World Grand Prix Championship Season 16: RP Thread

[WGPC]

Friday Practice
Rykinsvik City Circuit

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

Pos # Driver			Team			Fastest		Behind Leader
 1 14 Sigur Bjarnason          	0:01:12.511	0:00:00.000
 2 42 Alex Dimitrianov         	0:01:12.556	0:00:00.044
 3 50 Jang Xiaopeng            	0:01:12.585	0:00:00.073
 4 20 Mick Schramm             	0:01:12.604	0:00:00.093
 5 25 Jessica Franssen         	0:01:12.659	0:00:00.147
 6 64 Moe Himura               	0:01:12.662	0:00:00.151
 7 71 Rustom Ibuna             	0:01:12.702	0:00:00.191
 8 56 Terho Talvela            	0:01:12.736	0:00:00.224
 9 51 R.L. Cruisin             	0:01:12.741	0:00:00.230
10 16 Alexander Lund           	0:01:12.741	0:00:00.230
11 12 Ranveer Singh            	0:01:12.742	0:00:00.230
12 47 Erica Okumura            	0:01:12.778	0:00:00.267
13 10 Jennifer Johnson         	0:01:12.805	0:00:00.293
14 31 Cesaro Whittaker         	0:01:12.814	0:00:00.302
15 23 Jasmin Kranjska          	0:01:12.832	0:00:00.321
16 99 Nate Jackson             	0:01:12.858	0:00:00.347
17 55 Asao Nadakei             	0:01:12.897	0:00:00.385
18 27 Gregori Krupin           	0:01:12.914	0:00:00.402
19 36 Reva Izalio              	0:01:13.050	0:00:00.539
20  2 Jean Mercer-Daly         	0:01:13.055	0:00:00.543
21 52 Sayono Souzare           	0:01:13.284	0:00:00.772
22  1 Ryker Lane               	0:01:13.401	0:00:00.889
23 77 Juracai Klianiota        	0:01:13.614	0:00:01.103
24 17 Lourdina Westgrens       	0:01:13.662	0:00:01.150
25  7 Ethan Ellis              	0:01:13.987	0:00:01.475
26  5 Juliano Lemos            	0:01:14.016	0:00:01.504

Please note: Previous published information regarding the circuit has been shown to be slightly inaccurate. After consulting with the track's management team in Vulkanas, the length of the circuit is believed to be closer to 3.123km long, with a fastest lap (in the dry) expected to be in the low 60s.

The weekend's race will be held over a distance of 280km, or 90 laps, due to the shortness of the circuit.

Qualifying results imminent.

[WGPC]

Saturday Qualifying
Rykinsvik City Circuit

Drivers had fifty minutes to record up to six flying laps of the circuit. The slowest drivers will occupy spots 11-through-26 on the grid. The ten fastest drivers are then entered into a fifteen-minute qualifying session to decide the order of the top ten for Sunday's race

Conditions: CHANGING

First Session

Pos # Driver			Team		Fastest
 1 14 Sigur Bjarnason     MRT			1:06.396
 2 50 Jang Xiaopeng       Omni Racing		1:06.765
 3 20 Mick Schramm        Omni Racing		1:06.766
 4 16 Alexander Lund      McPahan		1:06.775
 5 51 R.L. Cruisin        MSA-SinVal		1:06.813
 6 42 Alex Dimitrianov    McPahan		1:06.857
 7 55 Asao Nadakei        Arada			1:06.870
 8 47 Erica Okumura       Polaris		1:06.874
 9  1 Ryker Lane          Nexus Racing		1:06.927
10 64 Moe Himura          Arada			1:06.962
11 31 Cesaro Whittaker    MSA-SinVal		1:06.967
12 23 Jasmin Kranjska     Kissan Motorsport	1:06.982
13 25 Jessica Franssen    VMR			1:07.046
14 10 Jennifer Johnson    WGPC Eelandii		1:07.090
15 56 Terho Talvela       TRAE			1:07.215
16 27 Gregori Krupin      VMR			1:07.253
17 77 Juracai Klianiota   TRAE			1:07.254
18 71 Rustom Ibuna        MRT			1:07.256
19 99 Nate Jackson        TIF 13		1:07.325
20  7 Ethan Ellis         Kissan Motorsport	1:07.563
21 36 Reva Izalio         WGPC Eelandii		1:07.573
22 12 Ranveer Singh       TIF 13		1:07.931
23 52 Sayono Souzare      Polaris		1:08.002
24 17 Lourdina Westgrens  Bitten Heroes		1:08.048
25  2 Jean Mercer-Daly    Nexus Racing		1:08.856
26  5 Juliano Lemos       Bitten Heroes		1:11.854

Second Session

Pos # Driver			Team		Fastest
 1 14 Sigur Bjarnason     MRT			1:06.384
 2 55 Asao Nadakei        Arada			1:06.829
 3 64 Moe Himura          Arada			1:07.535
 4 47 Erica Okumura       Polaris		1:07.644
 5 20 Mick Schramm        Omni Racing		1:07.871
 6  1 Ryker Lane          Nexus Racing		1:09.517
 7 50 Jang Xiaopeng       Omni Racing		1:10.249
 8 51 R.L. Cruisin        MSA-SinVal		1:10.977
 9 42 Alex Dimitrianov    McPahan		1:20.422
10 16 Alexander Lund      McPahan		1:28.865

Starting Grid

Pos # Driver			Team
 1 14 Sigur Bjarnason     
 2 55 Asao Nadakei        
 3 64 Moe Himura          
 4 47 Erica Okumura       
 5 20 Mick Schramm        
 6  1 Ryker Lane          
 7 50 Jang Xiaopeng       
 8 51 R.L. Cruisin        
 9 42 Alex Dimitrianov    
10 16 Alexander Lund      
11 31 Cesaro Whittaker    
12 23 Jasmin Kranjska     
13 25 Jessica Franssen    
14 10 Jennifer Johnson    
15 56 Terho Talvela       
16 27 Gregori Krupin      
17 77 Juracai Klianiota   
18 71 Rustom Ibuna        
19 99 Nate Jackson        
20  7 Ethan Ellis         
21 36 Reva Izalio         
22 12 Ranveer Singh       
23 52 Sayono Souzare      
24 17 Lourdina Westgrens  
25  2 Jean Mercer-Daly    
26  5 Juliano Lemos       

'Sunday's' race will be scorinated on Monday evening after 7pm UTC.

[Esmerel]

Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course, Rockii Coast, Vilita
Saturday, 17 March 2018

Jean's mind was drawing a blank.

For a week now, he had been at home, taking this rare chance to relax for a moment. The first third (roughly) of the season had gone by, and Jean, Ryker and Nexus were all in solid positions, and really, there was only room to go up from there.

But not everything was as solid as it seemed. Ryker, unfortunately, hadn't had the opportunity to come over to Jean's house; in fact, the entire team at Nexus was silent the whole week. Whether they were relaxing too, hard at work, or had been unexpectedly shut down, Jean didn't know. All he did know was that everything wasn't an absolute disaster like the WGP2 campaign was.

It seemed like all of Nexus was drawing blanks, too. By the time the team (and Jean) regrouped at Rockii Coast, they had made some routine upgrades to the car, but also... a horrid-looking device attached to the cockpit area of the Chase Cutter. It almost looked like a basketball hoop, except made of heavy-duty steel and nanofibers, plus a big stick right in the drivers' field of view. Apparently, Gertrude had coined it the Deflecting/Intercepting Anti-Projectile Driver Enclosure Module. Jean had a better name for it: ugly. Apparently, other people thought the same- not a single soul showed up to Gertrude's conclave on Saturday evening. Yet another moment of "nobody wants anything to do with Nexus."

It was almost impossible to focus on anything with what was happening. At the same time, a test day was on, with Jean putting good effort into his lap and only behind both TRAE machines... though it wasn't really a surprise, it was basically a home field advantage. Luckily, it wasn't a race.

Jean stepped out of the Chase Cutter and threw off his signed balaclava. Over his many years of racing, Jean always understood the importance of safety but never liked wearing a balaclava. It felt weird. And really hot. At the same time, he notices Ryker walking towards the TRAE garage. What was he doing?

Jean thought about asking. But he didn't. All he did was let fate take its course. Jean had some work to do with the telemetry anyways.

One Week Later

Rykinsvik, Vulkanas
Friday, 23 March 2018

"So, it's raining. Perfecto."

"Things could always be worse, Jean. It's only practice."

Indeed it was. But things still had to go well. While the same was true for everyone else here (in terms of the WGPC) Jean had never driven this circuit before. He had driven on several streets in Esmerel, but they were far longer and less complex. It just wasn't the same.

"Might as well do some running, Darrell. The telemetry won't generate itself."

And things didn't go that good. But then again, it was rain. No matter what developments were made, it always seemed that the Chase Cutter had a WGP2 engine in the wet. Every single one of Jean's 4 wins all came in completely dry races, after all.

Then came the next day.

Saturday, 24 March 2018

Jean was 25th.

"Fuck."

"A poor sight indeed, but we have a load of options here. We're not out of it until the chequered flag. Let's just hope it's dry tomorrow."

"Indeed. Also, do you think I have time to chat with Ryker?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, I dunno. I just want to; we haven't had a solid talk for two weeks or more. Maybe after the race."

"I'll see what I can do, Jean."

[Kita-Hinode]

Saturday
After the Qualifying Results

Moe watched in silence as the results were listed. She cracked her fists, smirking as she found herself a third place at the start of the next race. Himura had few things in mind, usually focused on screwing up the people she hated in every race but with the championship slowly progressing, the team had been bringing up how they needed results.

It was hard to point who had done the better job, although Himura still had her first WGPC race win and a couple of good results, Nadakei was on the rise as she faltered down the standings. Still enough of a stomping ground for the Oni, but she also had to do well on races if she was to be brought back again. Then again, did she really have to? She could be well set as a local celebrity now, the people loved her back at home anyway.

But then she realized a simple thing. She had all the time to be popular back at home. For now, she had to end some people's luck, that's that.

[Nekoni]

"Welcome to Rykinsvik, team." Round five of the championship, the first to be held on a street circuit, was to be this weekend's challenge for the Polaris team. With that elusive first win under their belts, it was crucial that they built upon this to maintain their presence and build their position. Erica was currently tied fourth, with the first race winner, Moe Himura. Souzare had slipped a little, currently in thirteenth position, which dragged down the overall constructor's position to fifth. Although the events of the last race were positive, it was clear that Polaris would really need to score highly again this weekend to make sure their performance at Crossbay was more than just a fluke.

The circuit was unlike any other on the calendar, with a lap of half the length of some of the others in the season, the directors had to give the track special dispensation, cutting the race length to 280km. Ninety laps, the final total, a number perhaps not seen by the team since Okumura and Mayari raced for 24 hours back in their pre-WGPC days. "To show her what it's like to do a large number of laps at speed, we've taped the drivers to a swivel chair and given them a leafblower", Alexandra joked to the press before the weekend started. The track itself was a fairly simple one, as expected with just less than two miles of Tarmac to work with. The only sections that could cause trouble were the first two turns, billed as single-apex, but may as well have been three seperate ones each; with two inside kerbs jutting out, there was always the danger that an attempt too risky may send the car sideways, not recommended for the team, who were very interested in keeping their clean sheet of race finishes intact.

Sadly, however, the practice session went badly. It was a washout, and the drivers failed to crack the top ten, with Okumura in 12th, and Souzare well off the pace in 21st. However, as Mayari always said, if you're going to have a bad afternoon, you might as well have it in the practice. Nothing is decided there.

---

Morning arrived in Vulkanas, and with it, a cloud sky. Possibly the worst kind of sky for racing. It was going to rain today, but the drivers didn't know when. Also arriving into the garage was Erica Okumura, slightly earlier than usual, bringing in her breakfast to-go: an omelette, bacon and sausage stuffed inside a tortilla wrap slotted inside a microwaveable cardboard sleeve. It wasn't haute cuisine, but it had energy, it tasted decent enough, and she wanted to talk to Mayari before the qualifying started. She placed a map of the track over the table.

"Alex, look at this." She pointed at the roundabout section, where she had done poorly during the practice session. The rest of the track she could make up ground fine, but it was here that she was losing it in the first place. She had sketched in pencil the ideal line. "Right, this is the line that I obviously should be taking, right?" she continued, her voice slightly stifled by intermittent mouthfuls of egg and cheese.

"Yeah, I see it. And that's the line you took all the time on Friday."

"Yeah, but I'm not confident at doing it when the turning's as stiff as it is. Look at my entry speed compared to the guys on the front row. Raise the steering by a couple degrees, and I'm sure that I can get it sorted."

"Are you sure? It's not going to throw off your lines in the other turns, is it?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't, Alex. I'd run it by Sayo, too, see if she's having trouble in Sector 1."

Alex cracked a smile and continued sipping her breakfast of a solitary cup of coffee. "Christ, you're a woman after my job, Eri."

---

As the flag waved to begin the qualifying session, the team finished working on her car, and Erica was able to get out there. Her strategy was to get all six in as soon as possible, just so she didn't have to chance it with the incoming rain. The litmus test of the turn 1 and 2 complex began smoothly, with the car threading the needle beautifully between the three kerbs. This continued as she beared right, then darted across the next three kerbs, slicing them in one smooth, swift motion. Her radio feedback said it all:

"Adjusting for weather, you're at least a half second up in one sector alone. Damn, Erica. More of this."

Whilst she was able to get her rhythm correctly down in the first sector, the changes to the muscle memory required did affect the rest of the lap slightly. Unfortunately in the WGPC, 'slightly' is the difference between pole and failing to make Q2. Although she was respectably in fourth at the time her laps had expired, with her strategy, the other drivers had 35 minutes left to go. With no other place to go, she climbed out of her car in the pits to watch the session with Mayari.

"Well, it's a risky strategy you've gone for...and I don't think the rain's coming yet," Mayari commented whilst tapping the weather display on the screen hanging from above the main display. "If it's coming at all, it's with 5 minutes left on the second qualifying period." Right strategy, wrong time. Erica let out a little sigh. "It's not completely out of the question, Erica, but it's going to be tight."

Erica watched the multitude of monitors in the garage as the final agonising minutes ticked down, slowly sipping through the bottle of branded energy drink as she did. Every time her name dropped a place, she worried that she had made a rookie mistake, until the time hit 00:00, the final drivers finished, and her name remained in the white. Eight place. Not fantastic, but enough.

As she jumped back into the car to set off for the second period, Alexandra gave her a quick pep talk. "Fortunately, you've got as many laps as you can here, and we're at Rykinsvik, so that means there will be many. Do yourself proud out there, get the steering down and take what's yours." With no limit on the number of laps a driver could do in Q2, it made sense to get out as fast as possible. With the rain almost certain to make an appearance, and only 9 other cars playing the role of traffic, getting a good time quickly was the order of the day, and Erica absolutely did. At the end of the first recorded lap, she was leading the field.

"Keep it up, we need a good position on a place so difficult to overtake as this, and P1's the greatest one you can have, so great work so far!"

Her times continued to slice precious hundredths of a second off, however the other drivers were able to cut off more. With ten minutes to go, Erica lost the grip on the pole position, and slid to 4th. This jostled her, and her lap times stagnated. As she could hear Mayari on the radio saying "Concentrate! It only takes one great lap to take pole!", she needed to buckle down and go all-in...

...and then the rain came. Lashing down, the rain literally and metaphorically threw cold water on that little idea. There was no point in going out in a heavy downpour to attempt to beat a fast dry lap. The session was over. However, there was much to be positive about, as Mayari pointed out in her debrief. Fourth was the team's best qualifying position, and considering how good their races have been going, a strong finish was almost in the bag if she could get the start right. Sayono had flopped again in 23th, however, and the track really didn't suit for a comeback as well as the other circuits did, so the hope for points rested on Okumura on Sunday, and should she get a win again, with only 12 points seperating her from the lead, she may well go to sleep on Sunday on top of the table.

This resonated well with Erica. With one win, she got her rivals' curiosity. With two, she'd get their attention.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Ångström Electric Grand Prix of Vulkanas
Qualifying

Ryker stares at his HUD, unbelieving. “No way I just did that. No way.”

Certainly, he had been running a race setup during practice; nonetheless, neither he nor Jean had been anywhere close to competitive up until now. Jean, it seems, still isn’t. Ryker, on the other hand…

“Dear Imagination, we’re through.” He laughs, an expression of joyous shock manifesting upon his face. Similar clamours begin to sound around the garage as the results filter through; an energy fills his side as the mechanics and engineers, newly invigorated, begin to prepare the car for a second stage of Qualifying that nobody had even thought they might be part of. “We’re through!”

He rests his hand on the side of Coalescence’s cockpit, running it over the surface as he often does. You’ve carried me through again. Thank you.

“Okay, Ryker, we’re readying everything as I speak.” Martin’s voice is as soothing and, more importantly, focussing as always. “Bear in mind that we might be a little later out than would be ideal, given the threat of rain; we were not best prepared for this scenario.”

Ryker nods. “I hear you. Do Jean and Darrell have my data to look at?”

“He does.”

“Good.” The Nimban driver looks down, pursing his lips. “Actually, Martin, I think that the DIADEM might be causing Jean some issues.”

Gertrude’s new device certainly hasn’t done him any harm; when he first tested it out back at Crossbay his vision was remarkably unimpaired, even in spite of the elevation changes. And it might not look so good on other cars - it probably wouldn’t look good on last year’s Chase Cutter - but it’s alright on the UHSGV-2. The curves blend in well. He did, however, overhear Jean making comments expressing a sentiment opposite to the latter position a few days ago and has since suspected that he is less comfortable in terms of the former, too. Making matters worse, the DIADEM is actually entirely unnecessary in terms of Nexus Racing’s drivers’ safety, given that the IRASSU does exactly the same job. The structure is instead present on the two Chase Cutters to make a very visible statement and a challenge to the rest of field - and, while Ryker can appreciate the intent, if it hampers actual race performance…

“I know he was doing fine with it before but, well, testing and racing aren’t the same. Do we really need it on his car? I’d hope it’d be enough of an endorsement for the current World Champion to be using it…”

“I understand your point of view, Ryker and, to a degree, I share it. I’ll talk to Timothy about it after the session. Would you like to join me?”

“Yes, thanks.”

Minutes pass. Ryker and Martin discuss potential improvements to the course’s driving - a little more speed out of Turn 5, a little more into Turn 8 - but little else. About a minute after the second session begins, Coalescence and its driver are released.

Unfortunately, it is into a light, steady rain.

Post-Qualifying

Timothy Guard rests his head upon his hands. His hands form a kite, his fingers joined on one side above the bridge of his nose and his thumbs on the other underneath his chin.

That could certainly have been far worse. Yes, Ryker would have taken a higher position had he been out earlier; that is true for the other teams. Yes, Jean is on the grid’s final row; he has not had any mechanical faults and we know that he can make up ground. Yes, MRT hold pole position; their other driver and the Drivers’ Championship leader is starting from eighteenth position.

He nods to himself, closing his eyes. Then he breathes and thinks hard.

Typically, the tracks on the WGPC calendar are balanced between those favouring precise cornering and downforce-heavy cars, those favouring outright speed and aggressive, daring driving and those favouring neither in particular. Rykinsvik City Circuit is possibly the most extreme example of the former category, somewhere at which Nexus Racing would be expected to do poorly. To do well here would neutralise that disadvantage, effectively skewing the balance of circuits and giving the team a strategic edge. This race, in short, is very important to get right.

Bjarnason has been dominant throughout the weekend’s events; if there is one thing that the last Grand Prix has showed us, the best way to break such a stranglehold is with unconventional strategy. Ryker can drive well here but he will need all the grip that he can find to drive well. The Project Manager hesitates for only a moment. We should give it to him, let him go on the offensive. A three-stop strategy, sans rain, then, with timing adjustments for traffic. Default to supersofts for each. Guard nods again, making a mental note to give chronological precedence to that strategy when running projections through the team’s supercomputer.

As for Jean… We need to take a risk with him, too, if he is to stand a chance of scoring. Attempting longer stints would lock him into following other cars with little chance of overtaking. On the other hand, if he is to start from the back, we might do well to exploit the space behind him by pitting early… He nods again. Then a three-stop strategy would also be advisable.

He sincerely hopes that he is right.

Pre-Race

Ryker glides over to the niche within the cliff wall once more, pole-armed. He turns, breathing steadily, then extends his arm and leaves the pole to float under Imagination’s power.

Then he steps back and wills it to spin.

---

Ryker forms the flames into a conflagration, spreading up and down the pole and burning it to so much ash upon the wind. He breathes a little harder now, the intense concentration having drawn upon a little of his energy, and leans back. His hands touch upon mighty, solid rock. Almost unthinking, they begin to glide over the tactile surface, feeling out the aged crevices and bumps.

The Nimban turns his head to look over his shoulder, smiling. Turning fully, he looks upon the rock.

Then he has a thought. Concentrating again, he brings his power to bear upon a tiny section of the cliff.

A chip falls from the surface, cleanly severed, leaving a smooth surface exposed.

Ideas sweep through his mind before he turns again, leaping away and surging back towards the cliff top. For now, though, they will have to wait.

[WGPC]

CUT OFF

[Mattijana]

Rykinsvik, Vulkanas

Alex Dimitrianov felt at home amongst the streets of Rykinsvik. Like his former colleague at MRT, he was from the northern end of the country and had been brought up amongst the ice rally races and skating heartlands that also featured in Maria Jamasova's earlier years. Like his countrypeople, the streets of the Vulkan capital reminded him of home.

His focus for now, other than the racing, was on whatever the Nimbans had attached to the front of their car.

Suitable comparisons were hard to come by. It was like a milk crate had had its bottom lopped off with a circular saw, been bent beyond recognition and then bolted crudely to the outside of the cockpit. That was the best he could come up with for now anyway.

What the purpose of the new contraption was he really didn't have a clue. Given the nature of the Nexus car's technology, he wouldn't be surprised if it was some kind of fancy way of tapping information directly into the driver's mind. Maybe it was some kind of visual aid, although the strut that seemed to be directly in front of the driver's eyeline would suggest otherwise. If so, was that in the rulebook. Who knew?

On the silver machine however, the cage had a somewhat ethereal feel. The old orthodox churches might have called it a halo. Alex thought that was too religious and generic. It wouldn't catch on.

The new gadget hadn't seemed to do Nexus too many favours either. Ryker Lane had slotted nicely into 6th place, but his teammate Jean Mercer Daly was all the way down in 25th, ahead only of the hapless Bitten Heroes car of Juliano Lemos. Pit lane rumour had it that the defending world champion was considerably more comfortable with the device that was now blighting the front end of his car.

Wondering back into the McPahan garage, Alex saw Roger Bunn wandering around the back of the garage, presumably checking everything about the rear-ends of the blue and white machines were still in working order. Either that or he was just staying out of the way of the frantic work of the mechanics and thinking about life.

Stopping to greet a few of his mechanics as he made his way around the side of his car, he eventually found the Audioslavian leaning casually against the wheeled units pushed up against the back wall.

"Have you seen what they've done to the Nexus cars down the road?" Asked Alex once the pair had exchanged pleasantries. "It looks like...umm..."

"Like a milk crate's been badly mutilated and then strapped onto the cockpit?"

"I guess. My guess knowing them is that it's some kind of psychological aid for the driver, but your guess is as good as mine."

Roger didn't need much time to ponder.

"Even for the Nimbans, mind reading's a bit of a step too far. Open's up some crazy ethical cans of worms. Anyway, from what I've heard, it's health and safety. Idea is to stop bits of rubber and bodywork and engine from coming off the car in front and whacking the driver in the head. It's fairly low tech by their standards, especially seeing as I was pretty sure they had some fancy imagikinetic protection anyway.

"Engine?"

"Yeah, well anything that could be percieved as a hazard anyway. It's probably just another distraction from the fact they've got a pretty good car."

Alex nodded.

"Now I know your lot's track record on health and safety has been umm..."

"Lapse?" Suggested Roger.

"I was thinking more along the lines of grossly negligent, but anyway, please tell me you're not gonna stick that thing on the front of the car."

Roger chuckled, "I don't know, I think it looks pretty good. Maybe we should give it a try?"

Alex looked a little uncertain.

"Only joking," replied Roger. "I've been around WGPC for yonks and I've never seen a driver get hit by wheels, bits of suspension or any other gubbins from another car. It's extra weight as well, the engineers would never let it happen and I doubt the designers would be too happy either."

That was a little more reassuring.

---

A little way down the pit-lane, Jasmin Kranjska wasn't quite feeling the same vibes as the other Mattijanan driver. She was from the capital city of Petrovijanka which had a much warmer climate than Snezn, and indeed the city she currently stood in with a couple of extra layers on than she was used to.

Her debut qualifying performance hadn't been cold though. She sat 12th on the grid and had been only 2 hundredths of a second from pipping Moe Himura to tenth and a place in the top 10 shootout. All this on her first weekend competing in a WGPC car. She'd also beaten Jessica Franssen and Terho Talvela. They were some bragging rights to have.

The top racers in the paddock were up there because of their prowess in the race however. If she was to make it in the sport, she would need to match them.

She had the two MSAs and McPahans up ahead of her. With her agressive start, she could take them over the first couple of laps. Keeping Franssen at bay would be a totally different challenge however.

With rain hanging around in the area and a street circuit to attack, her first race would probably be an eventful one.

[WGPC]

Raceday
Rykinsvik City Circuit

Conditions: CHANGING
Laps: 90

Start  |  Pos. After 22 laps  |  Pos. After 45 laps  |  Pos. After 67 laps
 1 BJA | 1 BJA Aft. 22 laps   | 1 BJA Aft. 45 laps   | 1 JNG  Aft. 67 laps
 2 NDK | 2 JNG +30.168sec     | 2 JNG +8.358sec      | 2 BJA +20.533sec
 3 HIM | 3 HIM +48.41sec      | 3 DIM +28.568sec     | 3 OKU +30.916sec
 4 OKU | 4 IBU +55.983sec     | 4 IBU +30.223sec     | 4 DIM +35.568sec
 5 SCH | 5 DIM +57.089sec     | 5 OKU +47.519sec     | 5 IBU +43.527sec
 6 LAN | 6 NDK +57.168sec     | 6 FRS +62.104sec     | 6 FRS +48.098sec
 7 JNG | 7 OKU +59.019sec     | 7 KRA +62.416sec     | 7 RVR +55.117sec
 8 CRU | 8 KRA +60.285sec     | 8 HIM Laps Down: 1   | 8 KRA Laps Down: 1
 9 DIM | 9 SCH +67.317sec     | 9 LUN Laps Down: 1   | 9 WES Laps Down: 1
10 LUN |10 CRU Laps Down: 1   |10 CRU Laps Down: 1   |10 KRU Laps Down: 1
11 WTK |11 FRS Laps Down: 1   |11 RVR Laps Down: 1   |11 IZA Laps Down: 1
12 KRA |12 LAN Laps Down: 1   |12 SCH Laps Down: 1   |12 LAN Laps Down: 1
13 FRS |13 ELI Laps Down: 1   |13 LAN Laps Down: 1   |13 JAC Laps Down: 2
14 JOH |14 KRU Laps Down: 1   |14 KRU Laps Down: 1   |14 SCH Laps Down: 2
15 TAL |15 LEM Laps Down: 1   |15 WTK Laps Down: 1   |15 TAL Laps Down: 2
16 KRU |16 RVR Laps Down: 1   |16 LEM Laps Down: 1   |16 HIM Laps Down: 3
17 KLI |17 LUN Laps Down: 1   |17 WES Laps Down: 1   |17 JOH Laps Down: 3
18 IBU |18 WES Laps Down: 1   |18 TAL Laps Down: 2   |18 LEM Ret. Lap 62
19 JAC |19 WTK Laps Down: 1   |19 JAC Laps Down: 2   |19 WTK Ret. Lap 55
20 ELI |20 TAL Laps Down: 1   |20 JOH Laps Down: 2   |20 LUN Ret. Lap 54
21 IZA |21 JOH Laps Down: 1   |21 IZA Laps Down: 2   |21 CRU Ret. Lap 52
22 RVR |22 IZA Laps Down: 1   |22 ELI Ret. Lap 42    |22 ELI Ret. Lap 42
23 SZR |23 JAC Laps Down: 1   |23 NDK Ret. Lap 27    |23 NDK Ret. Lap 27
24 WES |24 SZR Ret. Lap 16    |24 SZR Ret. Lap 16    |24 SZR Ret. Lap 16
25 JMD |25 JMD Ret. Lap 3     |25 JMD Ret. Lap 3     |25 JMD Ret. Lap 3
26 LEM |26 KLI Ret. Lap 1     |26 KLI Ret. Lap 1     |26 KLI Ret. Lap 1

Pos # Driver               Team				Race Time	Behind Preceding car	Points
 1 14 Sigur Bjarnason        	1:43:24.782	0:00:00.000	25
 2 42 Alex Dimitrianov       	1:44:04.819	0:00:40.038	18
 3 47 Erica Okumura          	1:44:05.898	0:00:01.079	14
 4 50 Jang Xiaopeng          	1:44:18.231	0:00:12.332	10
 5 25 Jessica Franssen       	1:44:31.845	0:00:13.614	8
 6 12 Ranveer Singh          	1:44:32.244	0:00:00.399	6
 7 23 Jasmin Kranjska        	Laps Down: 1	0:00:09.480	4
 8 71 Rustom Ibuna           	Laps Down: 1	0:00:01.796	3
 9 17 Lourdina Westgrens     	Laps Down: 2	0:01:08.209	2
10 20 Mick Schramm           	Laps Down: 2	0:00:31.839	1
11 36 Reva Izalio            	Laps Down: 2	0:00:01.509	
12  1 Ryker Lane             	Laps Down: 2	0:00:00.105	
13 56 Terho Talvela          	Laps Down: 3	0:00:49.722	
14 27 Gregori Krupin         	Laps Down: 3	0:00:11.473	
15 64 Moe Himura             	Laps Down: 3	0:00:02.307	
16 10 Jennifer Johnson       	Laps Down: 4	0:00:36.134	
17 99 Nate Jackson           	Laps Down: 5	0:02:00.818	

DF  5 Juliano Lemos          	Ret. Lap 62				
DF 31 Cesaro Whittaker       	Ret. Lap 55		
DF 16 Alexander Lund         	Ret. Lap 54	
DF 51 R.L. Cruisin           	Ret. Lap 52
DF  7 Ethan Ellis            	Ret. Lap 42	
DF 55 Asao Nadakei           	Ret. Lap 27
DF 52 Sayono Souzare         	Ret. Lap 16
DF  2 Jean Mercer-Daly       	Ret. Lap 3
DF 77 Juracai Klianiota      	Ret. Lap 1

Current Drivers' Championship Standings

Pos	#	Name			Team			Pts	Wins
1	14	Sigur Bjarnason		MRT			49	1
2	71	Rustom Ibuna		MRT			46	1
3	47	Erica Okumura		Polaris			45	1
4	20	Mick Schramm		Omni Racing		37	0
5	2	Jean Mercer-Daly	Nexus Racing		35	1
6	64	Moe Himura		Arada			31	1
7	50	Jang Xiaopeng		Omni Racing		28	0
8	16	Alexander Lund		McPahan			24	0
9	42	Alex Dimitrianov	McPahan			22	0
9	56	Terho Talvela		TRAE			22	0
11	1	Ryker Lane		Nexus Racing		21	0
12	55	Asao Nadakei		Arada			14	0
13	25	Jessica Franssen	VMR			12	0
13	12	Ranveer Singh		TIF 13			12	0
15	27	Gregori Krupin		VMR			10	0
16	52	Sayono Souzare		Polaris			9	0
16	22	Kyoko Fujisaki		Kissan Motorsport	9	0
18	10	Jennifer Johnson	WGPC Eelandii		8	0
19	99	Nate Jackson		TIF 13			7	0
20	77	Juracai Klianiota	TRAE			4	0
20	23	Jasmin Kranjska		Kissan Motorsport	4	0
22	31	Cesaro Whittaker	MSA-SinVal		3	0
23	17	Lourdina Westgrens	Bitten Heroes		2	0
24	36	Reva Izalio		WGPC Eelandii		1	0
25	5	Juliano Lemos		Bitten Heroes		0	0
25	51	R.L. Cruisin		MSA-SinVal		0	0
25	7	Ethan Ellis		Kissan Motorsport	0	0

Current Constructors' Championship Standings

Pos	Team			Points
1	MRT			95
2	Omni Racing		65
3	Nexus Racing		56
4	Polaris			54
5	McPahan			46
6	Arada			45
7	TRAE			26
8	VMR			22
9	TIF 13			19
10	Kissan Motorsport	13
11	WGPC Eelandii		9
12	MSA-SinVal		3
13	Bitten Heroes		2

[Vangaziland]

Jessica Franssen had taken a noticeable break from the spotlight. The last word the public heard from her since the Nimban Grand Prix was a social media post about 'spending time at Imperial Hills.' Besides being famous for the prestigious Imperial Military Academy, segments of Imperial Hills are ritzy tourist towns for the rich. The effects of the long season were getting to her. She spoke of this at track testing in Vilita.

She seemed more quiet than normal over the team's radio during the practice week. In the car, she still paid attention to what was going on, but she was less likely to recommend changes. They weren't necessarily tuning for that particular track, as in a regular race week. This was the entire week.

A part of Jess wanted to make sure the car wouldn't erupt right there on the spot. The new chassis was proving quirky. Her Sorlovian counterpart did not misspeak when he criticized the car so far. His translation was a little off, but the spirit was correct. It wasn't that VMR was conducting wacky 'experiments' as that particular word choice would infer. Instead the engineers were having to tailor the car a little too much for each track. This can leave lots of room for things to go wrong.

After the practice session, Jess flew back to The Hills to rest until two days before practice at Rykinsvik. She spent time in the city, feeling at home. Part of her wished she spent less time at The Hills and really explored this city.

She felt comfortable with her car at practice. The team made a few minor tweaks. She gave a bit of input, but still seemed reserved. She went to sleep early and prepared for qualifying. She fell to 13th after a lackluster qual run which saw her scrub her line once on her fastest lap. The mistake dropped her out of the second round.

"We ran 5th in practice, so I figure we can make some of that time back", Jess said after qualifying. The truth was that Sigur was looking strong, finishing first on every run at the course. He was a lock to win as long as his car stayed healthy.

Jess also kept her eye on her protégé, Jang Xiaopeng. He fell to 7th on the grid, but ended the first qualifying session in 2nd. His line was looking good. If Jess could, she'd try to get on his line. Despite the VMR car's unreliability this year, they do have the ability to score points from outside of the top 10..... Assuming they don't fry a circuit board.

Jang did have a hell of a race, with perhaps a lackluster finish. Before the flag clocked the 20th lap, Jang had pulled to 2nd. He consistently held his spot too, by margins upwards of +15 to +18 seconds. The Omni car is not one to be underestimated. The team is one good dual run away from a lead in the Constructors'.

As Jang launched a nearly race-long battle to try to push into the lead, Jess fought to get onto the lead lap. She cracked the top 10 on lap 37. By lap 45 she held 6th place. Her car was locked in and she held this position for some time. It was a battle just maintaining her distance and keeping her pace up over the lapped cars.

On the final 30 laps, Jess noticed the Team Force India car in her rearview. There was still some spacing, but Ranveer was close enough to be seen. Jess tried to lose him as she ducked around lapped cars, but he kept his spacing. Somewhere in that late run around the city, she remembered why she raced. She saw the huge Vannish flags groups of fans brought from the Mainlands. She saw the Indigo & Red waving in a fury out of the corner of her eye when she passed the grandstands. She heard roars of cheers as she passed.

Flocks of Vannish fans flew to many races. The aggreeable nature of this particular city made it a marketable event. There were also similarites to what the Vannish called 'The Old World'. The modern Vangaziland was an amalgam of several cultures on a Scandinavian landscape. A large portion of the people enjoyed seeing what the rest of Scandinavia looked like.

Jang spun out after crossing the bridge a little too fast. It wasn't too bad of a knock off and popped him from the lead he worked so hard to clutch back to 4th. Merging right behind him in the pack was Jessica Franssen.

The Omni car held it's own and so did Jang. Just a year ago, Xiaopeng was driving for Jess as an acting principal in the WGP2. Now Jang's team held 2nd in team points. The flag waved and the two Vangazi finished 4th and 5th. All in all it was a great result considering where they started. Jang almost pulled a win. Jess hopped into the top 5 after starting 13th.

Xiaoping and Jessica were seen laughing and walking arm-in-arm after the race. "You're still my student", Jessica said with a giggle.

Jang had enough class to just take the joke and laugh, versus joking about where he finished this race or even the overall standings. He let her have her line. She wasn't his enemy. All he cared about was pushing Omni though this next stretch. He couldn't help but feel like he flubbed a chance, but that extra 10% could have been the 10% which led to a DNF. They were good points. He knew how well the Omni car was running. All he had to do was knuckle down and show each track who's the boss.

Of course, the latter was easier said than done. The trials of doing so are every driver's journey. Jang and Jess found themselves rejuvenated, ripped, roaring and ready to go. The mid-season break helped each driver reset for the long haul ahead. Meanwhile, the media watched and waited.

[Savojarna]

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the winner of the Angström Electric Grand Prix of Vulkanas: From Savojarna, representing the Mattijana Racing Team: SIGUR BJARNASON!

Sigur jumped onto the podium, highly energised with the adrenaline that came from his first race victory in his WGPC career. The rain had gotten lighter again, being reduced to a drizzle, but his hair was still somewhat wet from the massive downpour of the last few laps. It was partially the rain that gave him this victory, together with the tactical cleverness of Krister Arlund. Had Krister not delayed his last pit stop by a few laps, or had he not used his unlimited laps in the Q2 to train a bit in the rain, everything may have been different. But it wasn't, and Sigur Bjarnason had taked the victory in Rykinsvik as well as the lead in the WGPC standings. Had he been told that before the season, or even after the first two races, he would not have believed it, but now here he was, and it was indeed real.

"Please stand for the national anthems of Savojarna and Mattijana!

Sigur closed his eyes, raised his head and his left fist to the gesture that replaced the classic "hand-on-heart" variety in Savojarna, at least for big moments like this. He had always liked the much more energetic nature of it, and wasn't too fond of the patriotic hand-on-heart thingy. As he heard the music start, his mind immediately drifted back to the beginning of the race. The sky was deeply grey, but no rain to be seen yet as he got to the box. Krister had greeted him with a worried face. "We don't know what to do with the setup, to be honest - may rain, may not. Anyway, we'll give you a two-stop-strategy on the ultrasofts, there's really no use for trying to go through the whole race on one set today, even if it's probably possible here. Better be ready to react to the weather", he babbled while Sigur was in his zone, waiting for the race to begin on this narrow, difficult track that he loved at first sight. It was a madhouse, a playground for a young rallye driver like him, even if it was a playground where a mistake could mean death. Never before did death seem like a worthy price for some fun, though.

Rejs jer, fordømte her på jorden; rejs dig, du sultens slavehær!

The track laid clear in front of Bjarnason's car, leading into the first roundabout. He couldn't have picked a better track for his first pole, the tight combination of two roundabouts right in front of him. If anyone was going to crash there, it could well be completely clogging up the track and give him a great headstart. He had parked his car right in the bracket on the ground and went through the first combo in his head. Glancing over at Nadakei next to him, he scaled up the Arada driver. The lights went on, one by one, as Sigur prepared for the start. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Go. The MRT shot off the line, and the blue and white Arada disappeared from his vision. Nadakei's start was apparently not the greatest, and in the rear mirror he saw a small gap opening to Moe Himura's other blue and white car. This was going just as planned.

I rettens krater buldrer torden, nu er det sidste udbrud nær.

Throughout the first few laps of the race, nothing of notice really happened. The track was perfectly suited to the car and to Sigur's skills, and he steadily increased the distance. Twenty-five laps into the race, Krister messaged him on the radio. "Box, Sigur, box. You lose time to Jang, he is trying to undercut you. Box in this lap". As he slowed down in the pit road, beautifully placed in the park here, he lost his sense of calm enjoyment for the first time. Suddenly he saw the risks of a pit stop - what if a mechanic wouldn't fix the wheel properly? What if he lost time and actually ended up behind Jang? There was so much that had gone wrong in previous races that Sigur just didn't trust his luck anymore. He nervously tapped the wheel as the cruise control took over and he waited for the MRT box to arrive finally. It felt like hours until he saw the green, yellow and red overalls in front of him. As the crew changed his tyres, he got ever more nervous, until he let go of the clutch a little bit when trying to drive off. With an ever-so-slight swiveling of his car's rear end, he re-entered the pit lane and subsequently the track. Sigur barely dared to breathe until he got Krister's voice on the radio again. "Good pit stop, Sigur, you're still nine seconds ahead of Jang. Try to be careful with your new tyres!"

Bryd kun fortids møre mur i stykker, slaveskare, der er kaldt; snart verdens grundvold sig forrykker, fra intet da vi bliver alt!

Sigur had managed forty laps on the supersofts, knowing he'll soon be in for another change. But the sky got darker quickly and heavy drops came down onto the track. The race became a tactical duel between Bjarnason and Jang Xiaopeng, who was only three seconds behind the Savojar by now, and far ahead of the chase group led by Okumura. Whoever could hit the spot to change tyres better would be winning this race, and whoever had better nerves was more likely to do that. Bjarnason was the first to blink, but he had hit the spot perfectly. Behind him, some risky gamblers had already switched to intermediates and seemed faster, but Arlund had decided to take the ultimate risk. Full wets, while Jang was still driving on his slicks. Twenty seconds behind his opponent and still losing time, the team was already doubting its information as the rain got thicker and thicker. A spray of water descended onto the track, and Jang Xiaopeng had to struggle not to lose control over his car. He changed his tyres soon after and let the Savojar take the lead again. The race was now to be contested on his terrain, and the full wets gave him the grip he needed.

Vågn til kamp af jer dvale, til den allersidste dyst

The plate that his pit crew held over the wall showed ever increasing numbers, and Sigur Bjarnason couldn't have felt better in his car. It was like slithering around on the always wet gravel of Sumanen, and he couldn't have enjoyed it more. When the grey of the sky, the road and the rivers they crossed on the track fused together, Sigur Bjarnason felt at home. This was the kind of racing he was made for, the track being his first opponent but the car his ally, perfectly under the control of his hands. Nobody could follow the Savojar on a wet city track, and this was the moment to prove it. He counted down the laps towards the finish line as the gap kept and kept increasing. Finally he entered the final lap. Never before had he driven a lap in a car so enthusiastically and yet so calm, making sure he wouldn't kiss the wall in the final lap. Then there it was: the last one of the narrow bridges and the crossroads at which they turned onto the final straight. The final kink. And then: the chequered flag. His first victory.

og internationale slår bro fra kyst til kyst.

Bjarnason slowed down his car past the finish line, punching his fists into the rain and finally ending all his resistance to the feelings that now overwhelmed him. WE WON, he thought, the realisation crowding out all other thoughts in his mind. Enthusiastically, he thanked his crew as he raced around the track for his outlap like a little boy that got an exciting christmas present. Upon arrival in the Parc Fermé, he was immediately surrounded by a hive of green, yellow and red. Hands patted his shoulders and his head as he climbed out of the MRT, now having secured the team a double lead in the overall classification.

Vågn til kamp af jer dvale, til den allersidste dyst; – og internationale slår bro fra kyst til kyst.

As the anthem ended, Sigur opened his eyes again and saw the big, beautiful and vibrant colours of the Savojar flag being raised in front of him. The next anthem to be played was Mattijana's, and while Sigur respectfully waited silently, he let his eyes wander over the crowd and took in the faces he knew. He saw Johan Struna in it, proud of the victory that was just as much his as it was Sigurs. Alex Dimitrianov next to him on the podium, now hearing his national anthem, even if it wasn't strictly played for him. Krister Arlund, a wide smile on his face. The fans from both Savojarna and Mattijana, proud of the accomplishments of their nation's drivers and cars, seemed like old friends of some sorts. His mind was brutally shaken back into reality when a wide-smiling Dimitrianov hit him in the back of the neck with a stream of champagne. The additional wetness was hard to feel at all after the downpour in the final minutes of the race, but it was the smell and taste of victory that got him. A little spraying and, later on, partying seemed in order now.

[Esmerel]

Rykinsvik, Vulkanas
Sunday, 25 March 2018

Jean shot off without much of a problem. Although that's about everything that would happen to Jean Mercer-Daly during the Vulkanas GP. While he witnessed the TRAE of Klianiota gray out on his HUD- it then started glitching out, along with the traction control. Something was going on.

"There's something wrong with the car again... I'm running a diagnostics check."

It took about a lap for the check to complete... a pretty slow lap. Jean could only see the Bitten Heroes cars ahead of him by the time they figured out the problem.

"The wet surface and the tight surface are confusing the car's systems... The situation looks pretty bad..."

"Jean, what are you recommending we do about it?"

"I... I'm... I'm retiring the car. If I try to keep running I'll be ten down by the end."

Jean pulled into the pits at the end of the third lap. The crew immediately went to work on trying to see what was going on, while Jean stepped out and chilled in the back room. There were a couple of interviews, too, but mostly it was just him waiting for the dreadful race to end. He was thinking about things, too... in both of the street tracks he had raced on so far in his career he had retired early.

The race was really worth forgetting. But Jean had made an agreement with Ryker earlier. At least that was there. After Ryker had finished his interviews and made it back to the paddock, Jean went up to him and began.

"So, Ryker," he said, "how has it been going? I want to know more about you on a personal level. Care to share any details?"

[Axuva]

ooc: Can anyone help me get into this rp?

[Nekoni]

"If there's any track to do well on qualifying in, it's this one. Fourth is a pretty fantastic place to start, all things considered. Nail the start and we'll see if we can get a double win in."

In front of Erica, three drivers: immediately in front, Moe Himura, winner of the first round in Hodori, tied with Erica on points and all-round Scary Woman. Second, Asao Nadakei, veteran of the championship. Whilst only 11th so far, the qualifying session yesterday proved that he still had the ability to show great flourish when the chips were down. At the very front, the dark horse, MRT's Sigur Bjarnason. After a fairly unassuming start, he'd been able to score a 3rd and a 4th place in his next two races, and he was absolutely dominating the race weekend, being unassailable in all three sessions so far. He was a master of a track like this: the nature of the track suited his rallying chops, particularly when the weather got nasty. And nasty it had: no dry sessions this weekend, and today's weather was no different. It was dry for now, but by the ominous gloom in the skies, it sure wasn't going to end that way.

"Five, four, three, two, one, 'AVE IT!"

Erica floored the purple and orange car into the first roundabout, however unable to gain a position. This was to be expected, so the pundits suggested. This was not an easy track for overtaking; if someone other than Sigur would be taking the gold home, it would be largely won on strategy. Round the cars flew, completing the first lap, with surprisingly only one driver to come a cropper, with Klianiota finishing his first and only lap in the pit lane. "Keep trying to push, Eri. If the rain comes and you aren't in front of Bjarnason, you aren't going to be winning this."

Challenge accepted, thought Erica, as she attempted to thread the needle around Himura. As the opening laps fell, there was a noticeable battle going on for third place, whilst the front two drivers shot off. It seemed that for every attack Okumura had, Himura was able to answer, and the problem was that the track didn't give much scope to lay down enough of a frontal assault. Every failed attempt seems to cost her half a lap at worst, a whole 30 seconds worth of waiting for another attempt, a whole 30 seconds more for Himura to breathe deeply and prepare. By the time lap 14 had come around, the positions had still stayed the same. "If you're gonna get her, you're gonna need to be brave, Erica," the radio called to her. The team was right, Erica had to lay a surprise. As the cars were side to side entering the final slow complex of lap 15, she gulped, took no notice of the potential for losing her eyes to an angry Moe armed with a katana, and went for it.

This was a bad move. The plan was to sweep right across the double-apex, then outbrake the Arada on the immediately left. However, she had braked too late, and had to wrench the wheel hard to avoid the wall on the right. By doing this, she skidded, smashing the rear tire into the other wall. She yelled at the car in her choicest, crudest Italian, as the pit crew gasped. "You aren't out of it yet, love. Flip it, get it in the pit, we'll see what we can do." The car was excruciatingly slow as the buckled tire made life difficult for her just to get down the penultimate straight in a straight line, and she managed to somehow get it to the pit. From there, the damage was an easy, but time-costly fix: remove the broken parts, replace the wheelarch itself and flip all the tires to the next hardest compound (they might as well, considering the circumstances). It was a fairly simple procedure, but one that hurt her standings, as she exited in 11th place.

---

"You know, that could have gone a lot worse," Erica heard what was clearly the voice of Mayari on the other side.
"I'm not sure it could, honestly."
"Souzare has retired. Yeah, it really *could* have gone worse. Anyway, over the next few laps there should be some drivers pitting, so hopefully we should get some movement through the field. Give it a couple of laps and let us know how the back wheel's doing."

With Sayono falling at the end of that lap, Polaris had broken their finishing streak. It was all down to Okumura, now. The next long portion of the race was all about making sure her tires could last. It was fairly obvious that the car had recovered well from its meeting with the wall, and now it was all about not taking any risks, keeping the car in the points...and praying the rain stayed away. Sure enough, Mayari's prediction came true, as Polaris' one and only car managed to crawl back into the top 10, as the race entered the middle of its first half, and the long walk to redemption continued. She found herself in seventh, with her starting position of 4th just five seconds away, the newbie Kranjska nipping at her heels. "I don't know how you did it, but somehow I think you got over that scare. Amazing job, don't let it slip."

Now, if this was at the start of the race, it would have been a simple goal, to attempt to snare in all three and claim her pace back, maybe all in one lap if she was feeling like a challenge. After her bad start, she wasn't going to risk it, though. Her plan now was to get behind them, and scare them into making an error. Don't try to force an overtake, but let her presence force a lock-up, overshoot a brake zone, anything to let her simply pass when it was safe to do so. However, she couldn't get into the slipstream, or close enough to use drag reduction, whilst the pack of three ahead of them were all doing so. It seemed like a Herculanean task, until, by a stroke of luck, on lap 27: "Nadakei's out, mate. One less car for you to chase." She didn't know how it happened - at that point she was far behind enough that she only just saw the colours of the cars ahead of her, and the light blue Arada changing to McPahan team colours led her to believe that something had happened along those lines. Unfortunately, there was bad news on the way too. "Rain's predicted. Towards the end of the race, so you have plenty of time, but I think it's time to probably put the kibosh on attempting for the win. Aim for the podium. It's going to be hard, but I think you can do it." It was difficult for Erica to feel that annoyed considering the near-calamity that preceded. She was just happy to still be in the race. Any big points were a bonus.

The next laps were very much a one-theme affair: it wasn't worth chasing down Dimitrianov. She needed to keep the car on the road, and more importantly, make the tires last. Another unwanted pitstop would be a bad idea right now. Sure enough, her perseverence would steadily pay off. Her early rival Himura would have an absolute mare of a middle stretch, and rejoined well behind Erica. Fifth place, now. The pack at the front had long gone, but fifth would be a very respectable comeback, and with her nearest rival over 15 seconds back, she at least knew that she wasn't being chased...and eventually, of course, came the rain.

Fortunately, her team was ready. The moment it looked to come down, she was in the pit and onto wets. No intermediates for her: if she knew anything about Vulkanas, when it rained, it rained. This was a very smart move on Polaris' front, and she found herself, miraculously, third, with hot favourite Bjarnason well ahead, but still only one place in front. However, it wasn't going to be that way for very long. "Jang's still on bloody slicks! The madman!" The current leader, Jiang Xiaopeng, was a whole twenty seconds ahead of the pack. However, he knew that in the wet, on this track, Sigur was going to take him if he pitted. His only option must have been to save himself the pit-stop time and see if he had the balls to drive at full pace on slicks in the wet, and pray he didn't get caught...which didn't work. One slide later, and Xiaopeng was facing backwards, just prime pickings for both Bjarnason and somehow in second despite everything, Okumura. The team all simultaneously cheered at the moment of the pass, and Erica beamed from behind the helmet as she assessed the situation. "I'm nowhere near close enough to grab the win, guys, and we don't have the laps. I'm going to try and maintain second."

She almost got her wish. With three laps left to go, Alex Dimitrianov was having a belter of a finish, and it became fairly obvious that the last laps were going to be a chase. The white and blue blur of the McPahan in her wing mirror seemed to get bigger every second, and with the final lap approaching, it was breathing down her neck. "Defend, Erica, defend! Don't take any risks now!"

The first roundabout, Alex got a break. Erica's tires were more worn, and she ceded the line through to turn two with a slight lock-up, brushing the outside kerb wall that made the entire garage gasp. "Shit! He's skilled me. Damn it!" Erica shouted as she fought with the steering wheel to maintain control of the car. "I am NOT going out now. Not after everything today." Alexandra attempted to calm her down. "Deep breaths, Erica. Jang's miles back, he ain't gonna make up ten seconds in a lap. Get it over the line, get third. It's still a great performance," she continued, as Erica finally managed to get the car over the line for the final time. The most eventful race yet, and although she was frustrated now, the moment she parked it in the bay behind the giant bronze '3', the angst alleviated.

Alexandra Mayari ran out into the rain and gave her driver a warm hugging embrace. "Erica, this is the greatest performance you've ever done in Polaris. I don't know what they put in the water where you're from, but Jesus Christ, the resolve you shown there was phenomenal." It was also lovely having actual champagne spray on the podium for once, and to make matters better, she was now a comfortable third on the drivers standings, with only four points seperating her from the top.

It wasn't the win she came for, but it didn't matter. With a performance like that, she had the championship's attention now.

[Mattijana]

Johan Struna took a glimpse at his weather radar and smiled. The rain was not yet falling, but it was coming, and unless the wind completely switched direction before the end of the race, it would hit Rykinsvik before the 90 laps of the circuit were up.

The circuit was already one of the best on the calendar for his cars and their technically gifted, but less aggressive drivers. A bit of rain on top would play into his team's hands even more.

For now, the focus was on getting off the line and through the roundabouts in one piece. Without the high torque of the Nexus car's electric motors anywhere near the front row, the MRT was on a fairly level playing field with the cars around it. It would be down to Sigur and his engineer to hook everything together.

Fortunately they did. The Savojar managed to keep his rivals in the mirrors into the 1st corner and went through unopposed, keeping himself out of trouble as the rest of the field tussled their way between the tight barriers. Juracai Klianota would be the only victim of lap one, but he was far enough behind not to really worry about. Now it was time to get away from the field.

Jang Xiaopeng turned out to be the strongest opponent to that. The Vannish driver had hauled himself through the top end of the field into second and was managing to hold the split between the two at around the 10 second mark. With 22 laps on the board, Omni decided to bring him in.

Whether he'd taken the stop to put the pressure on Sigur or just because his tyres had taken the punishment from his foray up the order, the danger for MRT was now the dreaded undercut. Three laps passed, but as Sigur's tyres began to fade, it became obvious that he wasn't going to gain any time and to prevent further damage, in he would come.

The mechanics did a solid job. Not a race-winning stop, but a good effort of around 3 seconds that would send the car back out into the lead without a wheel falling off. That was exactly what happened as well, Bjarnason popping out 9 seconds in front of the red and yellow Omni.

The next 40 laps would be the least stressful of the entire race. Sigur was in good touch, the super-softs were providing a good amount of grip and the split back to Jang was steadily stretching out. Johan knew it would never last and his intuition was confirmed by the rain radar. A dark blue band was getting steadily closer to the track and the forecast didn't have it magically doing a U-turn and going back the other way. Furthermore, Jang had made an impressive comeback with his soft tyres and was now in the perfect position to cash in on any error from the Savojar.
Lining up the rain radar and the actual track conditions would be the main challenge now. It was easy to predict what tyres would be needed at the end of the race, but when to best make the call and whether to make use of intermediates or wets at the pit stop was a tightrope of a decision and making the wrong one would send Sigur's hopes of a maiden victory the way of the dry weather.

The brave call was to go straight to the full wet tyres. If they left the car out too long, the slicks would lose grip and the MRT would find the barriers, blink too early and the wets would get too hot and be too slow. However, if the team could pull it off, they wouldn't have to pit twice, saving vital time and lessening the risk of a pit-stop disaster and with the rain scheduled to fall persistently, two stops would otherwise be essential.

Fortunately, they got it just about right. The stop being a little on the early side had set the temperature sensors to their hottest setting for around half a lap, but the long straights and 90° corners had saved most of the wear and tear. Jang, despite trying a similar strategy, had left it a little late and was now fighting hard just to keep his car on the ribbon of track that wound its way through the Vulkan capital.
Jang came in a lap later, but the damage was already done. With the Vannish driver slipping to fourth, Sigur was left to cruise to the win.

As the Mattijanan pit crew sprinted to the pit wall to celebrate as the lurid car crossed the line, Johan couldn't hide his smile. His team had been put through their paces during the race, especially in the pinch points of the first stop and the arrival of the wet stuff. They had held up well though, providing a massive confidence boost going onwards into the business stage of the season and Rustom Ibuna, following the same strategy as Bjarnason, had managed to secure a useful 8th place.

He was aware of the late-season collapse from last season however. Complacency from their excellent early season form had been the killer there and if they were not careful, it would take their hopes and dreams again.

Sunday night would be a big party, but there was more work to do next week.

[Vangaziland]

Jang Xiaopeng was slowly starting to gain traction in Vangaziland as a motorsports star. Jessica has dominated domestic headlines, even during her mediocre season. Still, things were improving for Jang. One of the more recent feature stories on cable sports talk show, Last Minute, was a recent poll about the Omni driver's name.

A recent poll showed 72% of Vangazi recognized that Jang was actually his last name by Tainese tradition. No poll has been around to compare that number to, but its a number which has surely improved. The topic first became news after a major Vannish newspaper misquoted Jang's surname after he won the WGP2 driver's event. It showed that even after a major motorsports victory, many people did not really know who Jang Xiaopeng was.

Between the Ångström Electric GP and the Abovian Grand Prix, Jang began filming a video targeted towards drifting. He was granted access to the Imperial Proving Grounds, Vannish Motors' testing facility. He will shoot footage where he can between events, finishing the shoot after the WGPC season. The mixtape will feature sounds ranging from Northton's gritty hip-hop to the dueling rock guitars of Brash, Nightowl & The Space Ogres.

His WGP2 victories and WGPC signing have done wonders for his brand of formerly underground videos. After the WGP2, a major video distributor signed a contract to remix Jang's old footage into a new drift set of DVDs. There were still markets where internet service is choppy on some of the outer fringes of the Vannish Empire. DVDs and even CDs can be relevant there. The deal will bring Jang's videos, which used to mainly be on his social media channels, to new markets.

This left some to wonder how Jang would fair for race week.

He showed up to the track for practice with a noticeable spring in his step. Vannish sports paparazzi caught Jang walking around the Omni paddock whistling as he leaned over the chassis. As he ran the engine through it's rather loud warm-up tests, he waved one hand in the air with a circular motion.

One of the journalists asked him how he felt about his chances given where the standings were. "I think Omni is in a great spot", Xiaopeng said. "MRT is building a lead, but it's not too late to catch up. We're also not the only team still in it."

Asked about the mid-season practice week, he said, "That was a great break. I'm feeling back up to speed. I think last week shows that. There was still a little rush on the finish." Vannish fans weren't all kind to Xiaopeng over social media. One angry fan earned over 1750 likes with the following post.

"Jang! I've been following you since you grinded that gearbox in the Two League. Stop flubbing chances! I'm wearing an Omni hat in Vangaziland for you."

Prince Fritjof Vang, heir to the throne of the Vannish Empire, clicked like and shared that post. The paparazzo asked him about the Royal recognition. Jang laughed it off, saying "I can take the heat. If Prince Fritz thinks I need to step it up, I'll step it up."

The Tainese-Vangazi was clearly enjoying himself and the big stage of the WGPC. He showed up early to the track, letting Omni know he was still fully in it for the Constructors'. He had fallen to 7th and a good deal of time had passed. If he wanted to make any headway in the driver's standings, he would need a run soon. Still, 7th was not a bad holding spot to start such a run.

Before the practice run, Jang was seen meeting up with Jessica Franssen between paddocks. They greeted in a hug and shared jokes. "Don't think I'll let you live down that photo finish last week", Jess quipped.

"What? I was daggone near the lead until I spun. You should have let me get back on the track."

Jess tilted her head back and laughed thinking of her comeback before she said it. "I did let you get back on the track." Once again she laughed, thinking of how funny it was to come around the corner and see Jang slipping back on the track. He was so sideways. He also rushed to get back on in front of Jessica. She thought it was so funny now, but at the time she had to slam on the brakes in a way that almost freaked her out.

"Let's race at practice", she said in front of the cameras. "Loser has to buy a case of drinks."

"I'll take that bet. I trust the Omni car", he said grinning.

Both Vangazi seemed motivated and ready to run at practice and the weekend's other events.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Ångström Electric Grand Prix of Vulkanas
Race

From the race’s beginning, something seems distinctly wrong. The car’s steering feels almost sticky, its wheels only willing to reorientate when Ryker forces them to by pulling his own hard to the right or left; moreover, every bump in the road feels amplified, the car’s suspension tighter and more static than it has any right to be. Sure enough…

“Yes, Ryker, it is an issue with the CS-TCCS; Jean has been reporting the same problems. The software is apparently not coping well with the demands of the damp surface and the narrow track; Victoria believes it may be the result of the patch installed in Vilita.”

“Okay… Any way to revert to the old one?”

A short pause before Martin speaks again, reading something: “Apparently ‘The new coding’s architecture’s integrated into the rest of the car’s systems enough that it’s impossible in a race setting.’. Jean has retired the car.”

The implied offer is internally noted. Ryker breathes. “I can keep on driving, Martin; I’ve been practicing with this car for three and a half years. Turn the system off.” He nods decisively as he pulls himself rightwards into Turn 1, before, just as he had discussed with his mother five days previously, doing just the same again to leave it.

He almost spins the car right there and then.

“Gah!”

“Ryker, are you okay?” Martin’s voice contains a note of distress rarely exhibited by the typically-serene race engineer.

The Nimban struggles to bring the car back onto a straight trajectory. “Yeah, just… Just have to get used to this. There we go.” Damnation, I relied on that a lot. Still, at least the steering doesn’t feel like I’m turning an elephant any more… Sweat drops from his brow.

“You have the car under control, Ryker?”

Going into Turn 2 is considerably easier; the car feels more agile, nimbler, even if the road is considerably bumpier from the suspension no longer automatically adapting to the surface. “Yeah, I think so. I’ll tell you if it gets too much for me. Changes to pit stop strategy?”

“Not unless you think that they’re necessary.”

I need all the grip I can get… “No, I’ll stick to the plan. Let’s see what I can still do with this.”

Post-Race

“That’s why I didn’t come last. Having supersofts in the dry basically cancelled out what I lost in cornering from the adaptive computer control dying and, given that we managed to line up the stops themselves pretty much perfectly with the rain, I didn’t lose out there when other teams did.” Ryker presses his bottom lip against his top, shrugging. “We made the best of a bad situation.”

The interviewers’ cameras fail to falter; neither do the microphones. “Nexus Racing has, with a few exceptions, consistently been one of the fastest teams over a single lap this year. Many commentators are saying that the team’s current performance doesn’t reflect that as a result of poor reliability. What do you say to that?”

Ryker’s already taxed mind presses on relentlessly on, much to his id’s dismay. “I mean… I can’t disagree. Third isn’t a bad place to be in the Constructors’ Championship, sure, but you do have to put that into the context of the lead that MRT’s got. Our targets this year still are both Championships and, well, MRT’s dominating both at the moment. If we want to beat them, we all need to step up our game.”

“I think that a lot of it’s just down to luck. We can’t determine everything that’s going to happen to our cars in a race and a lot of those things have happened.” But… Wait a moment. “Still, I think that part of the issue is that there are lots of things to happen to. The UHSGV-1 was already the most complicated on the grid; with everything that we put in from WGP2, the UHSGV-2 is even more complex. Despite the fact that everyone in our team is awesome at what they do, mistakes are going to creep in.” Ryker nods slowly, becoming more and more certain that he’s right in what he’s saying. “And even if they don’t, the number of things that you could plan for goes up - so the number that you won’t be able to also goes up. I might be wrong, but…” The Nimban shakes his head, sighing. “Well, we’ve got a good couple of tracks for us coming up in Lintulahti and Grandeville. Let’s see what happens there.”

Ryker begins to turn to walk away, but - “Just one more question, Ryker! Nexus Racing’s new DIADEM has been attracting some attention this race weekend - how do you feel about it?”

He closes his eyes for a moment, recovering just a little mental energy before speaking. “I’m not having any issues with it. It’s not going to do anything for our car’s safety but that’s not the point. We’re saying to other teams: you can do something as simple as this to keep your drivers safe. If even one other team follows through on that, then it’s a success, in my book.”

Finally, Ryker leaves the interviewers’ area and heads back out, planning to go back to HQ and his room for a long-needed rest.

Instead, of course, he is ambushed.

A wild Jean Mercer-Daly appears!

“So, Ryker, how has it been going? I want to know more about you on a personal level. Care to share any details?”

Imagination, you’d think I’d just started the interviews, not finished them! Trying to calm the combination of startledness and irritation created by the Esmerelian’s sudden forthrightness, the Nimban does his best to answer. “Well, I… I’m Ryker Lane, I… I enjoy racing, talking about things with my friends and family, thinking, walking, reading, video games, I’ve been meaning to get into cooking for a while, I Imagination spar with Tim sometimes, I…”

I really don’t have much of a social life outside work and relatives, do I? In fact, since Maria…

Ryker is struck for a second. “Huh.” He blinks, twice.

Then he turns to Jean. “Hey, do you think that that Esmerelian track of yours - you know, the one that you and Rebecca practiced on for a while in the off-season - do you think it has any electric sports cars? I need to get out for a while.”

---

He’s right.

Timothy Guard rests his chin on his hand as he stares at the screen in his section of the garage.

I need to speak to Gertrude.

[WGPC]

CUT OFF for Friday Practice and Saturday Qualifying

[WGPC]

Friday Practice
Lintulahti International Circuit (Layout B)

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		Behind Leader
 1  1 Ryker Lane               	0:01:14.007	0:00:00.000
 2  2 Jean Mercer-Daly         	0:01:14.029	0:00:00.023
 3 23 Jasmin Kranjska          	0:01:14.045	0:00:00.039
 4 56 Terho Talvela            	0:01:14.070	0:00:00.063
 5 27 Gregori Krupin           	0:01:14.178	0:00:00.172
 6 47 Erica Okumura            	0:01:14.256	0:00:00.250
 7 10 Jennifer Johnson         	0:01:14.272	0:00:00.265
 8 51 R.L. Cruisin             	0:01:14.296	0:00:00.290
 9 14 Sigur Bjarnason          	0:01:14.307	0:00:00.301
10 36 Reva Izalio              	0:01:14.358	0:00:00.351
11 50 Jang Xiaopeng            	0:01:14.369	0:00:00.362
12 20 Mick Schramm             	0:01:14.396	0:00:00.389
13 31 Cesaro Whittaker         	0:01:14.425	0:00:00.418
14 55 Asao Nadakei             	0:01:14.443	0:00:00.436
15 64 Moe Himura               	0:01:14.447	0:00:00.440
16 71 Rustom Ibuna             	0:01:14.464	0:00:00.458
17 99 Nate Jackson             	0:01:14.499	0:00:00.492
18 25 Jessica Franssen         	0:01:14.535	0:00:00.528
19  7 Ethan Ellis              	0:01:14.547	0:00:00.541
20 77 Juracai Klianiota        	0:01:14.567	0:00:00.560
21 42 Alex Dimitrianov         	0:01:14.618	0:00:00.611
22 52 Sayono Souzare           	0:01:14.700	0:00:00.694
23 17 Lourdina Westgrens       	0:01:14.908	0:00:00.901
24  5 Juliano Lemos            	0:01:14.967	0:00:00.960
25 12 Ranveer Singh            	0:01:15.063	0:00:01.057
26 16 Alexander Lund           	0:01:18.105	0:00:04.098

[WGPC]

Saturday Qualifying
Lintulahti International Circuit

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

Pos # Driver			Team			Fastest
 1 56 Terho Talvela       	0:01:14.163
 2 25 Jessica Franssen    	0:01:14.180
 3 27 Gregori Krupin      	0:01:14.251
 4 47 Erica Okumura       	0:01:14.271
 5  2 Jean Mercer-Daly    	0:01:14.280
 6 14 Sigur Bjarnason     	0:01:14.291
 7  1 Ryker Lane          	0:01:14.317
 8 64 Moe Himura          	0:01:14.338
 9 31 Cesaro Whittaker    	0:01:14.342
10 99 Nate Jackson        	0:01:14.350
11 71 Rustom Ibuna        	0:01:14.357
12 17 Lourdina Westgrens  	0:01:14.372
13 23 Jasmin Kranjska     	0:01:14.409
14  7 Ethan Ellis         	0:01:14.426
15 36 Reva Izalio         	0:01:14.426
16 55 Asao Nadakei        	0:01:14.430
17 16 Alexander Lund      	0:01:14.440
18 50 Jang Xiaopeng       	0:01:14.450
19 77 Juracai Klianiota   	0:01:14.452
20 42 Alex Dimitrianov    	0:01:14.525
21 10 Jennifer Johnson    	0:01:14.576
22  5 Juliano Lemos       	0:01:14.805
23 52 Sayono Souzare      	0:01:15.028
24 20 Mick Schramm        	0:01:15.331
25 12 Ranveer Singh       	0:01:15.333
26 51 R.L. Cruisin        	0:01:15.981

[Vilita and Turori]

Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course, Rockii Coast, Vilita :: One of the fallouts of the dropping of the Vilitan Grand Prix from the World Grand Prix Championships 16 schedule was the search by officials at the Rockii Coast facility to add a new top-level event to the calendar for the racing season - not to replace the WGPC event which had been downgraded to just a test session for the ongoing campaign, but as much as anything for marketing purposes. While track officials still felt that the WGPC mid-season test would draw a decent crowd, the condensed format wouldn't bring fans through the gate for as many days - or for the same price. Additionally, there wouldn't be a winner. One of the key components to racing is the goal of determining a winner at the end of the event.

So when the NSSCRA was looking for dates to fill its schedule, it became a natural fit for the Rockii Coast facility which had once before hosted an NSSCRA race.

Soon, the agreements were in place. The Vilaye Energy Drink 314 would be the middle event in the second round of the NSSCRA Chase. It would be critically important on the season schedule as just two races would remain upon its conclusion until the seasons champion would be crowned. Now, track officialls just needed to ensure that big names would be able to be in attendance for the race - beyond just the NSSCRA regulars.

While conversations had been ongoing for some time, nothing really got finalized until the World Grand Prix Championships Mid-Season test event when the Vilita and Turori Motorsports team, which had taken a hiatus from the WGPC but entered the NSSCRA circuit by fielding a shoe string entry with a re-use of machinery from previous stock car endeavors looked to put on an exposition during the World Grand Prix Championship testing weekend to showcase their stock car program to the openwheel fans and drum up interest for the Vilaye Energy Drink 314 amongst locals.. In addition to the three full time Vilita and Turori drivers in the NSSCRA, and the two development drivers - Rockii Ezis and Jama'obo Pegasii, the team invited long time Grand Prix driver iBen Toralmintii - who recently transitioned to a paddock role with the WGPC Eeelandii Motorworks team, to return to a Stock Car with them to compete in the exposition.

With Toralmintii at the track anyway due to his ongoing duties on the WGPC Eelandii Motorworks team, he gladly took up the offer and participated in the exposition. While Toralmintii had made a name for himself in the World Grand Prix Championships, he actually had gotten his motorsport debut in the Stock Car Ranks. Once becoming a Grand Prix Championship driver, however, Toralmintii's exclusivity contracts restricted his ability to dabble in other forms of motorsport. It only seemed natural for him to focus on his new endeavor and front office role with WGPC Eelandii, working to share his experience at certain Grand Prix circuits with the crew and the team's drivers Jennifer Johnson and Reva Izalio. However, when the offer to participate in the showcase was made to Toralmintii, it was the first time he truly appreciated the fact that free of an exclusive Grand Prix drivers contract, he could race pretty much whatever he wanted.

Tt was a fresh change of pace for Toralmintii to get behind of a full bodied stock car. His adrenaline and interest fully peaked after the exposition during the Grand Prix test weekend, Toralmintii immediately began working his communicators and contacts putting togethers commitments with the Cocoabo Preservation Society, Tiones Lumber, the Turorian Tourism Board, Cocoa-bo and the Eelandii Grand Prix Circuit to fully fund a one-off drive for the Vilita and Turori Motorsports entry in their home race at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course.

#77 Cocoabo Preservation Society / Tiones Lumber Dart driven by iBen Toralmintii at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course

-

The new #77 car was a hit with the fans and a similar painted show car was put out on display at the Cocoabo Preservation Society booth on the front stretch during the race weekend along with one of Toralmintii's WGPC Eelandii Grand Prix Championships rides from the previous Grand Prix season. Toralmintii was on hand to sign autographs immediately before the qualifying session.

Unsurprisingly, the Vilita and Turori team were strong performers in the qualifying session with #37 Jama'obo Pegasii and #60 Rockii Ezis placing in the top five while iBen Toralmintii poetically placed the #77 vehicle in 7th place much to the delight of the fans in attendance. The only downside for Toralmintii was that the course being used for the NSSCRA was not using his trademark 'Boot' addition to the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course. As such, the higher speed track was less forgiving of any errors and with less track time this season, Toralmintii did make a few. After getting shuffled back early, Toralmintii put the pedal to the medal. Fighting hard to get back to the front of the pack, iBen Toralmintii spun out during the second segment and fell all the way to the back of the pack.

From there, the #77 Cocoabo Preservation Society Dart was the most exciting car on the track. Toralmintii passed nearly 30 cars during the middle segment of the race and found himself battling the #41 Tropicorp Racing Supply Dartof Yraaga Gilli'i for a place in the Top five during Segment four.

Toralmintii ultimately got past Gilli'i and began to challenge Stacie Houston and Jeremiah Brooke at the front of the field. The fans held their breath as Toralmintii challenged for what would be Vilita and Turori's first ever home-track victory in major internatstatal motorsports. Toralmintii wasn't running for points in this race, however. It was a one and done special appearance for the Turorian driver and a top five finish wouldn't etch his name in the record books. While pressing to move into second place, Toralmintii lost the line and slid way up the track - losing all of his momentum and falling outside the Top 10 just like that.

In the end it was not to be for Toralmintii, but he still had fun. As a result of the excursion into the NSSCRA tour, Toralmintii arrived late to the Lintulahti International Circuit in Aboveland, missing all of the Friday Practice Sessions.

#77 WGPC Eelandii Grand Prix Racecar driven during WGPC Season 15 by iBen Toralmintii

-

Lintulahti Interational Circuit, Lintulahti, Aboveland :: It wasn't all bad at ll for his drivers, however. Jennifer Johnson in the #10 had posted the seventh best time in practice and the teams second driver, #36 Reva Izalio, posted the 10th best time. For a Works team struggling to regularly finish in the points, strong practice runs like that would add scores of momentum and confidence into the paddock. Toralmintii made the rounds upon his return to the Grand Prix paddock, first congratulating his team on a strong day in practice and wishing them luck for the Qualifying runs, asking what he could do to help. Then, he made his way down the paddock to banter with his former teammates, Vilitan R.L. Cruisin current driver of the #51 MSA-Sinval Machine and Juracai Klianiota who had taken over Toralmintii's #77 on the World Grand Prix Circuit driving for Tropicorp Racing Aelund.

Toralmintii joked with Klianiota and Cruisin about his experience driving a Stock Car back at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge course. As he discussed his near-famous run from the back to the front, weaving inside and outside to pass cars, Cruisin commented how Toralmintii couldn't finish the job. Quick as a wit, Toralmintii responded "Yea but I still scored points!".

While it was a joke, neither driver could muster more than a false chuckle. While the scoring system in the WGPC is very, very different to that used in the NSSCRA where all drivers get at least one point, the fact still remained that in Toralmintii's one NSSCRA event he scored more points than Cruisin and Klianiota had thus far managed to rack up combined in WGPC action at the seasons midway point. In fact, R.L. Cruisin had to be re-considering his decision to enter the WGPC at all this season as he was one of just two drivers who had run all of the races in the WGPC season and still failed to secure a single point. It wasn't much better for Klianiota who was 20th in the standings with just four points. Considering Toralmintii's Eelandii based works team had 9 points the two Vilita and Turori drivers knew that they had nothing to be proud of thus far, and they were just doing their best to ignore the rumors of their replacement - especially when those rumors involved, amongst others, the thought of being replaced in the driver seat by a Cocoabo. Maybe now, however, with his appetite for driving once again on the forefront, iBen Toralmintii could be in the running to re-claim his #77 seat should its current occupant fail to deliver any points at the home track of his manufacturer in Aboveland.

[Nekoni]

"This week's challenge, team: beat MRT. Beat everybody else, but especially beat MRT." The racing team of Mattijana had been running away with the lead in both championships, with both their drivers in the top two positions at the driver's championship, and unsurprisingly, being thirty points clear at the top of the constructors. Fortunately for Erica, she was only four points away from catching them both herself. Whilst the constructor's championship situation was largely out of her hands (thanks to Souzare's season appearing to run out of steam before it had really started), at least on her own plate, things were looking good.

To this week, then. The action centered on Aboveland, with a new track this season, mercifully. Of course, it had to be another team's test track, with TRÆ expected to do well. Another fast track, but at a more reasonable 5km this time, the track, situated in a rather breathtaking forest, crossed a bay by bridge halfway through. Hopefully, this bridge will stay safe throughout unlike the last time the WGPC went to Aboveland.

Practice went well. To the team's surprise, neither TRÆ nor MRT were able to draw first blood. The two drivers for Nexus Racing managed to pull some astonishingly quick times out of nowhere, it seemed, locking out the front row, whilst Erica managed to record the sixth fastest, still a quarter-second behind Ryker Lane. The MRTs were way down in ninth and sixteenth, which made the rest of the teams take notice. Was there a chink in the MRT armour, and was it growing?

---

Saturday came, and with it, a fantastic, cloudless sky. No rain today, again, which seemed pretty rare considering the damp conditions of the season's races so far. This may have also meant that Sigur wouldn't be able to outrun everyone, rain being right in his wheelhouse, considering last week's events at Vulkanas. As the pre-session brief began, Mayari re-iterated the team goals that weekend:

"Today's task is, of course, is for Okumura to out-qualify the MRT drivers. For once it's a straight-shot qualifying, which means a straight ten bites of the cherry. Pole would just be amazing, but anywhere inside the top five we can work with, I think. No real turns of note to watch out for, basically don't spin out on the bridge, don't get distracted by the view and have fun out there, it looks like a damn good track to race on."

A couple of minutes into Erica's stint, she was able to find the track's rhythm again fairly simply.
"Alex, you're right. It is a good track to drive!"
"You're making me jealous that I'm not in the car instead of you, mate!"
"If you ask really nicely I'll let you take a race for me. I'm sure the WGPC will be cool with it. If needs be we can get some prosthetic masks and switch places."
"Nah, already happened once at Hodori, that time I became champion. Alex Dimitrianov, in fact. Don't ask him about it, though, he won't remember. He spent the race drugged up in a locker."

Even when distracted by talking to Mayari, the purple and orange Polaris was doing just fine, consistently under 75 seconds. However, she needed a big boost if she was going to improve on her current position of ninth.
"Going to dig deep now."
"Three laps to do it, best of luck."
"If you interrupt me during them, I'm going to put you in a locker."
Alex laughed and muted her microphone as Erica's car thundered down the pit straight, Erica's eyes fixed on the road, her mind focusing on each turn, not just to get everything out of now, but to plan for the race day itself.

Turn 1 was a little awkward to start with: the corner started blunt and opened up as it continued, going slightly downhill. Different for a first turn, certainly, but nothing too taxing. With 26 cars all attacking at once tomorrow, this may be a different matter though. The following two long sweeping curves were for building speed as the track continued downhill to the bay. Okumura bore left out of turn three, and decelerated into probably the most difficult part of the circuit, Turn 4. It wasn't a particularly tight turn, but one that a driver would be carrying a lot of speed into, too much to take it without slowing down into third gear. At the base of the circuit, alongside the bay, a slower complex this time; turns five and six didn't allow for too much speed, allowing for a safe entry onto the bridge.

Crossing the bridge, taking care not to get caught out by the quick surface change, turn seven was more of the same, but slightly quicker, however she needed to watch out for the slight kink at turn eight. She would need to rie the left kerb a bit, to allow her to get the best view of turn 9, a slow right hander that marked the beginning of the ascent to the finish. From there, she could properly turn on the taps on the course's main straight. Turn 10 almost didn't exist, being the point where the intermediate track A joined with the GP circuit. On the other circuit, it was a simple right to begin with, but on the B circuit she was on, it simply served to mark the braking point for the actually tight turn 11. From there, there were only two corners left, both of which weren't too tough. 12 had a symmetrical feel to it, gradually tightening towards the apex, then opening up as it was clipped, sending the car up to the final challenge, almost the direct opposite to the starting turn, a initially smooth curve interrupted by a sudden straight-line. Turns like these were always good for the end of courses, as poor handling of the change in the final turn could be punished with a low speed into the next lap.

That didn't happen with Erica, though. "P5, keep at it!"
"Who's in front?"
"None of the MRTs, but you're less than a hundreth off 4th."

She continued with the same line into turn one, attempting to shave off just a fraction of a centimetre somewhere to get her overtaking the Nexus. She just needed to be a little braver, by a split-second in the right place, and it was hers. On the bridge, she decided to take a faster line into turn 9. Tackle it a little faster, she thought, and that's an extra couple of mph into the straight. She succeeded, however this extra speed made the resultant turn 11 trickier, and she undid her hard work with a bit of a bodged attempt at the turn, possibly a quarter of a second in one go.

She couldn't let it get to her, and the final two turns were tackled in her usual, calculated way. Had the end gone smoothly, she would potentially have taken pole, and possibly a lap record. However, as it stood, she had done just enough to leap-frog Mercer-Daly and start 4th, her second P4 in a row, and third if you count the test session at Vilita.

"Excellently recovered, Erica. Another 4th. Nail the start tomorrow and we can work with that."

The results were surprising. Of course, Terho Tavela had spent the off-season on the track meticulously, so pulled off the pole, however, his team mate in the #77 had faltered, coming in at a lowly nineteenth. Souzare had once again slipped up and would be starting fourth from bottom, and between Erica and Tavela, was a complete team, but not the one she had expected. The normally middling VMR team had a whale of a time out there, picking up second and third. MRT had been humbled, and would be starting in 6th and 11th. Beating them tomorrow would be a hell of a lot easier than she thought.

[Vangaziland]

After such a fun time at qualifying, Jess invited Jang to hang out with her and Jenna. The three were hanging out in a park not far from the team hotels. At least they thought it was a park. It was a clearing with a few trees and some greenspace. They hadn't checked to see if this was a rare area or if there were more scenic places near by. It was a simple, quiet place where the group could get away from the crowds. Well, away from most of the crowds, as a few others made their way through the little area.

Jang was riding high after a solid qualifying run. To make things better, Jenna Vandersen hadn't even been teasing him since they made their way from the track. She infamously treated him like a little brother during their time in the WGP2. At one point in the cab ride, Jang turned to Jenna and said, "You know. Your teasing is what pushed me to win the driver's cup", he said.

"I know, silly", she said. "That's why I did it. So I could coast on your coattails to the constructors'." The car shared a laugh, even the local cabbie. The local didn't know much of racing, but had heard the name 'Terho'.

Jenna showed the true Vannish spirit in that even though Xiaopeng beat her in the series, she still held her head high. Victories and losses did not define her season or who she was. She laughed at the fun memories more than she noticed the losses. Jang showed his Vannish spirit by not totally lashing out at her and bragging about his victories, but by thanking her for motivating him. It was the same spirit with which he didn't brag about being ahead of Franssen or finishing ahead of her occasion after occasion.

At one point, Jess asked Jang why he was so humble. "It's easy to look real stupid when you get out there and start talking smack", he said. "Go ahead, call out a driver. When you scuff, you'll look so silly. So why risk it? I guess some people will take the risk to gamble for their confidence boost."

Jenna added, "We knew from early on how well we were doing in the WGP2. Imagine if we started calling out teams. It would have looked so ugly and tacky. We probably would have lost the season just to negative karma."

At the park, the trio did get more into their own teams and what was going on within. Jang was curious. "So what's the hold up at VMR? I've seen you running near the top a few times, Jess. Reliability is keeping you out of the top 5."

"This streak is random as fuck", she said. "For years we have worked on our reliability. Since I unofficially signed on for development after WGPC 14. This year, it seems as if by some random change we're suddenly the unreliable ones."

Jang laughed. "It's funny because other drivers have tossed reliability out of the window for years, just to have the opposite effect."

"It's okay", Jess said. "The car is a little flaky this year. We can overcome that. The engineers also have an inkling what to work on. So we'll consider this year a big test season. What has management been saying, Jenna?"

"Pretty much that. The company is taking a lot of heat with the way Krupin went off", said Vandersen. "But it will take more than Krupin's word to bury VMR." The group shared a restrained laugh, trying not to laugh too hard at their comrade "Stop spying on VMR", Jenna shouted at Jang. "What's going on at Omni?"

"Omni is a good team", said Xiaopeng. His face twisted as if he remembered something funny. "You know what the principal told me once? He said I was doing just what they wanted me to do by placing under Schramm."

"Dude, that's gossip", said Jess. She giggled. "I would never think that for Greg. He damn well better pull his weight", she said with some ferocity. "They just want you to let Schramm win? How is that strategy going to work for the Constructors'?"

"I don't know", said Jang. He was laughing about it. It wasn't serious and was probably not exactly how it was meant. But the truth behind the words were overflowing. "Hey, I want my teammate to do well also so I'm glad. We're on a serious run for the Constructors'."

"You guys are for sure. You just both need to stay in it", said Jess. Like her, Jang had also taken a bit of a break around the mid-season practice week.

Jenna suddenly tired of racing and changed the subject. "What movies are you looking forward to?" It was all work stuff to her now, especially since she wasn't driving. She was also moving funds behind the scenes to try to buy into VMR's principal slot. Vanessa Hattieson, the current manager, was training the Baroness for the role. Jenna's head was filled with things like tire compounds, fuel:air ratios and downforce settings by-the-numbers. It was a lot to learn.

Franssen acted as principal during the WGP2 and showed she also knows that side of the track. It's not a surprise, since her father was a famous stock car driver of the 1970s and 1980s. She began to familiarize herself with the complexities of the racing industry from an early age. Now, she sat in this park reunited with her former drivers. "Man, Dragon Isle looks amazing. I so want to see that!"

"What's Dragon Isle?" Jang hadn't checked the movie scene in awhile and hadn't heard of the blockbuster set to release in the next few weeks.

Jenna had her phone out and pulled out a video of the trailer. It took only a second to load, with her fancy rich phone.

*One island. Problems with a convoy route naturalist Runolf Vang to berth off the coast of....*

Dragon Isle

The screen shows images of a few scenes. Dragons are shown squeaking and squawking. The actor makes a daring jump across a ledge. The female lead shows off her revealing outfit. The film is set in the mid 1400s and features a semi historical figure in Runolf, who has grown to almost mythic status over the centuries.

"Let's see that", he said. "Next time we're all in Vangaziland."

"Sounds great", said Jenna. "I could go for some Dragons. Say, we should try to get some cross promotions going with that film and our Dragon chassis. I bet I can make it happen." As a Royal, Jenna had a lot of pull. VMR was also a major company. There was definitely room for collaboration.

"I'm jealous", said Jang.

"That's what you get for racing overseas", said Jess. The group shared a laugh.

[Sorlovia]

Gregori had also left the team hotels for an outing. He'd opted not to go with Jess and the others to instead take a quiet walk by himself. All the long hours on the test circuit coupled with the hype of the looming raceday and the streak of bad placings had taken a lot out of him. So he'd opted to take a walk through a particularly lush arboretum in lieu of catching a movie. Sometimes socializing was good but sometimes you just needed to take a moment to yourself to clear your head and refocus on your priorities.

He'd placed fifth in the qualifying run. Then to add the icing to the cake he'd secured a third place position on the starting line up just behind Jess. That would put him in good standing to earn a very long-awaited high placing in the race. This was the opportunity that he'd trained so long for and he promised himself that he'd give it everything he had. His fans would be watching him closely and he wanted to earn a good placing. For them, for VMR and for himself as well. He needed this. His career needed it. The truth was that it would be a great pick up to his morale and would give him a taste of success that would spur him on to do better and better in the races to come. All a racer needed during a bad streak was that little taste of success to set the fires blazing within him again.

"This is it," he said to himself softly "I've trained hard. I can do this!"

Being at the head of the pack in the starting line up would put them that much further ahead. It would allow him to get a good start from off the mark and he could use that to place higher in the race. He'd spent days on the test circuit, an equal amount of time in the racing garage pouring over his race statistics and long hours in the gym. He knew he had the skills to succeed. But would his car be up to it? The engineers had been working on it tirelessly tweaking its handling and doing all they could to improve its performance to give him an edge in the race. He'd taken it around the test circuit countless times and had come to know every inch of the car. He knew the way it handled in different situations and knew its noises.

Gregori sat down on a park bench and pulled out his tablet. He hadn't replied to the email from his sister yet and he knew she'd be eagerly waiting for one. So he tapped on the email app and set to work.

Dear Tatiana,

It means so much to me to have you cheering me on all the way. I'll admit that I've become a bit disheartened lately with this bad streak lately but things are looking up. Knowing that you are behind me makes things so much easier and knowing that you are watching gives him that extra drive. I just wanted to thank you for your kind words and encouragements. The international racing scene takes a lot out of you. We all have our moments and bad days.

I hope you are well and that everything is going well for you. How is my little nephew Sergei doing? He must be nearly ready to start school soon. Does he still watch my races and recognize my car? He's a bright boy. I know he's going to go far in this world. When I next get a chance I'm going to come and see you two in Novochevka. This is a long season but we do get relief breaks in between training sessions. I'm sorry that I didn't manage to see you when I was in Pereyetska for those advertisements. I really tried to but I ran out of time.

Anyway dear sister. I just wanted to tell you that I love you and appreciate all of your support. I'm truly blessed to have a sister like you.

With love from your slightly-older twin,
Gregori

Gregori slipped his tablet back into his pocket and smiled. His twin sister had been watching all of his races with her son ever since he'd made his debut. She sent him a video message before each and every race wishing him good luck and cheering him on. They'd been very close since the day they're born - three minutes apart. She was the one who'd first encouraged him to set off on his international racing career. She was the one who'd picked him up when he'd begun doubting himself and pushed him to keep going. He loved his sister and he wasn't afraid to say so.

He leaned back on the bench and let out a long breath. All going well his bad streak would come to an end on raceday and he'd be able to give his fans, as well as his sister and nephew, quite a performance. This was it. This was why he'd spent so many long hours on the test track. A fifth place qualifying result and a third place starting position. Just what he needed to give himself an advantage.

In that quiet moment beneath the street light Gregori whispered a prayer.

[Aboveland]

Rykinsvik, Vulkanas
Race Day

A screech. A grunt. A wail. A slide. Into the corner too fast, too sideways, too reckless, out too slow and completely out of line. A groan through the team radio, a splash of a puddle, and a loss of traction on the straight. Terho's arms were aching, his legs cramping, his feet curling, and his eyes twitching. For the first time, Nanna was driving Terho, and yet she picked the perfect weekend to do so. It was a grid wide endurance race against the machines.

While the magnificent Sigur Bjarnason led the race comfortably, rocketing down the undulated straights in his garishly colored MRT machine, the rest of the world class WGPC grid was struggling to stay on the lead lap. Despite essentially working his way up from last place, Terho pressed on regardless, at ease with Nanna's perceived reliability. This was the closest he'd ever been to rallying in his Grand Prix career, yet his overtakes came solely from the woes, slips, falters and retirements of those ahead. In the paddock, many a hair drifted towards the floor, stemming from Edvin's head. The Abovian chants had all but faded off and the TRÆ banners had vanished from the grandstands, and even as the howl of the sole V12 engine barreled down the main straight, it still failed to muster up a smile on the team principal's face.

Terho rolled into the paddock at the end of another pointless run for TRÆ, physically fatigued and visibly downbeat. His gloves and balaclava flopped onto the floor next to Nanna's worn front tyres, his gaze fixated on the showers ahead. He needed to rest, and badly. Edvin didn't need to say a word to know how he felt.