World Grand Prix Championship 18 [RP/results]

[Diarcesia]

"We're in this for the long haul," he said with a smile "you did well to fight your way to seventh Sara. There are a lot of skilled racers out there this year. So we can expect things to be a tough challenge. But that's the fun of it."

"Well I know you're not happy with your results, but I'm not going to lecture you or take away from your success. We just both finished with points. You're still a good driver and you have been a good teammate to me. I honestly didn't expect you to use the inter-driver radio in the race. I was not aware it exists!" Sara said sheepishly. "I'm proud of you and the other staff for what we did this week. But… yes, we're not perfect. You wished to finish higher up, I wished to have a better qualifying position. Some days you're better than others, some others you're not. There are always days when you fall short, weeks when you are just not up to stuff. I understand we could be frustrated. I was during qualifying."

...

There was a pause, and they looked at each other's eyes. She sensed his doubts in his bid for the drivers' championship; was Gregori thinking that Volkov was disappointed with him? Was he letting her down, despite his hard work? He did not seem to be sure. Like, was he telling her that she deserved a better number one driver? After all, that person could have been Jasmin Kranjska or R.L. Cruisin in an alternate universe. Or was she sensing Gregori's resolve to always strive to be better at his driving... in the next race and beyond?

Sara hesitated, her mouth barely open. Finally, she let out a long sigh. "I didn't have doubts on you, you have made a positive difference for me. As long as we work together, we will be more likely to succeed. Though, realistically, I don't think we have great chances in topping the constructors' standings, it would be nice to at least try to end up with the win."

She leaned forward to grab a throw pillow and press it into her chest. "I know it's not been a while since we started as Volkov drivers, but thanks for the support."

Gregori replied:

"It's going to be a pleasure to race with you this season. I hope that you feel welcome having your family here with you."

He looked out the window of the team room, where one could see the engineers and technicians make their preparations for the next race. The countdown to the Nimban Grand Prix was on.

"The kids like that I can get to be near them. That doesn't happen much when I am racing. I also got to chat a little with your wife. She's a lovely woman. Congratulations on being a future father."

Sara smiled back at him, though she was trying to prevent her Innerer Schweinehund from dominating her day. "I know you might be very curious on how I drive, which can be different from yours. If you want to ask questions, make the most of the opportunity when it presents itself."

...

Sara had silently observed how Gregori drives. The two had shared many of the same basics of driving an open-wheel car and the strategies for successfully handling them. Compared to Sara, Gregori had been more aggressive in his approach, which saw him pull off overtakes that Sara would profusely sweat to attempt. On the flip side, being too eager made him commit mistakes in the most recent race that cost him his better than P10 positioning when he made it that far.

"You know, Gregori, there's a reason our cars are tuned the way they were. We have the speed. I'm not sure how to precisely explain this, but working with the car instead of trying to dominate it proved to be instrumental in my successful races. Ayrton Senna's driving is a major inspiration for me." Sara had been gradually more informal towards Gregori and the team staff over the weeks. The relationships between her and them are really important to her. She wanted to just do her part in their participation in WGPC. The dedication of each and every one of them is evident.

[Mattijana]

Dimitrianov Shows Consistency in Dashoze

MFO SPORT

Katarina Sava, WGPC Correspondent

Two rounds of WGPC action have been and gone and the championship is just about starting to take shape. That means we should know who looks like they could be in position to win it, right?

Well no, not really. Of course two races is a fairly small sample size to start with, but with the season organised into speed and technique-heavy halves, the frontrunners in the first half may slip back after the mid-season break. Some drivers too are recovering from a ropey start or DNF back in Eelandii.

Despite that, one man who looks particularly strong is Mattijana's own Alex Dimitrianov. The Badai Angin driver took his second podium of the season in Hodori and now sits atop the driver's standings with 28 points, 3 clear of the race winners from the first two races Jean Mercer-Daly and RL Cruisin. The 33 year-old surged through the field from 11th on the grid making decisive and impressive overtaking moves on Dom Falepeau and Ryker Lane in the process.

Dimitrianov has built his reputation by delivering consistent results at McPahan and Badai Angin to go with his four career race wins to date. Whilst he has certainly achieved that so far, his results this season are more impressive as they've come at circuits where he wouldn't normally be expected to do well. Like most Mattijanan drivers, the Danskian favours the sort of technical tracks that will make up the end of the season ahead of the aggression-focussed ones that kick it off. The high-power Badai Angin engine has certainly made the classy overtaking moves he has produced easier, but his experience has also shown itself too, both in Eelandii and Dashoze.

The period in Turori where he sat behind Rustom Ibuna for a number of laps whilst watching the front runners pull away epitomised his maturity. At track where overtaking is tricky, on an underused, low-grip surface, the Mattijanan found himself stuck in a deadlock with his teammate whilst Badai Angin grappled with the ethics of using team orders at the first Grand Prix of the year. A more hot-headed driver might have sent a lunge down the inside, taken both cars out and guaranteed a pointless start to the year for themselves and the team. Dimitrianov stayed close, got his reward for either team orders playing out or a mistake by Ibuna, and pushed on to get himself up to third.
Had Ibuna not run locked up and run wide on the entry to turn 3, the admirably civil set of post-race interviews the two drivers gave might have been markedly different. A finish of 6th or worse in Eelandii, coupled with speculation that Ibuna ignored team orders during the race, wouldn't have been a good start to the season and could have set a dangerous precedent for the rest of the season. As it was, Dimitrianov got the better result, took the lead in the teammate battle and then went on to comfortably beat Ibuna in Dashoze.

If Dimitrianov had to rely on his number one status to beat the Filindostani in Eelandii, the Grand Prix of Hodori was a lesson in tyre-management, strategy and wheel to wheel racing. Having started only two places above Ibuna, he went on to carve through the field via pit-stops and on-track overtakes whilst Ibuna only gained one place, eventually finishing outside the points. It was the sort of performance that underlined why Dimitrianov has that number one status and gives him a sizeable opening in the drivers standings. It should certainly settle any remaining team politics for the time being.

Ibuna can and probably will fight back . The Filindostani is no mug, having contributed heavily to MRT's WGPC16 championship win and he is certainly a higher quality driver than some of the others Dimitrianov has faced in his career. That said, pressure from within his own team may well do the Mattijanan more good than harm in his bid for the title - as long as team bosses, including Rustom's own dad Rudolf, are still happy to give him the benefit of any difficult decisions.

Up next is the Nimban Grand Prix. The Crossbay Circuit has gone from newcomer status to season highlight in no time and is the most technologically advanced of the 10 circuits hosting a race. Despite that, it also blends seamlessly into its beautiful surroundings with the tunnel sections and causeway offering real spectacles for the fans.
It's a circuit too which offers a balance of technical sections, such as the underground stadium and squiggly sector 2, and overtaking opportunities, notably at turns 1 and 15. The elevation changes are also fearsome, with the turn 4 hairpin often compared to a multi-story car park, and a steep rise up the back straight that exacerbates any deficiency in engine power.

That should play into the Badai Angin's skill set, with a good engine complemented by technically-minded drivers. The WGPC can be unpredictable though, and you certainly wouldn't want to call another good weekend for the team even if their recent results suggest it. It's also the home grand prix of Nexus racing and Ryker Lane, both of whom have looked rapid so far this year, along with recent race winner Jean Mercer-Daly. After signs of life at the first two events, they could go really well.

One of Dimitrianov's former teams, MRT, also face a bit of a conundrum. A bitterly disappointing race in Eelandii gave way to a 5th place finish in Dashoze for Dom Falepeau and he and the team will be keen to improve further in Crossbay. Jasmin Kranjska in particular needs a result to kick-start her season given she is yet to score after two frustrating races so far.
The Puljankan was picked as MRT's number one and has shown some promising performances in slower cars. So far however, she has finished well outside the points and Falepeau has looked by far the faster driver in qualifying.
She has plenty of time to turn things around, and will relish the technical second half of the season. Getting points on the board, even a few, would be an important start however.

Elsewhere on the grid, there was disappointment for Rudy Edwards who slipped down to 9th after his opportunistic, pre-downpour run qualified him second. He did however score the first couple of points for the Preston team, a significant step for an outfit that have made most of their headlines off the track.
The casual atmosphere and ballsy "get good" slogan deployed by the team haven't looked great when set against the backdrop of their opening results and the rear wing displaying said slogan has mainly been seen by cars about to imminently overtake, or even lap, Edwards and teammate William Archer. Hopes of Dashoze qualifying being a sign of genuine race pace didn't really materialise and despite some decent defending at times from Edwards, he never really looked on for a decent points tally. Many fans will still be keeping an eye out for the two cars, should two actually still be on the race track, albeit not necessarily for the right reasons.

Most Mattijanan eyes remain firmly set on Alex Dimitrianov and if he can once again get himself on the podium, hopes of him claiming a first Mattijanan driver's championship will go from distant dream to genuine belief.

[Auruna]

Dashoze Circuit

Kinu doesn't like to do interviews at all, especially if he's in a bad mood. He avoids the press after qualifying and quickly heads out to clear his mind. His own quiet time for a bit before he returns to the paddock.

After his qualifying mess, he didn't get to race. He needs to do something to be able to get out and race. He needs to work on his qualifying. For now, time to watch the race. He was so focused on the race, he doesn't notice anything else. He observes how the drivers are out on track, tries to analyse every move but he's not sure if he can retain or even understand his observations.

Kinu does try to do everything to get better.

A few hours after the race, he checks his phone. A missed call from, well, Ziuvin. Surprised, he tries to call and ask him.

Ring...

"Ya, Kinu?"

"Mate, I didn't notice, sorry. I was too focused on watching the race."

"Huh, it's alright."

"So, why did you try to call me earlier?"

"You needed some help with something, I'm going with you from now on. It took a bit too long but yeah, I had to do a lot of paperwork." A brief pause, with some random background noises, then Lukas continues. "I'll help you with your racecraft and qualifying. I'm not going easy on you. You need all the help you can get to out-qualify your teammates and get to race."

...

"Thanks."

"Yeah, see you there!"

At last, something to get Kinu going and not get him stuck in neutral. Every bit of help is useful for him. Once Lukas is with him, it's time to work on how to get him better. He gets permission from the team to use the simulators. While Lukas is on the way, he's going to try to practice by himself in the simulator. Hopefully in the future, he gets to race. He just needs to be better.

Some additional experience could also help as well but it will take a long time. So for now, he needs to trust the car. An endurance champion should perform well here. He needs to. His car needs to as well.

Kinu has one idea, one thing that can motivate him. He wants to try and make a personal connection with the car. This belief carried over from his time in the AEC and it's not just him that does that. Every Aurun driver that drove for any MNA team has that belief as well, it would easily classify as Aurun culture now with motorsport embedded deep within them.

Let's see how he would perform at the Nimban Gran Prix weekend after a week of practice and training with Lukas. It's clear that is main goal is to be able to race again. To actually race again.

At least once.

...

"It wasn't just me that got us the win, my teammates, the team, the mechanics, the engineers, and especially the car. Oh what a wonderful being she is. She's still strong even with the problems and I have to admit, there were a lot but we never gave up. I know that without this brilliant machine, we wouldn't get this important win. I hope with every car and driver, they get this personal connection. They should trust each other on track. This is where man and machine get together against all odds. "

- ???, 2017 24 Hours of Livonsk

[Sorlovia]

"The kids like that I can get to be near them. That doesn't happen much when I am racing. I also got to chat a little with your wife. She's a lovely woman. Congratulations on being a future father."

"Thank you! It was quite a surprise but I can't wait. Elena really is the light of my life. If I'm being honest she's my biggest fan. She'll be touched that you've said such kind things about her. It will be nice having your family with you as well. I know how hard it can be having to leave them."

Despite his love of racing Gregori had always had difficulty leaving Elena and his parents behind. As a racer he was away for long periods of time and there were lonely moments. It was never easy to leave your loved ones behind for those long stints and it meant a lot to him that Volkov had allowed him to bring Elena along. She, like Sara's kids, was staying in a luxury RV supplied by Volkov for the season and watched all of his races from the comfort of this roving home away from home. Volkov had made it clear that they valued their racers immensely. They knew how much a racer's family meant to them and providing the means for that family to accompany them providing a comfort for their paid racers.

If a racer had the support of their family they would have one less source of stress. If they one had one less source of stress they would do better in the races. There were a great many factors that impacted any racer's performance in a race. Being homesick was one of those and it was an issue that every racer struggled with.

"Well I know you're not happy with your results, but I'm not going to lecture you or take away from your success. We just both finished with points. You're still a good driver and you have been a good teammate to me. I honestly didn't expect you to use the inter-driver radio in the race. I was not aware it exists!"

Gregori smiled softly;

"Haha yeah. I'd almost forgotten about that inter-driver radio too. It's not very often used as it can be a distraction. But I just wanted to give you a little bit of encouragement. I knew that I could've done better in that race and I want to thank you for your support. Sometimes it can feel like you've lost your chance at the Championship. But that's all part of the experience I guess. We will have good days and bad days. But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

Gregori shifted in his position on the couch and smiled at her. He enjoyed these social times with his teammate. Volkov saw it as important to the health of the team and he tended to agree with them. He and Sara would going to spend the season racing together. They would be in very close proximity in the pits and the race workshop. In truth they would spend a lot of time in each other's company. But that was natural. They came together after races to discuss their results and study their performance. Their pit sheds were right next to each other and they shared the Volkov race lounge as a relaxation spot. That was why Volkov had wanted to match a second driver that got on well with Gregori and functioned the most effectively.

"I know I've said this before Sara," Gregori continued "but you really are doing well. I know Sergei and the time have high hopes for you. If you keep this up you're going to go far. I know you have a lot of raw skill out there. Don't worry about the veteran racers. They can be a bit of a clique sometimes. But once you work your way up you'll earn their respect. I'm still not quite there. Rookie is just a term. It's nothing against you. I remember my rookie season."

Gregori did his best to encourage Sara. She was one of the most promising rookie WGPC races he had seen in a long time and he knew that her career was getting off to a great start. He saw a new Champion in her and he wanted to invest in her while he had the chance. His own career was far from a blowout and he still had as much chance at becoming a WGPC Champion but he took it upon himself to help out Sara. Just because she might one day be a competitor didn't mean that he had to sabotage her career as some other racers might. She gave him valuable feedback and encouragement. He would do the same for her.

He'd seen her copying his slingshot technique and smiled. Then he'd watched some of her racing techniques and tried them out for himself. That's how race teammates were supposed to function. You learned from each other, you encouraged each other and most importantly - you saw the best in each other. A race team was just that, a team.

"You know, Gregori, there's a reason our cars are tuned the way they were. We have the speed. I'm not sure how to precisely explain this, but working with the car instead of trying to dominate it proved to be instrumental in my successful races."

Gregori nodded his understanding;

"I'll admit that I do have a tendency to try and dominate the car. That style worked well with the MRT car last season and I guess that old habits are hard to break. Thank you for your advice. I'll try it out in the next race."

A less WGPC experienced racer could still teach a more experienced one. Gregori had made a habit of watching Sara's performance on the track and studying her technique as other racers were most likely doing with him. She was doing well in the season and as such there were things that he could learn from her. This was his third season in the WGPC and he was still learning. But that was always the case. A racer never truly stopped learning and growing for the entire length of their career. If you weren't prepared to learn and adapt you didn't get far.

[Abanhfleft]

It was one of the worst feelings in the world to have, to watch an actual Grand Prix happening right in front of you while your mechanics tried to find what went wrong in the machine that you had been completely in tune with before. William Archer could only shake his head at his rotten luck. Goddamn it, why on lap 3 of all laps? Why couldn't his engine have let him go through even just a fourth of the race? Why did it have to conk out on the third fucking lap?!

"You guys still need me here?" William asked his crew. "No? All right, just come get me when you're done."

William went back to his motor home in the paddock, turned on the TV and tuned to the WGPC channel, but he didn't bother watching the race at all. Instead, he simply took off his shoes and plopped down on his bed still in his overalls. Within minutes he was fast asleep, the race still going on outside and on the television.

Two days after the race, back in Hapilopper, William's engineers were finally able to trace the fault in his engine to microscopic fractures in the pipes feeding both oil and coolant to the engine. One of the mechanics showed the cracked rubber pipe to William, who turned it over in his hands and asked, "How the fuck is this possible? I don't remember running over any debris at all. I don't think anyone even had damage until way after you retired me."

"It's a long story," the mechanic replied. "We traced the failure back to a bad batch of rubber from the manufacturer. Something about the particular shipment from which they made that pipe sitting out and curing longer than usual because of some unexpected shit with the importers. No need to worry yourself about that or this. What I'm trying to say, William, is that none of this is your fault. You did everything we told you to do throughout the weekend, and it so happened that the pipes cracked on lap 3 and not lap 33 or whatever. We've removed all the pipes in the engine, swapped them for new ones that we've tested to make sure they're within standards this time, and we're sure that you've got a good engine for Hodori next week."

"You sure about that?" William asked, the doubt subtle but still clear in his voice.

"Yes, William, I'm sure."

"All right, man. You said it," William shrugged.

---

Social media was having a field day with Preston over William's early retirement from the Grand Prix of Turori as well as Rudy Edwards getting lapped. Of course, declaring that they were going to make Rudy the youngest WGPC champion was going to put a hefty amount of expectation on the whole team's shoulders, but then there was also the motto of one of Preston's main sponsors: "Get good". Obviously they were going to get stick for that, and given just how much mud the team got on their face with their performance at the Grand Prix of Turori, many would say that they absolutely deserved to get that much bollocking.

But once again William Archer paid no attention to those. He was focusing on getting through his programs without a hitch, and also without causing another problem in his engine or his chassis or wherever else. The track looked long and complicated, and in reality it was just that. But once again William was nailing his laps. At this point his actions were very much robotic; every turn was automatic for him. The crew were pleased with his runs; he was hitting their milestones just as they wanted. Sure, he was 23rd fastest in the practice sessions, but even then he was just under five tenths away from the quickest driver. Besides, they didn't award points during practice, did they?

But then, as William was preparing to bring his car back into the garage, he heard the words that he hated the most to hear: "William, we're detecting some fluctuations in engine performance beyond the accepted limits."

"What? What about my engine?" he asked.

"Don't worry, don't worry, everything is fine at the moment," his engineer assured him. "We don't think it's anything more than what it is right now, just some fluctuations beyond the norm."

"Are you sure about that?" William asked again. "Remember the last time you said it was just nothing."

"No, no, this time I swear it's fine. We're good enough to take this engine to quali today."

"You better be sure about that, man," William muttered.

The rain arrived suddenly and unexpectedly when the time came for the first qualifying session in Dashoze, throwing everyone completely off their game with the knowledge that everything they had learned during practice would be all for naught.

"All right, William, I know you don't like the rain all that much, but on the bright side, everyone has to drive in it. Look, just remember your acclimatization programs and drive as fast as you can as safely as you can. We want to get as high up as possible, but we also want to take part in the race tomorrow as well. So, go out there and show them what you've got."

Going fast in a race car was already dangerous enough on its own. Add some rain into the mix and there were always bound to be incidents, if not outright accidents. Not in Dashoze though. So far everyone had been able to keep it clean, but the spray from all that water being displaced by the blue-walled tyres made seeing other cars somewhat difficult. That was why the cars had the lights on their backs flashing to warn the others that they were there. William had been one of the first cars out on the track for the first quali session so he didn't see a lot of those lights until he was nearing the end of his first run.

"I thought that was a good run," William said as he went through his cooldown lap. "Please tell me that that was a good lap."

"You are 32.98, William. 32.98," his engineer said.

"Okay, and that's against...?"

"The fastest time so far is Souzare with a 32.44. You're five tenths away from him, William. Congratulations."

"Not bad," William admitted. "Now let's carry this through to the rest of quali."

It wasn't to be. While William was able to haul himself out of Q1, he was destined to fall in Q2. The rain had fallen harder at the second qualifying session, leading to everyone setting times slower than the ones they had before. William Archer went out among the first cars once again, and once again he felt that he had taken the track as well as his acclimatization program would allow him to do. "All right guys, what's my time now?" he asked.

"You are 34.05, William, 34.05."

"Sweet. Now what's the fastest time?"

"33.47. Both Lane and Bjarnason set the same time, but Lane is on provisional pole because they set their time first." There was a pause then his engineer continued, "Oh, and Valkyria just set his time. He's currently P14 with a 34.001."

"So we need to find five hundredths of a second to get past him and into Q3, is that what you're saying?"

"Yes, William."

"Okay then," William said to himself. "How hard can it be to find five hundredths of a second?"

Sadly for him, it would turn out that it was actually difficult to find five hundredths of a second in lap time, especially given that the conditions had gone from bad to worse. The rain was absolutely pouring now, and there was talk of the session getting red flagged due to the weather. William went out for a second time in these conditions, and even though he was able to hit all the apexes correctly and got on the throttle and brakes at the right times, he was still unable to get anywhere close to Charyseine Valkyria's time, and all because of the weather.

"I tried, guys," William said as he passed by the checkered flag for the second and final time in qualifying. "I really tried. But the weather... I'm not one for making excuses but this is a lot of rain we're having here. Sorry, guys."

"That's all right, William, there's still the race tomorrow," his engineer assured him. "Remember, they don't give out points on Saturday."

William slept well that night. He didn't think about what had happened in qualifying; he didn't think about what had happened in Turori the week before. He was just focused on going all out tomorrow and finally making a name for himself in WGPC. Preston's fortunes were turning for a change; Rudy Edwards was starting on the second spot in the grid and really should have gotten pole position had the official WGPC timing software not glitched out and gave everyone who made it into Q4 the very same times that they had set back in Q3. Rudy didn't seem too hung up about it though; he was happy putting himself in P2 after all. William wanted to get as close to Rudy as he could, too.

It all started so well too. William was having fun out there, sending his PGP-01 into the apexes as exactly as he could and going down the straights like a madman. These were the moments that made him remember why he loved racing in the first place. And then, in lap 5, came the second major blow to William Archer's WGPC career. William had just completed the downshift and was preparing for the starting straight when he suddenly noted that his gears were not changing. "Guys, what's going on here?" he asked. "I'm unable to change gears."

"Yep, we're seeing it too," his engineer replied. Then, a few moments later, "Sorry William, but I'm afraid that that's a terminal fault. We don't know why, but your gearbox is gone."

"No! No! That's not true!" William shouted. "Tell me that it's just a temporary fault! Tell me I'll be able to get it back after a few minutes!"

"Sorry, William. Please it into Mode 1, Mode 1. DT 24 DT 24."

"Goddamn it, not again!" William shouted even as he parked his car near a marshal's post so it could be recovered quickly. Just another day in the office, he thought to himself.

[Auruna]

Viska Factory
Sterlennau, Auruna

What would they do to improve everything?

Well, everything.

The Nimban Grand Prix is next, they didn't have luck with them when they first raced at the Crossbay Circuit so it's time to turn things around with luck or not. Their goal for now: get their first points of the season. It can also serve as a morale boost to the team if that happens and hey, it's one of their drivers' home race which is a lot of pressure.

It was a hectic day at the factory after the previous race. They were so close, they're looking into what to upgrade on the car. They have a few ideas, the engineers and Artur sending a few to Jöna to review. One of them references Schkeska Motor's parent company by using a Viska-tuned light tank engine they experimented on that was in the warehouse. A few ridiculous ideas later, he saw one that caught his attention. Something that involves the engine, turbo, and hybrid system. Minutes of silence pass by and Jöna stands up. "I guess it's time to do everything the true Viska way." Then he leaves his office, headed to the main factory area with the engineers and mechanics.

To Jöna's surprise, everything seems to be prepared and in order as if they were expecting him to choose that certain idea to improve upon the current power unit. It might look too early to make a massive change, especially to the engine. It is a risk worth taking, at least for Viska.

He then leaves them to do their work in peace then heads to the drivers' lounge where most of the drivers usually are during their breaks. Complete with a few sim rigs, TVs and such. He decides to have some fun for a bit.

Viska Kalnatranne Test Track
Livonsk, Auruna

Meanwhile, at the test track, Artur, Goita, Olivia and a few test drivers are adding a bit of mileage to test out new equipment... or "new" equipment. One such "new" equipment is the Driver's Visor HUD which is currently in use at AtMA and the E-Series. Displays important information in a HUD similar to a video game, the information selected to be displayed is different to every driver as it depends on what they want know during the race. They made it not too distracting to the driver. There's a chance that they would implement it later on during the season so there's no actual confirmation yet. That's why they're still testing it with the drivers if they would like to have it implemented.

Another thing they're testing is a new on-the-go electric tuning system for the mass dampers. Should be useful as drivers tend to have different driving styles which suit a certain car setup and prefer a certain kind of stability with the car. This system is currently in use in Viska's AEC cars and is being slowly adapted by other teams.

In the afternoon before sending out the drivers for their last few hours of testing for the day, Artur tells the drivers. "After this, tell me your final thoughts about everything that we tested for today. We need the most important thing, driver input, so that we can improve everything like.. absolutely everything. Go out there and don't forget... have fun as well!"

The cars started, as they leave, the sounds of the mighty Schkeska V6 echoes throughout the garage and follows them like a guardian of their mechanical soul.

It's now the start of Viska's experimental phase, a.k.a. Viska Magic.

Hopefully... it works.

[Vilita and Turori]

Horikawa Instruments Grand Prix of Turori, Dashoze Circuit, Hodori :: While iBen Toralmintii and teammate Terho Talvela were fast off the truck posting the 2nd and 3rd quickest times in the Friday Practice session at the Dashoze Circuit, it did not translate to the track in qualifying for the Turorian who once again failed to advance to the final round of the multi-stage qualifying format - improving on the "Scale of Fail" by falling back to 17th on the starting grid down from his already miserly 12th place starting position in the opening round at his home track at the Eelandii Grand Prix Circuit in Turori.

Of course, the Veteran Toralmintii who spent many seasons as a Works driver was no stranger to having to make the most of a poor starting spot on the grid. He had done it as recently as last race weekend climbing to 2nd place in the finishing order from their 12th place start. Of course, starting a further five spots back on the grid would make it even more difficult and it would largely be driven by how well Toralmintii could navigate the field on the start and through the first corner. While the Turorian had a solid start that helped propel him up the running order at Turori, the same could not be said at the Dashoze Circuit. Toralmintii was behind a pair of rookie drivers at the World Grand Prix Championship level with William Archer directly in front and Cocoabo #23 just to the side. He attempted to make it three-wide to pass them on the start but into the first turn the inexperienced drivers were unable to hold their line, pushing Toralmintii out wide and shuffling him back through the field. From there the Turorian adopted a different strategy and focused on patience as the field familiarized themselves with the winding course that combined two distinct circuits into one mega track. As drivers such as Archer fell out of the race, Toralmintii climbed up but his gap to the points was too great to overcome. While running 11th late in the race, the Tropicorp Racing Aelund team strategist decided to pull Toralmintii onto pit road for a fresh set of Tropicorp Racing Supply Sifaka Tyres. Toralmintii roared back onto the wide open track in a gap that had formed between the race leader Jean Mercer-Daly and Toralmintii's own teammate Terho Talvela who was running second. Torlamintii clicked together the fastest lap of the race to steal those 2 bonus points.

It was a clever piece of race control for the Abovian team as those 2 points not only kept Toralmintii ahead of Talvela in the Drivers' standings as the Turorian looks to assert themselves as a championship favorite, but it also enabled Tropicorp Racing Aelund to move atop the Constructors Standings for the first time in World Grand Prix Championship Season 18 - a position they would look to retain for the remainder of the season in the hopes of become the first team to win Back-to-Back Constructors titles since Carvenlo did so during WGPC 11 & 12.

Of course, while Tropicorp Racing Aelund will have been pleased to come out of the first two events of the season with Runner-Up finishes and a lead in the Constructors Standings, there was perhaps no race other than the dual-event Abovian GP & Sprint that the team were more looking forward to on the calendar than the upcoming Nimban Grand Prix.

After starting last seasons Nimban Grand Prix from the second row, Tropicorp Racing Aelund teammates iBen Toralmintii and Terho Talvela would dominate the field on the day with iBen Toralmintii taking the checkered flag a full minute and 12 seconds ahead of the closest non-TRAE Challenger - third place finished Jean Mercer-Daly of the home-track team Nexus Racing. With their runner-up finish, Terho Talvela clinched their second WGPC Driver's Championship while iBen Toralmintii used the victory at the Crossbay Circuit to propel himself to an unprecedented streak of four consecutive Grand Prix victories.

Toralmintii, Talvela and Tropicorp Racing Aelund will be optimistic of rekindling some of the magic that had energized them at the Crossbay Circuit last season to put both of their drivers into the points finishing positions in the same race for the first time during the WGPC's 18th season.

[Aboveland]

Horikawa Instruments Grand Prix of Hodori
Race day

"Radio check."

"Copy, copy, race start imminent," affirms Edvin, as the cars slot into their places before the red lights start coming on. Terho is third on the grid, breathing heavily, the beat of his heart throbbing in his temples, as he scans his surroundings. Directly ahead is Ryker, in the eight-wheeled megalodon of a Chase Cutter which Janne had wheeled around last WGP2 season--albeit with a fair bit less promise. To his right, the gorgeous, yet unstable, Preston of Rudy Edwards, and behind them the ever garish MRT of Dom Falpeau. As he glances around his harder Tropicorp tyres--the hardest of the two dry compounds; though the Calanian rubber has only two variants, the durable sets are still quick and easily the best tyres in the championship--, now a minute to the race start, the gentle, refreshing morning Hodori breeze creeps in through the small gap he's left in his visor; he promptly pushes it firmly down, blocking away the radiant, cool sun with the sponsor strip above his eyes. As he's (somehow) learnt from the Iskajarvan, he cracks his thumbs into his hands, then his indexes and middles with his thumb, and finally his pinkies and rings with their opposite palms. He realizes for a moment that he's, perhaps, drowning in a glass of water, uncharacteristically nervous and jumpy, but the pressure has piled itself on for the race at Dashoze despite his best efforts to push it off. It's a track he's done well at, historically, and with the second half of the season turning decidedly against his strengths he's all too conscious of the need to put in an excellent first half of the season if he's to defend his titles, his own and his team's.

All that ruminating, however, and the race is a row of lights from the start. Terho, shocked at his oversight, revs the engine and shifts into first, dropping the clutch almost simultaneously with his shift as the lights go off. He's accidentally managed an excellent start, rocketing off the third grid place past Edwards and trailing the even-faster starting Ryker Lane, who's even got more power down the main straight. The Nimban pulls away before turn one, though no amount of eccentrically shaped tyres can quite outpace AGP003 around turn one--they do get close to doing so, though, and the second straight after turn two leaves Ryker to nurse a growing lead. By lap five, the eight-wheeler has built a steady six second gap to himself; Terho makes time up around the corners, particularly on the southern half of the circuit, but the aero setup is perhaps too draggy to keep up on the straights. After all, the only data the team had gathered was on a dry circuit with a small fuel tank, and on a soaked track with a similar fuel level. It's not a massive issue, nor a particularly terrible setup mishap, but it's enough to keep the Chase Cutter, at least on their current tyres and fuel levels, somewhat safely out of reach for the Abovian.

By lap 31, the gap has closed to just four seconds, decreasing slowly lap over lap. The Sifaka hards still have some life in them, screeching around the Kawashiro S, but look to be decisively healthier than Ryker's In Motion rubber which has him drop time. The gap, though likely unassailable before the first pit stop, is too small to throw away in case Ryker makes a mistake, so Edvin's radio message communicating the opening of the pit window falls upon deaf ears. For the closing laps of his stint, Terho mutes the radio and focuses on the Chase Cutter.

Just two laps later, his steering wheel flashes yellow, and the radio mute is overriden. As Terho flies over the crest at turn seven, closing in on the leading Chase Cutter, Edvin speaks.

"Box this lap, Sigur's gone off," he says with an involuntary, compassionate sigh.

"Only if Ryker pits," Terho replies.

"I don't care if Ryker pits," retorts Edvin, "you're coming in now. We're going to try to tweak the aero."

Terho waits until he's past the esses before turn 15 to reply. "What if I don't want that?"

"I don't care," Edvin repeats. "We've tried it with iBen and it worked well. It'll only take two seconds, and if it takes any longer just go." He's answered with a compliant grunt.

As Terho rolls into the pits, he follows Ryker ahead, and spots in his mirrors a few cars back in the procession the second Chase Cutter of Jean Mercer-Daly. He rolls into his pit spot, has the harder Sifaka tyres swapped for a new set, and waits, revving the engine.

And waits a little more.

And a slight bit more.

"Go, shit!" radioes Edvin. "Just go!"

AGP003 drops abruptly from the jacks and Terho drops the clutch, staggering off the pit square at first, then punches the clutch again to induce a sucker punch of wheelspin and power out of the pits. "Okay, it took us a second longer, but we think we got the setup right," says Edvin, agitated.

His suspicion proves correct, yet the tweak to the aero isn't quite enough to keep up with the Nexus machines come the end of the safety car. The slow stop drops Terho to fourth, but as the race resumes he successfully claws back the time lost to climb back into second. The gap between him and first, however (and the same to third), never ceases to grow, the Chase Cutter in front pulling away decisively, and come lap 61 he's past the start-finish line on the podium.

"P2, Terho!" yells Edvin as the race ends, echoing the sentiment of his wheel display. "Good work; iBen's got the fastest lap, so we think that gets us into the lead of the championship."

Terho sighs, then smiles. "Thanks guys," he says, struggling to come up with a creative thank you message. He's not disappointed, nor gutted, but not elated either. The pace of AGP003 had simply been no match for Ryker and his Chase Cutter; or perhaps, AGP003 was good, and today Nexus' machine was better.

To his surprise, as he pulls into the pit lane and parks #56 behind the second podium board, he looks to his left at the eight-wheeled Chase Cutter, and sees Jean Mercer-Daly climb out of his cockpit to celebrate his victory. Terho chuckles happily, but is confused. When did he get past me?

Once he's on the podium, however, it's no use ruminating over the race. He holds his hands behind his back, clasping one with the other, and points his chin up as the winners' anthems sound into the clear Hodori sky. He smiles contently: it's after all an excellent result to kickstart his WGPC18 campaign for good, and a hell of a roster to share the podium with--third time with Jean, second with Alex. Though Dimitrianov has built a decent ten point gap in the championship, his title defense is well under way. After the anthems have finished and the trophies laid out, the three clasp their bottles of celebratory fluid, Terho making sure to aim just below the faces of both other drivers. When the foam fizzles out, he brings the three of them together, sandwiching Jean in the middle, and places his bottle in the middle awaiting the others' clinks. As he cocks his head back to take a sip, his eyes stinging, he feels a fat drop run down his back inside his overalls, and before he heads down from the podium he pumps his fists at the team below.

As soon as he's alone and quietly freshening up, scrubbing the champagne from his hair, an air of confidence surges within him. The next race is at Crossbay, where TRÆ had scored a commanding one-two victory last year, and where he'd secured his second world title. Though it certainly seemed that Nexus Racing had started on the right foot, and that they'd surely be successful next time around, there was nothing to suggest that the Abovian outfit couldn't pull off a second straight victory.

For Terho's title chances, it's a crucial race to get right, no matter what it takes.

[Filindostan]

Dimitrianov takes second straight podium for Badai Angin at Hodori, leads drivers championship
by TGF Staff

Alex Dimitrianov, lead driver of Badai Angin Tim Motorsport continues his strong start of the season in WGPC 18, taking his second consecutive podium and his fourth straight top five finish since he finished fifth in the Falcanian Grand Prix last season. Despite starting 11th, Alex had a stellar drive which included several overtakes and managing his tyres until the end of the race, culminating to a third place finish, 47.530 seconds behind race winner Jean Mercer-Daly of Nexus Racing. The result, combined with R.L. Cruisin and iBen Toralmintii finishing outside the point scoring positions (albeit the latter had two points for taking the fastest lap), has put the Mattijanan driver at the lead of the drivers' championship with 2 of 11 races completed.

It was a different story however for Rustom Ibuna, Alex's teammate. Having started just two places behind the lead driver, the Filindo driver actually got a good launch off the line, however, an attempt to overtake Dimitrianov by driving outside the Mattijanan driver on the First corner went wrong with the number 71 car's driver misjudging his speed and running wide, losing him numerous places and a speed deficit in the long straight coming to Kawashiro S. Despite a late charge in the closing laps, he would finish out of the points, a lap down from the race winner. In the post-race interviews, there was no mention of the events at Turori and Ibuna blamed himself for the first corner mishap. However, should the two cars hit each other and caused problems to Dimitrianov, it could have started another set of inquisitions and questions in the Badai Angin garage whether they could control the competition between the two teammates by imposing team orders.

Rustom will be the more pressured of the two as this will actually be his worst start of the three seasons he participated in the WGPC. In Season 16, he won the second race of the season at Serizawa Racing Circuit with MRT. The next season, a second place at this same track (Hodori) as well as a fourth place at the Talbott Autodrome in Liventia. The current season puts him in ninth with 8 points on his name, compared to 28 points last season, and 25 the season before it. The Filindo driver should forget competing with and risk compromising his teammate's title challenge, and score the points Badai Angin need to compete with the teams above them in the championship, as he should have a bright future in the WGPC and his teammate has a legitimate chance of winning the drivers' championship this season.

Next round will see the WGPC paddock visit the Crossbay Circuit, where both of the current Badai Angin Drivers have both finished in the points in last years race - Rusty finishing fifth and Alex seventh, both drivers finishing a lap down. The Nimban Grand Prix, which hosted the tenth round of the championship last season, has been put forward to host the third round of the championship this season. In season 16, the fourth round of the championship, Alex Dimitrianov retired while driving for McPahan while Rustom Ibuna finished a lap down and out of the points, It remains to be seen whether Alex can sustain his great start and Rusty can start picking up their pace, or if the team (and Ibuna) will suffer another midseason slump to kill the momentum they currently have.

---

Dahon pulls out of NSSCRA and FISCAR, WGP3.FID plans shelved
by TGF Staff

Ajian automotive manufacturer Dahon have announced their withdrawal from the NSSCRA stock car championship effective the tenth season of competition. Their motorsports division, Dahon Autosport, have planned to run a one-car operation for former KISMO academy driver Shigeru Tsuchie, who was the test driver of the WGPC team before being sold to Badai Angin. The withdrawal also affected plans to supply engines for next season's WGP3.FID championship, which will turn into a national championship after this season. The initial plan was to Dahon to enter as an engine supplier to compete with Badai Angin, however, the pulling out meant that the Filindostani Motorsports Group (FMG) will try to look for alternative engine suppliers, or request Badai Angin to retain engine supply to all the competing teams. This will believe to have a huge effect on Badai Angin's involvement in the WGP2 program of Ibuna-Gambal Racing.

Dahon will also pull out of FISCAR, leaving several teams without a technical partner, and leaving Filindostani stock car driver Kiki Lambosa without a drive. It is however rumored that a Hispino team have acquired the stock cars Dahon have built to have Tsuchie continue his NSSCRA career. It remains to be seen however, if Hispino teams or engines will enter the Filindo motorsports scene at some point.

[Lisander]

WGPC | WGP2 | NSSCRA | WGP3 ALPHA LEAGUE | OPEN GP NATIONAL SERIES | LISANDER GT | MOTORCYCLE RACING | LEGAL STREET RACING | + RACING | GIRLS | CONTACT US

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At least something is working
We visited the deactivated Bitten Heroes Centre this week and got some nice photos
Eric Donner, photos by Pedro Larin

Early this week,
"The electricity still works, obviously. Everything here is powered by solar energy, and the stored energy is only used on occasions like this when we receive a visit. Lumina was here for a while, connecting the generators to the grid. So not only do we not have any electricity bills to pay, but we generate a passive profit."

The slow steps that accompanied us through the empty building were those of a gentleman of about sixty years, Valentin Morel. He is the only person left here. Divorced and with two already married children, Morel works as a caretaker at the old Bitten Heroes Grand Prix Engineering factory, which today has only its generators working. Those were rented to Lumina, Lisander's electric power company, to support the Brax city's electric grid. For some months now the main building is empty, but the warehouse still holds the last parts of the fateful last attempt of the Lisander team in motorsports, in the last WGP3. Morel showed us the closed building from the window, but we were not allowed to go there.

The warehouse is the building that can be seen through the windows at the left of the image, but it's closed since it still houses WGP2 spare parts, maybe cars?

"Inside this building here, what had not yet been sold to Camden, has now been sold to Alliance, and went to their factory there in Grandeville. There were a few pieces left, but I was told they were only for WGP2, and this project is still being touched by Lanza. The last time we talked, which was even when he informed us that you were coming to visit us today, he told us that a team would be coming to do an inventory in the coming weeks".

We were pleased with that explanation. By the new logic of maximum utilization, if the TAS Alliance kept the same specifications of Camden cars for this season, with only minor modifications, then it makes sense that Lisander's next team in WGP2 keep the specifications of KS-03, which gave so many problems to William Archer and Lourdina Westgrens. They will need to improve a lot on that if they want a competitive team at the second world level of the monopoly.

Larin: "How cutie."

Our tour with Morel went down the metal stairs and through the unoccupied rooms of the building. It's a beautiful building, not exactly cutting-edge technology, but fitted nicely the team for those two seasons. We couldn't photograph all the rooms, some of them still had walls painted with the sponsors' brands. But we passed by the design department, the simulator room, the trophy cabinet, the directors' offices and the garage, which today is nothing more than a floor marked with the spaces where the purple and white team cars used to be.

The empty garage is kind of a sad view, as well as the empty trophy cabinet.

In general, it is a kind of sad vision to see that place that was once full of people like that, completely empty. But it was an interesting ride that revealed several interesting things. Now, finishing writing about this visit, I have a strange impression that we are being used to advertise that place. Could it be that Andrea Lanza's real intention is to get rid of the building (which was bought from the original Bitten Heroes for L$16 million)? Would LAB be so strapped for cash? That's not exactly what the financial reports say, but you know how it is. When you talk about motorsports, you can't doubt anything.

For the best photos we took on the visit, head to our gallery!

---

More from TURBO

Costa 12h: Resurgence of Endurance promises great emotions
TAS Alliance hopes for better results in Nimban Grand Prix
Signups for Elite Street Racing League are open. First "meeting" will be held in Kasandora Industrial Park.
NSSCRA: Is the "second tier" championship a good thing for Mor Holstein?

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[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Nexus Racing HQ, Crossbay Circuit, Nimbus Bay, the Nexus Wardship of Former Citizens of the Nimbus System
11th of October

“Thank you.”

Gertrude gives a quiet smile and a nod to Henry, taking her tray and stepping towards the tables. She stares down at the synthetic duck on her plate, looking at the gravy drip off the meat without seeing it.

“Gertrude.”

She looks up.

Lucia Vanderbilt, former Deputy Head Designer, now Head Designer for Nexus Racing, sits at one of the smaller tables, stoic as ever. “Would you like a seat?”

“I… Sure. Talking to you sounds good right now.” Gertrude sighs, taking a seat and sitting back, food coming to rest on the table with a soft thunk.

There is a moment’s pause. “I’m daunted, Lucia. That’s all there really is to it – this whole thing is so daunting.”

When Gertrude speaks no further than that, Lucia frowns. She sits forward, waiting.

Gertrude sighs again. “It’s Timothy. He’s left me this… This thing, this collection of notes that he was apparently taking on everything the whole time he was here. Which… First Builders, I know his intentions are good, I know that…”

She looks up, meeting Lucia’s eyes with her own. They carry weariness, hurt. “He said that the team was bigger than either of us, which is true, obviously… But Lucia, he built it. He built us. I… I don’t know if I can measure up to that.”

Lucia purses her lips. “Well, you are hardly incompetent, I reassure you… But you know that too.”

“He’s told me plenty of times.” Gertrude chuckles darkly. “I don’t know. Still lingering bits of self-doubt but… There’s something else, too. I can’t quite…”

Lucia considers. “Is it worrying about being overshadowed? Stepping into the role of someone who has done so much work to shape it already?”

“I…” Gertrude folds her arms, leaning back, looking to the ceiling. “It might be. Probably elements of that. Never been content to do nothing, so…”

She looks back down. Lucia’s frown has intensified, tinged with something else, something strange. On her normally calm face, it commands attention. “Then that, at least, holds nothing fearful for you.” She leans forward, placing her finger to the table. “Because you, Gertrude Thompson, are the most ambitious, boldest person I know.”

Gertrude shakes her head. “I wouldn’t –”

“I would.” Each of Lucia’s words is intoned with force. “Sufficiently ambitious to try to resurrect an entire discipline of engineering almost singlehandedly. Sufficiently bold to opt for a chassis concept departing from years’ worth of World Grand Prix design philosophies. And it has been noticed.” “Gertrude, I don’t know if you have seen but you’ve been more influential upon the culture of this team than anyone else – Timothy included. That boldness and ambition are ours now, and each of us has such respect for you.”

She gazes at her, eyes set. Then Lucia draws back a little, clarity coming to her vision and melting away her certainty. “I… I don’t like seeing you unsure of yourself – you shouldn’t be… Forgive me.”

And, stunned, Gertrude does nothing as, with hurried precision, she stands, takes up her empty plate, cutlery and tray, turns and flees.

…

Maelstrom.

Dashoze Circuit, Dashoze, Dekijika, Ondori, Hodori
Horikawa Instruments Grand Prix of Hodori; Lap 34

“Okay, Ryker – crash at Turn 17, crash at Turn 17. Debris is largely off the racing line.”

Ryker winces at several hundred kilometres per hour as he and Coalescence power down the pit straight. “Who? Are they alright, Martin?”

“That would be Bjarnason – nothing yet… Safety car.” Martin’s usual dulcet tones fall to softness. “Apologies, Ryker.”

“No, it’s… It’s irritating but it’s alright.” He shakes his head inside the cockpit, slowing to a crawl before the first corner. This one-stop strategy had been intended to bunch up the field behind him, giving Jean a chance to attack – and that it had done, but now, with the two-stoppers ahead of him able to take a free stop – they’d fall behind again like they would have but on fresh tyres right behind him…

Martin again. “Update on Bjarnason – he appears unharmed.”

Okay, positive… “Options, Martin?”

“Two. Pit now, take S-1s and go to the end – we project exiting in seventh but you would be able to attack. Alternatively, you could stay on the current strategy and attempt to defend. Both are tactically viable if you feel comfortable on these tyres.”

For a moment, even as he physically approaches the Kawashiro S, Ryker’s mind is in Vangaziland last year. He ascends through the field, slashing past car after car, claiming a lofty second place. He could do so again – he adores this circuit; why would it not come to him?

His fists tighten on Coalescence’s steering wheel.

No. No, it won’t work this time. Too many others going onto fresh rubber too, and besides… “These tyres are good, Martin. I can stay out – let Jean pass, guard the win.”

“Understood.” To anyone else, Martin Veri’s voice would be unchanged; to Ryker, though, the slight lilt of empathy and pride is plain to hear. “Then stay out – catch the safety car and preserve these tyres.”

“I hear you, Martin.” Ryker lets a puff of air flow into his helmet, then smiles. Well, defending this hard is going to be fun, at least… He glances at the order displayed on his HUD, to see precisely who he’ll be defending against.

Oh, yes. This will be fun.

Viska Kalnatranne Test Track, Livonsk, Auruna
3rd of November

Olivia pulls back into the workshop, sweat dampening the balaclava over her forehead. For a moment, she leans back in her seat, breathing in and out, letting the tiredness sweep through her form.

It being moulded to her body does rather help.

With a particularly vicious exhale, she taps at the button for her radio. “Hey, ah, Baxen? Just need a moment…”

“Field questions for you?”

“That would be wonderful. I’ll be up in a bit, I promise.”

“No need to.” And the matter is concluded.

Olivia lets out another breath. Then, exerting herself, she levers herself up from the DIADEM above her and clambers out, dropping to the floor, limbs half-limp. She closes her eyes for a moment, pulling off her headgear, then opens them again and glances over – to find Abdoulaye Goita, apparently doing much the same.

With a tired smile and wave, Olivia steps over. “How Lane and Mercer-Daly manage all that information I have no idea… Then again, never understood why nobody else has adopted any of Nexus Racing’s other innovations beyond the one that ruins their cars’ aerodynamics and balance either.” She chuckles. “Good thing that our team is actually vaguely observant. You doing any better than I am?”

[Nico Hulkenberg]

Not An Ideal Weekend

Dashoze Circuit, Hodori

Practice

While Dario was never really stellar in the practice sessions he had done, today was definitely not his best. He finished practice dead last, and he wasn’t best pleased.

”Dario, that’s the session over. You’re in last place, so you’ll need to make up for lost time in qualifying if you want to get onto the starting grid tomorrow.”

”Oh, for fucks sake! I thought the car felt a lot slower today, I’m not surprised that I’m last.”

”Dario, I understand that you’re frustrated, but do stay focused. We need every bit of performance out of you during qualifying, so keep your head in the game for now. Let it all out after qualifying, we’ll analyse where you went wrong and tell you what to do during the break between practice and qualifying. Does that sound good?”

”Eh, I guess so.”

Qualifying

In between sessions, Dario was being schooled on the circuit. He wasn’t really getting the best exits out of turns 6 and 8, but he was sure that he could rectify that in qualifying. After all, he would have to get a lot better on this circuit if he really wanted to qualify ahead of two of his teammates. With around 3 minutes of qualifying left, Dario went out for his final lap of the session. He hadn’t set a stellar lap tome yet, but he was sure that he could finally change that. With his cool down lap over, he began to floor it, and off he went. Turns 1 and 2 were a dawdle for Dario, and he felt like he had plenty of pace. He went round turns 6, 7 and 8 with ease, and he felt like he had good pace around all of those turns. Turn after turn, Dario was sure he was acing this lap, getting the best out of the car at every part of the track. As he crossed the finish line, his race engineer read out his time.

”Dario, that’s a 1:35.357. However, Daryl is going round the track for his final lap at the moment, so I’ll keep you updated.”

“Good, good. Am I through though, as it stands?”

“As it stands, you’ll qualify ahead of Daryl and Kinu.”

“Woo! That would be nice, two races in a row.”

“Don’t keep your hopes up, Dario. Daryl is just about to cross the line and... he’s done a 1:35.353. Sorry Dario, that’s you out of tomorrow’s race.”

“FUCK! FIVE ONE-HUNDREDTHS, ARE YOU SERIOUS?”

“Yep. That’s all it was, five one-hundredths. Hard luck, Dario.”

“Argh!”

Not the best thing to hear on a Saturday afternoon, eh? Dario would just have to make the most of his Sunday, and somehow please his loyal Hülkenberger fans.

Race

As the cars sat on the grid, Dario was nowhere to be seen. In fact, he was sitting in the stands, next to some of his most loyal fans. To them, it was a bit of a shock to see their idol sitting with them in the stands. To Dario, it was just another Sunday. He had a sandwich in his hands, and he was ready to take a few bites of it pre-race. Just before he bit into his Leberkässemmel, one of his fans approached him to ask a question.

”Hey, Dario! Can I have your autograph?”

“Oh, really? MY autograph? Abso-fucking-lutely! What do you want me to sign?”

“Oh, just this hat. See, it’s got your name and number on it, and I’d be happy to see your signature alongside it.”

“Hell yeah, I’ll sign it for you! What’s your name, man?”

“The name’s Fabian.”

“Well, Fabian, I hope you enjoy watching the race today. I’m sure you came to Hodori to watch me, but there’s going to be plenty of action out on track, I can tell you that.”

“I hope so too, Dario! Thanks for your autograph, dude!”

“No problem, Fabian!”

With that little bit of fan service over and done with, it was time for Dario to watch the race and eat his sandwich. Good times, eh?

[Savojarna]

Technology Troubles

Dashoze Circuit, Hodori

Two weeks ago in Eelandi, it had been his engineer who stopped his pursuit. “Sigur, I’m afraid I have to tell you to come to the box and retire the car. There is a critical issue with your engine controls, I repeat, critical issue with the engine controls, box this lap”. Krister Arlund’s voice sounded broken, disappointed by the result. “Fuck. Anything you guys can do?”, Sigur asked, knowing the answer that would come. “Negative, Sigur, Negative. We can try restarting once you are in the pits, but you will have a long stop; we cannot do anything until then”, the race engineer responded. It was a slump for Sigur for sure. The curse of the engine began with an update from JMC. Any claim that the start mode would get more power were not wrong, but they were not the whole truth. Nobody at JMC mentioned that the car would become horribly likely to stall, or lose power, or no longer use the electric engine anymore, or perform any other sort of weird things. So that was the issue. The car arrived in the pits, the electric engine barely working, Sigur pulling up for the stop. Next to Krister, the engineers frantically restarted the software. “Startup initialised”, he heard someone’s grating Russian voice. “Startup sequence completed… test negative”, another engineer said. “Fuck. Reset settings, please”, the JMC guy in the team shouted, Krister relaying the info. “Sigur, we’re trying things, please set up Mode 1 for a reset”, he said. The engine whirred, stuttered, and then Russian and Finnish cursing could be heard. “Result negative. Electric not working, power distribution will be uneven, engine damage possible”, the JMC rep reported to Krister. “Makes no sense”, he grumbled, pressing the radio button again. “Sigur, we are retiring the car, risk of engine damage is too high. Repeat, we are retiring the car, engine is damaged”.

Now here, in Hodori, Sigur needed to make up badly. The qualifying was an improvement - 7th in the rain with the pre-patch version of the engine, and a promise they'd fix it until the race that Krister tore up immediately and demanded a proper fix until Crossbay - but they would need a result in the race. The start was alright, they got Souzare in turn 2 and almost managed to beat JMD, but then had to hold back for P6. Some pit strategy led to P5 after 30 laps, trailing behind Falepeau by just a bit under two seconds and trying hard to catch him on what would be his fastest stint, tyre-wise. The SVJ behaved perfectly, running through the corners smoothly as Sigur chased through the Kawashiro S. "You're gaining time every lap, Sigur, keep pushing, we can get him", Krister was saying in his ear as the blue and white car shot through the underpass and towards A.mu's. He navigated the tight corner carefully, taking the speed through the esses ahead of him, and plotted out how to get around Spoon. The car jolts as he presses down the throttle, perhaps a bit early, but with an electric whirr of the suddenly reliable again engine, he gets launched onto the straight towards 160R. Suddenly, Sigur can make out Falepeau's car. The garish MRT, so familiar to him, sparks a thing in Sigur as he rushes down to the corner. Full throttle isn't doable, but he wants to lift as little as possible... too little. The car drifts a little bit wide, hits the outside line where the asphalt is less rubbery, loses its balance, and suddenly its downforce as it hits the curbs. Sigur's instincts kick in, but too late. Like a pinball, it shoots across the road into the wall, skids across the track, hits the opposite wall, and spins back over into the grass near the inside of Turn 18.

"Fuck. I'm okay, I lost it. I am so sorry. But I am okay", he reports back. "Copy, Sigur, turn off the car. Safety car is out, no risk of fire to you", Krister responds. A marshal checks on the shaken and, perhaps more importantly, frustrated Savojar - two races and two DNF's are the sad takeaway of the first two races. Time to get to Crossbay.

---

Crossbay Circuit, Nexus Wardship

Sigur loved Crossbay, the challenges of the circuit, the stunning landscape, all of that. But right now, he mainly wanted to be on the track so that he wouldn’t have to be in the garage. After last night, everyone seemed to hate each other. What had happened was that Sigur wanted to get to know his teammate better and suggested a drink or two after the team had ate together at a restaurant in the city. It all took longer than expected, it went wilder than expected, some locals snapped pictures, some tabloid back home got hold of it, and now Ivar was ranting about how it was a mistake to sign Kitti again. Krister was trying to keep everything together and failed, the government people and the PR department were not talking to anyone, and JMC’s representatives were trying to defend the disaster that was the latest engine patch. For now, the track would have to wait, as the training was not going off for another few hours. Time to take a walk around the facilities - maybe it would help.

[Togonistan]

Hotties of motor racing - Top 5 hottest male & female drivers in WGPC

The new season of WGPC is breaking viewing numbers. Many watch it to see cars go vroom! and root for their favourite drivers. Some drivers have really found their place in the hearts of many fans, for their racing ability and whatnot, blah-blah. Let's be real, we all have seen those celebrity crush social media posts on the news and we can't blame people for doing that. There are some really, really handsome and pretty people on the grid. Without further adeau, here is the top 5:

Top 5 female drivers:

#5 - Jasmin Kranjska

That 25-year old Mattijanan is beauty! Such a spark on the grid! Too bad she is being constantly overshadowed by Dom Falepeau tho...

#4 - Erica Okumura

The 23-year old goddess from Nekoni is definitely one to make people turn heads. A perfect representation of Nekonian beauty standards! Slay girl!!!

#3 - Olivia Stone

That young Nimban is an absolute beauty! No wonder a lot of virgins on social media start simping for her when she pulls on her racing suit!

#2 - Sara Luna

Sara is 37 years old... and she looks stunning! Let's be real, her beautiful pale skin and white hair just are something that make people turn heads! What a true goddess!

#1 - Anneliese Devereux

The 25-year old Lisanderian... Lisanderiese? However you call a person from Lisander, we know one thing for sure. Anneliese is simply slaying! A true queen of the paddock!

Top 5 male drivers:

#5 - Rustom Ibuna

Some hate him, some love him. Whatever the case, we can't argue about the fact that Rusty Ibuna is an absolute daddy!

#4 - Lane Carter

We can already sense the two Lanes memestorm incoming! While the Galarian Lane might not be the more skilled one out of the two, he sure is the more handsome one!

#3 - Charyseine Valkyria

Chars is an absolute hottie! Whether he is eating Cocoa-Bo's or doing some other antics, people are sure to watch his vlogs. And it definitely has a lot to do with that cute round face of his.

#2 - Dom Falepeau

Are there many words needed? If the Togoni driver won't crumble under the stress during his rookie season, he sure will crumble under the weight of all the letters he receives from admirers all around the world!

#1 - Dario Nülkeschläger

We don't think there is any doubt about this one! While the Hülkenberger might have not impressed many during the races, he sure has impressed many on the paddock with his stunning looks! Let's be honest, those are some really, really smooth hair!

[Recuecn]

In the afternoon before sending out the drivers for their last few hours of testing for the day, Artur tells the drivers. "After this, tell me your final thoughts about everything that we tested for today. We need the most important thing, driver input, so that we can improve everything like.. absolutely everything. Go out there and don't forget... have fun as well!"

With a tired smile and wave, Olivia steps over. “How Lane and Mercer-Daly manage all that information I have no idea… Then again, never understood why nobody else has adopted any of Nexus Racing’s other innovations beyond the one that ruins their cars’ aerodynamics and balance either.” She chuckles. “Good thing that our team is actually vaguely observant. You doing any better than I am?”

Abdoulaye looked over at Olivia. Good to know I'm not the only one feeling a bit overwhelmed. "No, I'm in the same boat," he groaned. "Or car, I guess I should say. That was exhausting." Abdoulaye pulled off his balaclava and rolled his head back, stretching out his neck. "I do think we're making progress though. These tests are super helpful. I'll never turn down more time in the car... especially when we've got all these new gadgets to try out."

Jöna walked in, nodded to both Olivia and Abdoulaye, and adressed the latter. "Jan is upstairs already." He turned to Olivia. "With Baxen. Between the two of them they've got everything taken care of I think. But I wanted to come down and get your thoughts right away. First impressions?"

"First I want to say I think I'm going to be a big fan of the new damper tuning system. It already felt noticeably more personalized, as if the car was reading my mind on the corners. I can't pretend I totally understand the details on it but as long as nothing goes terribly wrong there, I think that's a great improvement."

"Wonderful." Jöna seemed pleased.

"The HUD..." Abdoulaye trailed off. He glanced at Olivia, trying to gauge her thoughts as well. "I'm not sure if Olivia is on the same page, but the HUD was... kind of a lot. Don't get me wrong, it's intuitive and I found myself glancing at it as if it had always been there; the tire info was useful - I mean, I probably checked my tires too much, if anything - and I bet during a race the position info will be great too. But it's a lot to process. So I may need to learn to focus better? Or maybe there's a way to strip off a few of the less salient details, I'm not sure."

"Well we won't make you implement it if you don't want it. I was hoping it would integrate seamlessly with everything else you have going on in the cockpit."

"I think it does," said Abdoulaye. "To be honest, that's almost one of my concerns. I think I might become too reliant on it. I worry I already am not using my comms enough, so if it is just giving me another reason not to use my radio, it might just become a crutch. Then again, like I said, that's probably more something for me to work on than it is any sort of issue with the equipment."

"Interesting thoughts," mused Jöna.

"I do want to try it out again," Abdoulaye hastened to add. "I'm definitely not used to it yet so I'd like to keep testing it a bit more."

[Mand Blustopia]

“Hello. My name is Alexander Valenko. I am applying for a team.”
“Oh, so you are. There is a preliminary race, tommorow. 5 PM sharp.”
“Okay. Be prepared.”
“Same for you.”
Later that night...
“Guess what!?”
“What?”
“I applied.”
“ALEXANDER! YOU’RE MY ONLY LOVE! YOU COULD DIE OUT THERE OR—“
“I know what I’m doing.”
“......Okay. I trust you. But be careful, you are too young if something horrible happens I can’t bear it... no, not you, sweetie... I love you, you can’t do this.
“Trust me. I PROMISE.”
Okay.
Tommorow at 4:45 PM....
“Hi!”
“Hello! What is your name?”
“Alexander.”
“Last name?”
“Valenko.”
“Okay, car number 15 please.”
“Okay.”
*turns to wife*
“I.... I will get through this. There is no other way. We cannot go out now.”
“Alex, okay. Don’t make me cry.”
At 5 PM....
“Ready your engines, steady, GO!!!”
Alexander sped through the track, and he loved it. But...
He was in sixth. Only the top five would be considered for a spot. It was the final lap.
“No, no, I can’t lose now. For Lois.”
He burst past fifth place and barely was considered. And yet...
5 days later....
*RINGGGGG RINGGGGGG*
“Okay, okay.”
“Mr. Valenko?”
“Yes, that is me.”
“Welcome to the team.”

[Liventia]

(snip)

Hi. Team entries were never open this year, and rarely are for WGPC.
If you'd like to take part, you can still enter a free-agent driver and attempt to find a team. Instructions are at the top of the first post of this topic.

[Sorlovia]

Solnichniy Test Circuit
Pre-race training

Gregori had immensely enjoyed his time with Sara. She was a pleasant young woman and one of the most skilled racers he had met in his time with the WGPC. While still in her rookie year she’d secured several impressive finishes at the head of the pack and had shown immense skill behind the wheel. It was clear that Volkov had made the right choice in investing in her. She was a racer would go far.

He’d spent the last four hours on the training circuit in Solnichniy. His B car had fared well in his first few laps but had begun to experience issues as he continued. It’d been hauled into the workshop for an overhaul and it had turned out that the engine was underperforming. One of the turbochargers had shaken loose and oil was leaking from the bottom of the car.

“Don’t worry Gregori,” Viktor said patting him on the back “these things happen. The pressures of an official WGPC race put high stress on these cars and things are doubt to wear out at some point. The mechanics will get it back up and running in no time.”

While he waited for the repairs Gregori made his way into town. Solnichniy held a very special place in his heart. Not just because it was where he’d grown up but because it’s qualities appealed to him on a very deep level. It was small and quiet. The people knew each other and they looked after each other in hard times. It was the type of place where you would share a meal with your neighbour on a Sunday night and where you knew the barman at the local tavern. It really was a slice of the past out of a time before the rise of the Perestroya and all the evils that came with them.

“I love it here,” he said softly pausing to look a small gas station “it just feels like home. You know?”

“I get it,” Elena replied kissing him softly on the cheek “it seems that life moves slowly here. But that can be good sometimes.”

Oleg Popov, the owner of the small gas station near Gregori's childhood park, appeared to have rebranded his gas station. The small four pump gas station had been a staple in Solnichniy for so many years that most had lost count. It had been in Oleg's family for years. He'd taken over from his father and it seemed the younger Popov had ambitious ideas for the future. It sported sleek new red and black livery and carried the name "Orcon" in place of the older "Popov" name. The original four pumps had been replaced by six modern models. The attached convenience store looked like it had been completely overhauled as well.

"It looks like Oleg has been busy. He always was an ambitious one."

Gregori found, to his immense surprise, that there was a laminated poster of himself and his car hanging in the forecourt window of the gas station. He smiled softly to himself. It seemed that his career had attracted more of a following in Solnichniy than he had first thought.

[Liventia]

CUTOFF

for Practice and Qualifying at Crossbay Circuit

[Liventia]

Week 6: Practice

Conditions:      	Dry
Lap Record:      	00:01:26.018
Session Length:	75 minutes
Nation:         	NIM
Circuit:        	Crossbay Circuit

Drivers have 75 minutes to complete as many laps of the track as they like.

POS # ▍DRIVER                                     	FASTEST LAP	GAP TO LEADER
 1 25 ▍Gregori Krupin                             	00:01:33.249	00:00:00.000
 2 94 ▍Ryker Lane                                 	00:01:33.269	00:00:00.020
 3 22 ▍Jasmin Kranjska                            	00:01:33.328	00:00:00.079
 4  7 ▍Abdoulaye Goita                            	00:01:33.338	00:00:00.089
 5 51 ▍R.L. Cruisin                               	00:01:33.371	00:00:00.122
 6  8 ▍William Archer                             	00:01:33.387	00:00:00.138
 7 56 ▍Terho Talvela                              	00:01:33.469	00:00:00.220
 8 41 ▍Jean Mercer-Daly                           	00:01:33.498	00:00:00.249
 9 85 ▍Olivia Stone                               	00:01:33.502	00:00:00.253
10 72 ▍Charyseine Valkyria                        	00:01:33.517	00:00:00.268
11 19 ▍Dom Falepeau                               	00:01:33.555	00:00:00.306
12 77 ▍iBen Toralmintii                           	00:01:33.563	00:00:00.314
13 47 ▍Erica Okumura                              	00:01:33.574	00:00:00.325
14 50 ▍Rudy Edwards                               	00:01:33.605	00:00:00.356
15 52 ▍Sayono Souzare                             	00:01:33.677	00:00:00.428
16 71 ▍Rustom Ibuna                               	00:01:33.692	00:00:00.443
17 28 ▍Sara Luna                                  	00:01:33.694	00:00:00.445
18 82 ▍Kinu Luminna                               	00:01:33.736	00:00:00.487
19 42 ▍Alex Dimitrianov                           	00:01:33.916	00:00:00.667
20 46 ▍Kitti Armbruster                           	00:01:34.070	00:00:00.821
21 76 ▍Adriana Kowalski                           	00:01:34.482	00:00:01.232
22 37 ▍Niklas Schonbaum                           	00:01:34.663	00:00:01.414
23 27 ▍Dario Nülkeschläger                        	00:01:34.849	00:00:01.600
24 63 ▍Daryl Mizushima                            	00:01:35.180	00:00:01.931
25 12 ▍Anneliese Devereux                         	00:01:35.321	00:00:02.072
26 14 ▍Sigur Bjarnason                            	00:01:35.581	00:00:02.332
27 11 ▍Lane Carter                                	00:01:35.882	00:00:02.633
28 23 ▍Cocoabo #23                                	00:01:36.586	00:00:03.337

---

Week 6: Qualifying

Conditions:      	Dry
Lap Record:      	00:01:26.018
Qualifying Type:	Elimination

POS # ▍DRIVER                                     	FASTEST Q1	GAP TO LEADER	FASTEST Q2	GAP TO LEADER	FASTEST Q3	GAP TO LEADER	FASTEST Q4	GAP TO LEADER	
 1 85 ▍Olivia Stone                               	00:01:27.832	00:00:00.148	00:01:27.988	00:00:00.128	00:01:27.693	00:00:00.021	00:01:27.504	FASTEST : Q4	
 2 56 ▍Terho Talvela                              	00:01:27.954	00:00:00.270	00:01:27.861	FASTEST : Q2	00:01:27.673	FASTEST : Q3	00:01:27.515	00:00:00.011	
 3 82 ▍Kinu Luminna                               	00:01:27.833	00:00:00.149	00:01:27.936	00:00:00.075	00:01:27.683	00:00:00.010	00:01:27.526	00:00:00.022	
 4 42 ▍Alex Dimitrianov                           	00:01:27.684	FASTEST : Q1	00:01:27.867	00:00:00.006	00:01:27.690	00:00:00.017	00:01:27.540	00:00:00.035	
 5 41 ▍Jean Mercer-Daly                           	00:01:27.945	00:00:00.261	00:01:28.047	00:00:00.186	00:01:27.717	00:00:00.045	00:01:27.542	00:00:00.037	
 6 14 ▍Sigur Bjarnason                            	00:01:27.734	00:00:00.050	00:01:27.938	00:00:00.077	00:01:27.736	00:00:00.063	00:01:27.571	00:00:00.067	
 7 19 ▍Dom Falepeau                               	00:01:27.977	00:00:00.293	00:01:28.051	00:00:00.190	00:01:27.782	00:00:00.110	00:01:27.608	00:00:00.103	
 8  7 ▍Abdoulaye Goita                            	00:01:28.464	00:00:00.780	00:01:28.348	00:00:00.488	00:01:27.788	00:00:00.115			
 9 51 ▍R.L. Cruisin                               	00:01:28.102	00:00:00.418	00:01:28.063	00:00:00.202	00:01:27.791	00:00:00.119			
10 71 ▍Rustom Ibuna                               	00:01:27.918	00:00:00.234	00:01:28.000	00:00:00.140	00:01:27.793	00:00:00.120			
11 52 ▍Sayono Souzare                             	00:01:28.554	00:00:00.870	00:01:28.499	00:00:00.639	00:01:27.797	00:00:00.124			
12 94 ▍Ryker Lane                                 	00:01:28.704	00:00:01.020	00:01:28.226	00:00:00.365	00:01:27.883	00:00:00.210			
13 11 ▍Lane Carter                                	00:01:28.199	00:00:00.515	00:01:28.235	00:00:00.374	00:01:27.895	00:00:00.223			
14  8 ▍William Archer                             	00:01:28.338	00:00:00.654	00:01:28.384	00:00:00.524	00:01:28.136	00:00:00.463			
15 50 ▍Rudy Edwards                               	00:01:29.049	00:00:01.365	00:01:28.512	00:00:00.651					
16 25 ▍Gregori Krupin                             	00:01:28.439	00:00:00.755	00:01:28.539	00:00:00.678					
17 27 ▍Dario Nülkeschläger                        	00:01:28.893	00:00:01.209	00:01:28.612	00:00:00.751					
18 23 ▍Cocoabo #23                                	00:01:28.519	00:00:00.834	00:01:28.708	00:00:00.848					
19 46 ▍Kitti Armbruster                           	00:01:28.623	00:00:00.939	00:01:28.747	00:00:00.886					
20 37 ▍Niklas Schonbaum                           	00:01:29.592	00:00:01.908	00:01:29.322	00:00:01.461					
21 22 ▍Jasmin Kranjska                            	00:01:29.490	00:00:01.806	00:01:29.457	00:00:01.596					
 – 72 ▍Charyseine Valkyria                        	00:01:29.780	00:00:02.096							
22 77 ▍iBen Toralmintii                           	00:01:29.846	00:00:02.162							
23 28 ▍Sara Luna                                  	00:01:29.849	00:00:02.164							
24 76 ▍Adriana Kowalski                           	00:01:30.502	00:00:02.817							
 – 63 ▍Daryl Mizushima                            	00:01:30.681	00:00:02.997							
25 12 ▍Anneliese Devereux                         	00:01:30.752	00:00:03.068							
26 47 ▍Erica Okumura                              	00:01:31.439	00:00:03.755							

[Diarcesia]

+ Show Video [Solnichniy Test Circuit] +

I had a good chat with Sara Luna at Solnichniy Test Circuit. We went over all the season's points and leaderboard. Prior to being able to get up close to her, voice messages and calendar notifications kept me in the loop. I asked her what she was workig on this week. She told me it was a personal project. "There was a big event coming up, so it was important to get it first," she said. I asked her what she thought of the car she's driving. She said it was perfect for her. In fact, this and the way it was made is how she made her decision to pick Volkov.

I asked her what she thought of the other drivers. She said she liked Armbruster(!) and Valkyria a lot. That was all I needed to know. Great timing, she was about to head out for a joint test session with her teammate.

She was in the middle of her session when I got back to her. As I pulled up my phone, her car was getting close to my location and I started taking pictures.

"Don't miss out on this," she said afterwards. "Training is hard. We have to keep ourselves in top shape." She had seen some of the results from last week's practice and told me there is still work to be done. From her, she felt as if she isn't in the same league as the other WGPC drivers.

She didn't respond at first to my next question, instead looking down at the floor. "I can feel it", she finally responded after about 15 seconds. "In qualifying, I got to be so much better at it. Racing from behind takes a lot of energy. Now I know why I'm not on the podium. It's because there isn't a reason for me to be there yet. I can't even imagine the pressure I feel every week. It's really tough."

I told her that I understood. That was definitely the case if I would be in a similar situation as her. There is still motivation inside her. She needed that extra push. She wants to earn some podiums for sure, at least one before the season is over.

"I think it's fair to say that I've seen some of the best racing in the world", she said. "It's great to see so much from my own car. I'm sure we'll see a lot of cars from other teams running well this week at Crossbay. Rivalries will be solidified. The competition will heat up some more." She laughed, looking past me "It's going to be a test, but I think we can pass it."

---

Solnichniy Test Circuit
Pre-race training

The pre-race training was a long one. It went on for hours as Sara prepared for the Nimban Grand Prix. She spent the night after a chat with a Diarcesian vlogger who flew all the way to make this happen. That was some devotion, she mused. In the next morning, she hit the track right after she woke up and got dressed. She just kept on nailing turns one and seven. It was here that things got interesting. The blue, red, and gold of the Volkov car looked amazing in broad daylight. It was ready to run at the very pinnacle of its racing capabilities, but then things started to break down.

Sara's engine was not responding to her throttle input. Her car was slowing down, coasting along the circuit. "I don't know what happened. Throttle's not working."

"It's a problem with the ECU," her engineer said with a groan. "The ECU was interpreting the signals wrong. Sorry about that, please bring your car to the side whenever you can."

"No problem, thank you," Sara replied. She pushed the throttle a little harder. Still nothing.

"ECU's a pile of garbage today. I think something caused it to overheat into slag."

"You might be right", said Sara. She was really into it during the session. She could have pushed the car too much. Now that it was stopped, she took a long swig from her drink and turned off the engine.

"My bad", she said. What she drank was the only one she had for almost a whole hour. It was really helping her relax. Maybe it was the flavor mix. She hadn't realized how a little of it can spice things up.

"This happened in a test and not in a race," she told herself. "That is a good thing."

She noticed the early clouds over the horizon. They were getting darker. It was time to prepare to hunker down indoors.

Later, in the garage, Sara entered with a heavy duty mask in hand, somehow.

"Where did you get that?" one of the technicians asked with a noticeable accent.

"Prank gift from a friend," she answered. "The pandemic hit their country really hard, and then he decided to send me this. It's overkill, he said, but whatever. It's the thought that counts."

"Hey, you! So you're just going to hit on Miss Luna? We still have this thing to fix in her car!" another technician called out on the man Sara was talking to.

"Shut up for a second," the first technician replied sarcastically. "Look at what she's holding! So out of place in the garage. Someone would ask eventually."

"All right. Let's try a different angle", Sara said. "How's the car?"

The first technician now turned more serious. "Not too good. ECU's somewhat fried up. It was not pleasant. Guess what, its temperature control's busted, but with our fix, it shouldn't be too much of an issue for you once it's ready."

"Perfectly fine. I don't know how much work it will take you. We'll know how it goes soon enough. Hearing the cause was troubling. But I appreciate your efforts to save the car. Thank you. I'll try to catch up later. Good luck."

"We appreciate your concern. We'll try to make it right by qualifying. This one's ain't a walk in the park," the technician said with a slight hint of a laugh.

---

Week Six: Post-qualifying

While the two fastest practice times were achieved by Gregori Krupin and Ryker Lane, both drivers weren't able to translate it into a decent qualifying time. More so for Sara: she finished fourth-to-last in a session that saw her struggle with her car's reduced performance. A gap of 2.1 seconds from Alex Dimitrianov just didn't cut it to proceed to Q2. In contrast, Olivia Stone took pole position, which was an improvement from P9 in practice. The fix for the ECU cooling issue worked, but at the cost of Sara's car not being able to exert its full power. That it was a disappointing finish was an understatement.

Sergei was at his office with Sara and he talked about her consistency. He noted how in the past races so far, she was able to finish at least 10 positions from her starting grid place. He, in no uncertain terms, shared his thoughts that this was no coincidence.

Sara put one of her hands on her face and exhaled. "P23. I'm not sure if my past performances are sustainable. I'm concerned it could burn me out. I'm regressing in my qualifying sessions. Right now, Sergei, I can't help but feel this is one of the worst moments of my season."

After she left Sergei's office, Sara caught up with her engineer. "Hey, I'm about to call it a night and go to sleep."

"It's a bit early for bedtime."

"I need all the rest I can get if I have a chance at a respectable finish in tomorrow's race. Before that, though. Care to share a cocktail with me?"

"Cocktails in a race weekend? That's crazy. Besides, we're in Crossbay Circuit. No, Sara, you will not have the drink."

[Twicetagram and JYPe]

Best Places to Visit in Nimbus!
Side note: all these descriptions were given by Nimbus him/herself. I have edited some parts for convenience.

---

The camera shows Chars in front of the New Nexus Tower
Chars: What's up guys! Welcome back to my vlog! Today we're at Nimbus for the Grand Prix. I know y'all are sad that I didn't qualify.
Sad emojis and tears pop up across the screen
Chars: But hey! That means we can waste a lot of time sight seeing here! Let's start!

#5: Second City Art and Culture Collective
Chars: Even though the First City museums and galleries are also quite the place to be, the Second City Art and Culture Collective is quickly becoming the most vibrant place for media of all kinds in the Wardship!
a gallery of the Collective plays on the screen
Chars: Taking up an entire tower block, its numerous floors contain cinemas, restaurants, display and workshop spaces and other such endeavours, the majority of which are available for short-term use by community groups and individual artists! It has taken on a role as a place at the cutting edge of Nimban culture and an intensely vibrant forum for people of a variety of artistic backgrounds to exchange ideas. Talk about the arts!

#4: Street interchanges
Chars: Okay. This isn't exactly a place or a building, but it's still a marvelous piece of architecture!
Chars 'teleports' to a street interchange in the First City
Chars: While not of completely uniform structure, most are variations on the same design drawn up by Sam Furino, the first Nimban Minister for Transportation. Motorised vehicles pass underground, allowing those cycling on the large cycle paths of Nimban streets to pass onto a roundabout. It's basically like a reversed highway!
Chars moves away to show the piece of art
Chars: The most notable feature, however, and the one that makes it special, is the pedestrian element: the roundabout’s centre, typically covered in vegetation as a miniature garden space, which is connected to the pavement by a set of completely unique bridges whose designs are based on the ideas of local residents and then taken forward by professional architects and designers, resulting in some bizarre and fascinating pieces! This is a good way to conserve the environment, while also supporting the urbanity of the city!

#3: Nimbus Bay
Chars: Nimbus Bay had to be somewhere on this list! It is possibly the area of the greatest natural beauty in the Wardship; mighty, stark cliffs of grey dolomite rock stand above the sound, dozens of caves, arches, stacks and stumps scattered throughout! The rock formations and beautiful scenery makes it quite a picturesque place!
Chars teleports back to Nimbus Bay and shows the Bay in all it's glory
Chars: Said cliffs are home to a vibrant collection of sea birds, making it a birdwatcher’s paradise, and there are several boating companies that offer tours of the bay more generally.
Sea birds fly by the camera, as the camera zooms into the boats in the distance
Chars: Of everything on this list, it’s also the thing most likely to be visited by people coming to the Grand Prix – since Crossbay Circuit is built into the cliffside, meaning that they’ll be doing so by default! So, we have a Grand Prix in arguably the best place ever. Grand!

#2: Harmony Square
Chars teleports back to Second City, with Harmony Square in the background
Chars: Harmony Square is the Second City’s central hub, which was quite clearly designed as a counterpoint to New Nexus Tower at the First City’s heart. Rather than a grand, ostentatious tower, the Second City offers an open plaza with its administrative buildings and its own primary transport hub, Harmony Station, wrapping around its sides.
Chars then walks towards the centre, where a fountain is located
Chars: At its centre is a fountain of unusual construction, drawing water from the nearby Shimmerstream, a tributary of the larger River Zett; powered by pumps mechanically driven by miniature wind turbines built into the fountain’s own structure, its water leaps and falls through the fountain itself before running in dozens of small channels around the square. It IS a beautiful fountain, innit?

#1: New Nexus Tower

Chars teleports to First City, where the New Nexus Tower is shown in all it's glory.
Chars: New Nexus Tower is hard to miss considering that it’s the tallest building in the First City and the giant beam of blue light bifurcating the sky, visible for kilometres around!
Chars: Formerly Governance Tower, it stands at the centre of the First City and was built at the Nimban state’s foundation as a seat of government, home to its legislature in the House of the Assembly, its executive in the Ministerial Offices and the highest level of its judiciary in the Courts of Great Arbitration. The tower contains the Imagination Nexus itself, which is technically the great crystal of Pure Imagination held beneath the tower rather than the beam of light that emanates from it! It's quite beautiful, even if you're no building enthusiast.
Chars goes into the building

Chars: The tower itself is a marvel of modern architecture, gleaming silver-white and with windows patterned after the Nimban Higher Script; one side is emblazoned with the treaty of friendship made between the Wardship and Krypton Nova, the nation whose scientists first found the Nimban people upon their arrival in this universe and their first ally, and the other with the first words of the Nimban constitution.
Chars walks down to the Tower Station
Chars: Directly beneath is Tower Station, the hub station for the First City’s Terrarail subway network and the Ultrarail tunnel. Light pipes from beneath the rainwater pools on the surface illuminate the interior in dappled, rippling patterns reflected off mirrors embedded in geometric arrangements on the floor; the whole system is such that that light mostly falls on the Pillar of History, a single, massive column in the centre of the room. The Pillar’s structure, which appears solid rock from a distance, is entirely hollow (for the Imagination Nexus’ beam of light to pass through).
The camera zooms into the Pillar of History.
Chars: Its most ingenious feature, though, is that the stone façade is made up of numerous stone panels which slowly spiral down the pillar under their own weight (supported by many ball bearings), disappear beneath the floor and are finally elevated back to the top from the inside. Each panel is to be carved with an important episode in Nimban history; given the polity’s relative youth only a small number are actually carved as yet but the pillar’s design potentially allows an indefinite number of panels, continuously rotating through the structure. Now this is the grandest building I've ever seen. Nimbus should feel proud of the New Nexus Tower!

Chars: That's all folks! See y'all at Auruna!

[Sorlovia]

Crossbay Circuit
Qualifying

Qualifying had not gone the way Gregori would’ve liked. He’d taken out first place and the finest lap in the practice session but that had not translated into the following qualifying session. He’d spent the last two hours in his race garage pouring over the readouts from both sessions trying to figure out why that was. It continued to vex him. The car had run well in qualifying. It hadn’t lost power for even a second and he’d repeated the same techniques he’d used in practice. He’d even tried out the technique Sara had recommended. Instead of habitually trying to dominate the car, which caused a sort of conflict between man and machine, he’d consciously tried to take a light hand with it.

“I don’t get it,” he said with a sigh “I took out first place at practice and I got the fastest lap time. But look at these qualifying results. What did I do wrong? Did I overcorrect? Did I not listen to the car? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Don’t stress about it my love,” Elena said softly “perhaps it was just a quirk. Sometimes a racer will do well. But other times we will not. You have good days and bad days. Your drive to do better might be hurting you.”

“What did you say?” he said turning to face her with surprise on his face “Can you say that again?”

“Maybe your drive to do better is hurting you. I’ve seen models who push themselves so hard and so aggressively that they end up making mistakes.”

Elena’s unique way of seeing things had come through again. She had a habit of seeing things that he hadn’t. That was but one of the many reasons he loved her. She saw things that he overlooked and as a result helped him understand opportunities that he might have otherwise missed. It wasn’t due to a habit of recklessness or willingly ignoring things. It was the fruit of differing ways of thinking and different minds. He was systematic and methodical. He thought on a more linear level. Here was his problem. This was what he’d done and this was the result. He was analytical. But she was creative in the way she thought. She saw outside the box and in creative ways that allowed her to see a thing at multiple angles.

Was his innate desire to do better actually harming his performance? Since his debut in WGPC16 he had pushed himself to do better. Every finish could be better. Every corner could be handled better and every straight more effectively utilized. The first time he approached the part of the track was a test for the second time. Was he substituting actually listening to his car and the track for pushing as hard as he could to be better?

“Elena,” he said as he leaned forward to kiss her “you are marvellous!”

He spent the next three hours on a test circuit putting the theory into practice. Could his habit of pushing himself and striving to be as good as he could actually be working against him? Was he so blinded by his drive to get higher and higher placings that he was forgetting to actually listen to his car? He pushed the thoughts out of his mind as he poured himself into the practice. In order to get the best result there had to be nothing but the car and the track. No distractions and no other thoughts. Just himself, the car and the track in front of them. Everything else had to be pushed into quietness.

The car and the track. That was all there was.

[Cocoabo Forest]

Slow Going for Fireline in Hodori

Horikawa Instruments Grand Prix of Hodori, Dashoze Circuit, Hodori :: The conclusion of the Grand Prix of Turori was a moment of validation for The Cocoabo Enrichment and Enhancement Program, all the trainers at the Cocoabo Park and the Tropicorp investors who had funded their research and backed the Cocoabo in Sports program for so many seasons. While there was no doubt that Cocoabo #23 had some raw talent when they challenged for the first ever World Grand Prix 2 title, there was always a question as to whether that level of talent was truly enough to be considered in the same conversation as the top-tier open wheel drivers in the multiverse. Cocoabo #23 was one of the last drivers to secure a full-time ride for the 18th World Grand Prix Championship season. Most teams didn't even bother to review the resume of Fast Cocoabo or meet with the driver or their handlers. Perhaps it was the nonconformity of having a specialty engineered cockpit for the Cocoabo. Perhaps they felt they could get a better proven talent other than a Cocoabo who had struggled through the previous two seasons at the World Grand Prix 2 level.

Whatever the reason was, however, there was one team that ultimately let the Cocoabo in, Fireline Motorsports. Fast Cocoabo immediately rewarded the team's faith but putting the #23 machine into the points with an impressive 4th place run in Turori. Less than 10 seconds from a podium place on their World Grand Prix Championship Debut. It was the type of race that nearly defined a season for Fast Cocoabo and the CEEP team. If they had been asked at the start of the season what their goals were - they would certainly have been modest and a single podium finish might have been a lofty expectation for the team. After all, Fireline Motorsports got a late start on their Season 18 build, complicated further by the addition of Fast Cocoabo and the additional engineering details required for them. Fireline missed most of the official pre-season WGPC testing but the Cocoabo didn't mind and drove the wheels off the car at the Eelandii Grand Prix Circuit to silence any remaining critics that doubted that the Cocoabo's presence in the field was anything more than just a marketing ploy.

WGPC18 Supplier Performance Standings

[1] - 47 :: Tropicorp Racing Supply
[2] - 28 :: Solymok
[3] - 27 :: InMotion
[4] - 6 :: Deyoze

Of course it was always possible that Fireline Motorsports lack of pre-season testing would come back to haunt them and the impact was certainly felt at the Dashoze Circuit for the WGPC's second race of the calendar season. The two Fireline Motorsports cars driven by Cocoabo #23 and Adriana Kowalski would cross the line two laps down in 21st and 22nd positions respectively. Needless to say it was not the result that the Tropicorp-backed drivers were looking for although they were pleased to have avoided a DNF on the day.

The Horikawa Instruments Grand Prix of Hodori was the first race of the season and the first time in seven Grands Prix that the race winner was not using Tropicorp Tyres as Jean Mercer-Daly of Nexus Racing took home the checkered flag for In Motion tyres. The win would allow In Motion to leap to within just 1 point of Solymok in the WGPC 18 Tire Supplier Standings. Having secured second place in the results and earned the fastest lap through non-points drive iBen Toralmintii, Tropicorp Racing Supply maintained their lead atop the standings having accrued 47 points over the first two events. The tight battle was for second in the table with 28 point Solymok Tires sitting just one point clear of Race 2 winners In Motion.

Of course while they may have been optimistic for more it was still a solid day for home track driver Sayona Souzare. The Hodori driver became the first to earn points on the season for the Deyoze Tire brand who picked up their first 6 points in the standings on account of Souzare's performance.

---

[Valentine Z]

Post 7 – Uncertain Deviations.

The communication with the Fireline employees, on top of perhaps trying to reach out to the Grand Prix staff regarding her inquiry, were more or less uneventful in a bad way. There was little to nothing in the way of answers, and Adriana was sure that she was not going to get her request granted any time soon. No modification to the cars for now, she thought to herself, even if that means simply connecting her mind with the vehicle’s systems to get more precise readings.

This has more or less showed in the race back in Dashoze Circuit. Without the more precise circuitry and the data to rely on, Adriana realised that there were a lot more racers out there who has a lot more expertise and experience than she has so far.

“I suppose I will have to come up with something,” she explained to Angeline and Angela, who in turn were also brainstorming ideas for their racing friend.

“So… you cannot exactly plug in,” Angela asked for confirmation, fidgeting around with the instruments on the plane as they embark to their next destination.

“Doesn’t seem so, nope. Or at least I did not exactly get the answers that I need, let alone the ones I want.”

“Any particular ideas in mind?”

“Well, I still have my on-board instruments, I suppose I can simply go with using their data. I mean, the other drivers more or less have the same thing, right? It would be unfair, anyway.”

“I mean, no offense, but you already being in the race is already an unfair advantage!” Angeline lightheartedly commented, not meaning any harm to her friend, “You are an android that can calculate at lightning speeds!”

“Well, ain’t that the truth!”

“So, have you interacted with anyone else lately?” Angela asked, “I mean… maybe apart from those robotic-looking people that seems to blink a lot.”

“Oh hmm, not really. I have more or less been isolated, unfortunately. I really should get to know more people, ain’t it?”

“What about those blinking people, again?” Angeline asked curiously, not knowing much about them still.

“Oh yes, they call themselves The 189, I believe,” Adriana explained, “So they communicate by lights, like with hues and all of that. I unfortunately did not understand their language still, and it seems rather complex to me, if I will ever get into reading more about their language, or get a phrasebook of some sorts. Anyway, they do seem to know a bit of Earth-language, particularly Morse code. I communicated in Morse with one of them and it went rather swimmingly.”

“So what did you guys talk about?”

“Ahh, the usual stuff, I guess. I asked them how they are coping with the people around, on top of their culture, and stuff like that. Very welcoming people, I must say.”

“All right, the runway looks clear,” Angela announced, “Ladies, welcome to Crossbay Circuit!”

Why must almost every track has some intersection, Adriana thought to herself. Back in Dashoze Circuit, Turn 8 and Turn 21 happened, and it was extremely difficult and dangerous to navigate through them. As far as Adriana was concerned, there were little to no nasty crashes happening there thanks to all the pit crews giving each other heads-ups.

“Here I go again,” she thought to herself, not having a lot of confidence if the recent races are anything to go by. Her practice runs were more or less fine – nothing much to brag about, but at the same time, nothing awful either. Still, it was jarring for her that she has not even earned a single point for herself. 16 drivers so far with at least one point, and Adriana hoped that she would at least have a degree of accomplishment here in Crossbay.

“Maybe there is more to this than just the qualifications,” Adriana commented, as she suits up and readies herself for the qualifications on the dry and slightly stuffy weather, "Maybe I am not aiming for a championship, but perhaps I can still make a name for myself."