

It couldn't have been her driving, for sure. No way. Although it did seem like she was sliding more than she should have been on the slow technical section of the course. Turn 3 especially was just a bit annoying, that double apex hairpin coming off a long high-speed left-hander, and she just couldn't get hit apex no matter what she did. Having the practice session in the wet really didn't help, she didn't like the wet at the best of times, made her too slow. But having to learn a track in the rain, and then apply it in the dry with a completely different setup, that just wasn't in her skill set. She was used to running fast, running in the dry, and once she learnt something, it was stuck in, little way of changing it.

It would be different in the race, for sure. They'd be using a much slower setup, conserving the tyres where possible, with gallons of fuel on board to last them the race distance. Slower speeds to begin with, give her time to get properly used to the track. Maybe let up on the throttle earlier on the long corners, give her time to place the apex. Any number of ways to do things differently, no way of testing them out before tomorrow. Simulators were useful, but they were just simulators, nothing like being out there in the real thing. The feedback was just not there. She needed to be able to feel the car on the road to judge where the best place to attack was.

And then there was the biggest factor. The rain. Forecasts weren't too positive on that front, currently predicting a 50/50 chance of at least showers during the race. That could mean anything - a light sprinkle that dries up quickly, all the way to a full blown wet race started under safety car with zero visibility and grip.

God, she hated racing in the wet.

Still, at least she was ahead of Cesaro. First blood, going to Dalia (who cares about practice?).