World Grand Prix Championship 21 [RP/results]

[TJUN-ia]

WGPC 21
Round 5
Grand Prix de Patriotlandia présenté par ASI Industries (Sprint Weekend)
Ridgeline Raceway, Vilnay, Patriotlandia

Sprints are weird. At least in the context of a WGPC weekend, they can be weird. In WGP2, they make sense - development requires as much race time as possible and the use of Sprints helps that championship paint the most accurate picture possible of where everyone is at when it comes to on-track performance potential. The WGPC usually has around two Sprint Weekends per season and in past seasons, those have involved one qualifying session, a Sprint Race (where the Top ?? from quali is reversed for a shorter race) and a Feature Race which goes the normal race distance prescribed. Some feel that adding these Sprints devalues the actual Sunday showing, while others don't mind them in moderation and leave them at that.

This season, however, the opening Sprint weekend of the season in Patriotlandia would throw up a new interpretation of the Sprint weekend that would mean Batu Tüvshinbayar had to seriously focus one day early. The Sprint grid would be determined by Championship Position, with the Top 10 reversed and the bottom 8 fighting it out in Pre-Qualifying for the two final spots in the Sprint Race later that day. This Pre-Qualifying wouldn't affect Qualifying for the Feature itself, which was separate and would go down tomorrow, but making it in would give the Top 2 an opportunity to try and score points or, at the very least, gain precious lap time before Qualifying tomorrow. Batu knew that in terms of Sunday, this Pre-Qualifying meant zilch...but when you are on 0 points with over half the season left to go, you are desperate for any opportunity to shine and after the tentative start he managed in Eelandii, he did not want to miss this chance.

So entering Pre-Qualifying, Batu would have a set amount of time to try and beat his teammates and four other driver just to start this extra race that only scores points for the Top 8. Ridgeline Raceway is a place well known for its technicality, a place where you certainly had to be careful not to screw up or else you were a goner...and in this instance, Batu wasn't even close. His best lap, a 1:29.790, was 2 seconds down on Sam Blaatschapen and Giancarlo Rahel, the two who did make it through. There was terrible and then there was that...just asinine.

After he climbed out of the car, he could feel the tears coming and moved to a more secluded area to let some of it out. He could feel his brain telling him to stop crying, telling him that shedding tears was weak and unbefitting of a man like him, but that was something his parents told him. He learned long ago that not everything his parent told him through homeschooling and that controlling the environment was right. He was told, back then, that men do not cry - because that was weak and weakness could not be shown at any time. But that was wrong. Boys can, and do, cry. And that was OK. It was OK to not be OK, it was OK to just let it all out and ask for help. Lam Chow-Cheung cries, but that doesn't make them less of a human being. Same for Tshering Gyeltshen, same for Alfonso Mercado, same for Michael Stefan, same for Lane Carter. Crying is not a weakness...it's human. Human in the realist sense.

He managed to calm himself down to watch the Sprint itself, which was won by Ryker Lane from 8th. Adonis Fitzpatrick certainly had a better day, coming home in P4, but Batu was going to hold off right now from overcommunicating to avoid causing a distraction. He did send a simple "Good Job" over to the Fleftic driver and he did congratulate Rahel on his P20, which was certainly impressive, and the mission for Batu now is simple: never miss another race again. Even if you have to risk everything, just go out there and be your best. Because Batu didn't want to have this comeback come to nil point. And that was the truth.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

A Trail in the Woods above Vilnay, Abelanne, Patriotlandia
Sprint de Patriotlandia; Post-Race

After briefing and commiserations from the team, themselves after the interviews, themselves after the long walk back to the paddock, itself after she lost control of her car trying to wring pace out of it that would not come… Olivia asks Baxen to cover for her and sets her sights on the woods that rise above the circuit.

She has always been drawn to places like this: to the Shimmerstream, to the rolling hills above the River Zett, to the pines around Viska’s Livonsk test track. Feeling the slight give of the ground beneath her feet, the chirruping of new hatchlings insistent on food, the chill of the wind about her skin… It is catharsis and clarity. When that wind rounds to her back and presses her on, it is focus and impetus and joy.

Today it blusters. After fifteen minutes of burning muscles and a head that is empty but still somehow feels cluttered, Olivia reluctantly lets herself falter and fall into a crouch. Her breath comes hard, and she leans her head back and she screws her eyes shut against the dappled, darkening light above.

Then she opens them again, and sees what she’s looking at, and feels herself shot through with resolve again. Standing, shaking herself into readiness, she crouches – and springs.

The oaken branch she grasps is rough beneath her fingers – but solid. With a burst of Imagination, she pulls herself up, coming to another crouch, then standing, one hand against the tree for support. Glancing up, planning, she leaps again – another branch, thick with leaves, a touch less solid than the first but still more than enough to support her. A pause, to look, to assess, even as she feels the branch beneath her begin to bend… And then she reaches for knots in the trunk itself, hauling herself up alongside it, higher and higher.

She comes to rest at a third branch, new but strong and reaching high into the canopy. There Olivia seats herself, feeling a small thrum of accomplishment run through her, and looks out.

The circuit, nestled below, looks back.

Olivia Stone sighs, letting herself lean against the trunk, her gaze drifting skyward and to the leaves stretching above her.

‘Master of Offence’, Baxen dubbed her in their quad biking days. On her day, she could prise her way through any field, on any track, from any position, to win. In that heady time, such days were common – in the latter days of her quad biking, they were ubiquitous.

In WGP2, she had more than enough of them to be going on with. Coming so close, so close, to the title – that was painful, but the pain had been dulled in that moment by the knowledge that Baxen would be staying with her, not leaving as she had so feared.

In WGPC, her victory at Crossbay for Viska – immediately before the Dullness struck her – was the happiest day of her life. She knew it then in Spark and knows it now in mind. Finally dispelling the ghost of her losses there was euphoric, and in that moment she bathed in the feeling like the overwhelming comfort of almost-scalding water.

Now?

The bluster rustles the oaken leaves around her.

Am I only okay with myself when I’m winning?

It isn’t true. The challenge of it drives her, the feeling of the unity of herself and machine under her command thrills her, the joining of opposing forces – the rumbling fury of the engine, the guided rushing of the wind, the careful control of the team and the visceral direction of her mind and body – fulfils her… But whether there is truth in it is another question.

Am I okay with…

The opportunity is there; she was not impotent last season, she realised that long ago, but that was a flicker to the flame that burns now. She and Baxen fed it and made it as such.

And she has flared it, as she always has, but given it little fuel in turn.

Am I…

It glimmers still.

Still.

---

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5. Twilight

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7. Flash

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[Tropicorp]

. Drivers Standings:  2 pts  (20th)
       Average Qual:  13.2   (18th)
     Average Finish:  15.8   (19th)
Positions Over Grid:  -3.0   (23rd)

Over the first three race weekends of the World Grand Prix Championship 21 Season, Qualifying poorly had been a fairly consistent expectation for Cocoabo #23. 17th in Aboveland. 18th in Doubeia. 16th in the Nexus Wardship. The consistency was startling. Then came Qualifying for the Grand Prix of Turori. After the first round of Qualifying, Cocoabo #23 would be placed 4th on the scoreboard. With the Top 10 drivers advancing to the second World Grand Prix Championship qualifying session, Cocoabo #23 was already guaranteed to have a starting position well in advance of that with which they were used to. Things would get even better for the #23 team in the second round of Qualifying where fast Cocoabo would miss pole position by just 0.003s. With the lap, Cocoabo #23 would earn the third starting position on the grid, with a Front Row consisting entirely of Tropicorp Factory backed teams Pressley Racing and Race Eelandii VTGP. It was a stronger starting lineup even more as Tropicorp Racing Supply partners Ælund Grand Prix would take the third position giving a massive boost to the Tropicorp cadre in Eelandii.

On race day it was the Pole winner Dario Nülkeschlager running away with things for Tropicorp Engineering and Tropicorp Racing Supply while Cocoabo #23 would drop back to the 9th position after a handful of issues throughout the day. Despite the free-fall in race conditions, Fast Cocoabo still managed to score their first points of the season much to the excitement of the scores of Cocoabo fans who came to the Eelandii Grand Prix Course to snow their loyalty and support of the Cocoabo driving at the top level of World Grand Prix Championship competition.

There has been some recent discussion as to whether Cocoabo #23 is still the undisputed 'Top Cocoabo" driver in the multiverse. After winning a World Grand Prix Championship event last season and nearly taking the WGPC 20 Drivers Championship, Cocoabo #23's struggles so far this season have been highlighted in Stark Contrast to the success of Team Tropicorp's NSSCRA Rookie Driver Cocoabo #37. Having narrowly advanced on points to compete in the NSSCRA Round of 16 playoffs, The Cocoabo driver would go on to win their first ever NSSCRA Multiversal Cup Series event at nearly the perfect time, earning a free ticket to bypass the team and compete as one of the 12 drivers advancing through after the next event.

Of Course, there is still time for Cocoabo #23 to redeem themselves and continue their legacy as the top Cocoabo driver in the multiverse. The World Grand Prix Championship season has not quite hit the halfway mark, with the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia still to go before officially reaching the mid-season break. Things in Patriotlandia would get kicked off with the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia présenté par ASI Industries – Sprint and the Cocoabo would start 19th by virtue of their points position. The team seemed to have something special in the setup that helped Cocoabo #23 cut through the traffic in the back of the pack but things would get slower and slower as Fast Coocabo approached the Top 10. While a 10th place finish was not enough to earn any points from the Patriotlandia Sprint, it did help undo some of the damage that had been done earlier in the season to Cocoabo #23's Positions over Grid record, which now sits comfortably as the 23rd best record among all drivers this season, an appropriate yet undesirable position for the Cocoabo driver to be in.

---

. Drivers Standings:  0 pts  (NC)
       Average Qual:  19.3   (26th)
     Average Finish:  20.3   (26th)
Positions Over Grid:  -1.0   (20th)

For Skiia Vialiv and the HMG Grand Prix team, the question isn't just where is the speed, but why do others have it and they do not. The Tropicorp Summit in Tropicoast ahead of the Grand Prix of Turori was supposed to help fix that. It certainly did seem to help Pressley Racing who picked up their first ever Race Victory as a team at the Grand Prix of Turori, and it certainly seemed to help Race Eelandii VTGP who put both of their cars in the points for the first time all season.

Yet there was HMG Grand Prix. One car failing to qualify. Another barely qualifying in the 23rd position. For Skiia Vialiv's teammate Adonis Fitzpatrick, it has been a Roller Coaster of a season. 7th in the opener, then 20th. A podium finish after starting 2nd at the Crossbay Circuit then a DNQ.

There were limited expectations for Skiia Vialiv heading into the Patriotlandia Sprint. It was a lose-lose situation. Either post the fastest lap in qualifying and get to start at the back of the Sprint Race lineup, potentially putting themselves at risk of damaging their car at the start of a long race weekend just for the opportunity to try to gain 18+ positions over 25 laps to gain a single Championship point. During the team strategy sessions leading up to the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia, the strategists and the financial department both recommended the idea of not especially trying to get Vialiv a spot in the Sprint race. There just didn't seem to be enough a gain to justify the risk. So when it came time to set a lap, Vialiv didn't lay down a particularly good one and failed to make the Top 2 spots with a whopping 2 second gap between the faster teams and the time that Vialiv put down.

While the second DNQ result on the season for Vialiv did not look good on paper, functionally there was little difference between Qualifying for the Sprint Race and fighting hard all race long just to finish without any points and simply not starting it in the first place and catching up on sleep. Thats exactly what Vialiv did, completely oblivious to the race going on outside her window. The Roller Coaster ride for her teammate Adonis Fitzpatrick would continue once more, with Fitzpatrick holding on to the 4th position which was exactly where they had started the shortened event, earning 5 points for driver and team. One could only hope that the additional rest Vialiv got on Friday would help propel Vialiv into a decent qualifying position for the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia and perhaps even the opportunity to score their first points of the season before the Mid-Season Break comes and the team have extra time to consider whether it makes sense to break up last seasons Constructors Title winning Drivers duo due to the lack of results the two had achieved this season.

---

Comprehensive @OGP presented by Tropicorp Engineering, Comprehensive Test Facility - Tropicorp (Layout A), Tropicoast, Tropicorp :: Following the combination event at the Eelandii Grand Prix Course, the teams and drivers of the twii.tur Support Series made the short trip across to Tropicoast for a Tropicorper double-header. The first event would be the first ever official Grand Prix event at the Comprehensive Test Facility - Tropicorp, a remnant of Tropicorp Racing Ælund's influence in Tropicorp. That event, which does not conflict with any WGPC scheduling was expected to include drivers such as Batu Tüvshinbayar who after starting their season in the twii.tur Support Series have since gotten the opportunity to move forward with their World Grand Prix Championship career by virtue of a seat with the WGPC Motorworks Team. After the event at the Comprehensive Test Facility, the teams would shift their focus to the more picturesque and fan-friendly Tropicoast Beach Grand Prix course which made its debut during WGP2 Season 6 - and even which would directly conflict with the WGPC 21 Grand Prix de Patriotlandia from a logistics stand point.

After taking a race victory in Turori, Lane Carter would qualifying on pole position for the Comprehensive @OGP presented by Tropicorp Engineering. Tropicorp Orangeworks drivers Igne Spupuo and Indori Vulcanasaur would qualify 7th and 14th respectively, taking limited benefit from the proximity of the races to the teams operating base in Tropicoast. In the race, it appeared that Igne Spupuo would pick up yet another podium finish but the "Lizard King" was pushing too hard in the final laps trying to move up and take the race victory, and instead found their way off into the tyre barriers and out of the race. While there was little consolation to take from going from a podium finish to nothing just like that, Spupuo's mishap did allow teammate Indori Vulcanasaur to improve their finishing position by one spot up into the 4th position, their best result of the season thus far.

Now teams will turn their focus onto the Tropicorp Beach Course, a multi-material racing circuit with a long asphalt straight leading to a high banked curve, then heavy compacted sand for the esses and back straightaway. Weather conditions are supposed to be bearable for the event but anything can happen along the Coast on race day.

---

SKIIA VIALIV ✓

@Skiia

We took the approach of forgoing our preparation for the Sprint Race to focus instead all of our attention on the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia feature event. There wasn't a lot to gain for us in the Sprint Race and I think focusing on where we can improve and focus on finally trying to earn some points for HMG Grand Prix is our best option. Fingers crossed for Saturday!

#WGPC21 :: #Patriotlandia :: #ForzaHMG

INDORI VOLCANASAUR ✓

@IndoriV

Starting to get settled in with this @Orangeworks team. The Comprehensive Test Facility was a fun drive but everyone has their eye on the big course... and the big curve to see how we can manage that in these new style @OGP chassis. If we can finish the race, I think we'll do well and hopefully we can get the team back into championship contention before heading out to that crazy Ice track.


#SupportSeries :: #WGPC21 :: #WGPC

[Recuecn]

Vincent’s private jet brought him back to Reçueçn before the sprint race in Patriotlandia. The multimillionaire was too engrossed in his own thoughts to notice the 747 taxiing down the other runway that bore the Pridnestrovian flag on its tail. Perhaps Valérie, from whom nothing escaped, noticed the coincidence. But Vincent was on his way to see his family, the one activity that drained his seemingly inexhaustible energy.

Vincent’s social battery never ran out. Valérie knew this; it was evident in the way he flirted with the cute douanier who stamped his passport at immigration control, and in the way he struck up a conversation with the driver who was waiting to take them from the city up to the family chalet in the mountains. Vincent had the inexorable drive of a CEO and entrepreneur. No challenge or obstacle, whether financial setback or social burden, could set him back.

Vincent was a man who liked to be in control, and typically that meant being in control of his own emotions, too; he’d chosen to set his mood to “eternally energetic”. That said, whenever he felt himself losing control of his situation, he was liable to lose control of his emotions as well, and that was when he lashed out, throwing explosive fits and tantrums. Being with his family was one of those situations where he felt helpless.

As the limo wound up the winding mountain roads toward the chalet, Valérie watched him fidget nervously, with a pretty good idea of what was going through his head. Vincent projected a strong outer persona, but Valérie was the only person who knew him well enough to be aware that underneath that shell, he was emotionally vulnerable if you knew what buttons to press. And every time Vincent went to visit his family, they pressed those buttons like a child running its hands down an elevator control panel.

Yet Vincent couldn’t escape his family obligations. His family still wielded too much power over him. It was the one situation where he was helpless, and he hated it.

He decided to grapple it head-on, the way he attacked all his problems. The moment the limo pulled to a stop in the driveway, he was out of the car and through the front door of the chalet. Valérie and the chauffeur followed behind as quickly as they could, fumbling with his bags.

Vincent’s parents, his sister, her husband, two aunts, an uncle, and a couple of cousins were all gathered around, hanging out in the kitchen or one of the spacious chalet’s living rooms. They all looked up with expectant glances as Vincent walked in.

“An impromptu family reunion, then?” he quipped. “I saw all the cars out front.”

His brother-in-law was the only one to offer an actual greeting. “Hi Vincent!” Somehow his brother-in-law, the only friendly person in the whole family, was the one Vincent hated most. Perhaps he envied his stupidity. Vincent couldn’t imagine being so blissfully unaware of the nigh-lethal tension in the room, the way his dumb brother-in-law clearly was.

Jason (which was the name of the stupid brother-in-law), saw Valérie and the chauffeur struggling in the doorway with Vincent’s luggage, and stepped forward to help them.

“Here, let me get that for you,” he said. The chauffeur smiled gratefully. Valérie gave a single nod.

Vincent stepped out of the way as Jason went past. He was happy to ignore him, the way the rest of the family did. The uncles and aunts were all looking at Vincent as if they were sizing him up. His mother was the first to break the silence.

“Vincent, some officials from the ministère des douanes were here last week. Do you care to explain what that was all about, or why it took you a week to come home after I called you and told you it was an emergency?”

“Okay, first of all, ‘bonjour mon fils aimé, it’s good to see you, welcome home’ would be a nice place to start,” retorted vincent. “I haven’t even taken my shoes off yet.”

“Show your mother some respect,” said Vincent’s uncle.

Vincent ignored him. “Second, it’s hardly an ‘emergency’. The ministry moves like a glacier—inevitable, maybe, but slow. You don’t need to rush me, especially when you know exactly what I’ve been doing for the past week. I have races to be at.”

“Some things are more important than your hobby,” said Vincent’s sister.

Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why are you here anyway? Is this any of your business?” He turned back to his mother. “In answer to your first question, I have no idea what any of it is about. A ministry agent told me there was some kind of international investigation, and I guess thought maybe I could help since I’ve been abroad so much lately, but I don’t even really know the focus of their investigation.”

“So either you’re lying, or your absence has kept you woefully uninformed,” said Manon, one of Vincent’s cousins. “The douanier last week said you’re the center of the investigation. That’s why the whole family is here.”

Vincent was shocked. He genuinely hadn’t known, although of course he’d suspected, and hoped, if it were true, to keep it secret from his family. Now it was true, and his family had been the first to know, apparently.

“So which is it?” asked his sister. “Are you a liar?”

Her husband Jason came back downstairs after helping carry Vincent’s luggage up to his room. Even he could sense the atmosphere in the room. He tried to ease the tension.

“Can I offer anyone a glass of wine?” he asked. “I just got a bottle of orange wine—isn’t that crazy!? Have you ever heard of orange wine? It’s good though, who wants to try some?”

“Shut up,” said Vincent, “You tried your orange wine thing last year.” He didn’t break eye contact with his sister while addressing Jason. But he realized he might need to back down from this particular confrontation. He bent down, took off his shoes, and sat down in the living room with his sister, his aunts and uncles. “I’m not lying,” he said, “I guess I am uninformed. Tell me everything the douanier said.”

Vincent listened as his sister started to explain, and then his mother stepped into the room to fill in the details. Sure enough, it seemed that the ministry was investigating how so much Reçuecian currency had suddenly wound up abroad without any transactions being reported, and they were stating quite openly that they believed Vincent was at the center of it all. Vincent was surprised they’d gone to his family first if they weren’t going to keep their suspicions secret, but maybe they had expected Vincent’s family to turn him in as a scapegoat? Then again, his family probably would have done exactly that, had Vincent given them any evidence to hand over.

Vincent considered the situation, and his response. He was sure he could pull the wool over the ministry’s eyes, but he was more worried about his family.

“I don’t think I’ve done anything illegal,” he lied. “For once, I think this is just a big misunderstanding. I have been spending a lot of time abroad, and spending money while outside Reçueçn, so I see why they would suspect me. But honestly, I haven’t done anything illicit.” He saw the raised eyebrows around the room. He hadn’t convinced anyone, but that was fine, as long as his family didn’t have a confession of his to hand in to the ministry. In fact, the distrust might be able to help him finally get the freedom he’d been wanting for a few years now.

“I know you’re all suspicious of me. That’s fine. I know none of you “get” the whole racing thing I’m doing, and you all distrust it. Whatever. That’s not going to dissuade me—I have something to prove, and the WGPC is the place to do it.”

“That said,” he continued, “I know most of you disapprove. So if you want, I can sever the connections between Visp Financier and Capital Saône, go off and do my own thing with my own funding.” Visp Financier was Vincent’s banking group, of which he was CEO. But it was a subsidiary of Capital Saône, the family business, which was jointly owned.

There was an immediate outcry.

“Non!”

“Definitely not!”

“You must be crazy!”

Clearly, Vincent’s family was not ready to give up their control over him, even if it meant being able to wash their hands of his problems. They subscribed to the belief that they should keep their enemies close.

Vincent threw up his hands. “Well I don’t know what you want from me, then.”

“Don’t worry, mon fils,” said his mother. “We’ll help you figure out this ministry thing together.”

[Nico Hulkenberg]

Nepö

The sprint came to a close with Nepö having dropped nine positions from her starting spot of sixth, all while her teammate held onto P2 and made a large dent into her lead over him in the championship standings. It wasn’t as if UrGa were going to be challenging for the title any time soon, but there were bragging rights at stake. Egos. You know, all the important stuff. The two hadn’t spoken much in Turori, having been far too busy with setups and strategies to say more than a few words to one another, but the Reçueçian seemed to have suddenly rediscovered the pace he had lost upon the disassembly and inspection of his car a few races prior. Perhaps he had managed to get come confidence back, or perhaps the bastard had decided to cheat again after the torrid first date. In her gut, Nepö knew which one felt more likely. Yakov Leonidovich Yurievsky, the team’s overly-involved “financial advisor” who had never really seen eye-to-eye with the Hülkenberger, was quick to engage in an impromptu sprint debrief.

”Nepö, where the fuck were you?” quipped Yakov, rather snidely.

”You know fine well where I was!” clapped back Nepö, her face visibly getting redder at the comment. ”So what, the pace wasn’t there, it happens. It’s a shame not to maximise the team’s result, but don’t you dare suggest I was M.I.A.”

”You say that the pace wasn’t there, but Vincent is on the podium. Why aren’t you?”

“Perhaps that’s a question you already know the answer to.”

“Hmph. I’ve seen you two, you know. Mingling. I don’t like it, particularly if its getting into your head.”

“What I do outside of this paddock has absolutely nothing to do with you. And unless you can read my mind, you have no idea what’s in my head.”

“Well, let me put something in there. Grow up, act like a big girl, and focus on the racing. This is Urutovsky-Gatutin, not a reality TV show.”

Nepö didn’t give Yakov the courtesy of dignifying his response, merely glaring at the “financial advisor”. Perhaps he ought to stick to the “finances”.

Dario

”I have to say, when the news about Charlie came through… it took a lot to stay composed. I’m very grateful to Charlie, especially considering the way he greenlit my status in the team as a reserve, as well as my eventual promotion to a full-time driver. Nevertheless, he would absolutely want us to continue racing this weekend - it’s his surname on the cars, and we’re gonna wear these armbands to remember Charlie, and hopefully we’ll bring home some more points in his memory.”

[Liventia]

CUTOFF

for Qualifying at Ridgeline Raceway

[Liventia]

Week 9: Qualifying

Conditions:      	Dry
Lap Record:      	00:01:25.210
Qualifying Type:	Traditional
Nation:         	PTR
Circuit:        	Ridgeline Raceway

POS # ▍DRIVER                                               	FASTEST LAP	GAP TO LEADER
 1 55 ▍Gil Langdon                                          	00:01:26.958	00:00:00.000
 2 21 ▍Nik Hazrin Lutfi                                     	00:01:27.015	00:00:00.057
 3 13 ▍Pierre-Louis Archer                                  	00:01:27.085	00:00:00.126
 4  1 ▍Brendan Faloe                                        	00:01:27.108	00:00:00.150
 5 88 ▍Ted Pressley                                         	00:01:27.157	00:00:00.199
 6 14 ▍Skiia Vialiv                                         	00:01:27.157	00:00:00.199
 7 22 ▍Nini Johnsilvaturr                                   	00:01:27.407	00:00:00.448
 8 51 ▍R.L. Cruisin                                         	00:01:27.456	00:00:00.498
 9 17 ▍Janne Laukkanen                                      	00:01:27.519	00:00:00.560
10  9 ▍Batu Tüvshinbayar                                    	00:01:27.573	00:00:00.615
11 94 ▍Ryker Lane                                           	00:01:27.590	00:00:00.631
12 89 ▍Abdoulaye Goita                                      	00:01:27.592	00:00:00.634
13 12 ▍Ron Sommer                                           	00:01:27.677	00:00:00.719
14 85 ▍Olivia Stone                                         	00:01:27.748	00:00:00.790
15 84 ▍Angela Stella Tan Fang Ling                          	00:01:27.884	00:00:00.925
16 23 ▍Cocoabo #23                                          	00:01:27.888	00:00:00.930
17 77 ▍iBen Toralmintii                                     	00:01:27.934	00:00:00.976
18 27 ▍Dario Nülkeschlager                                  	00:01:28.001	00:00:01.043
19 96 ▍William Archer                                       	00:01:28.080	00:00:01.122
20 66 ▍Vincent Von Visp                                     	00:01:28.202	00:00:01.243
21 82 ▍Kinu Luminna                                         	00:01:28.383	00:00:01.425
22 91 ▍Naveen Kalkar                                        	00:01:29.200	00:00:02.242  DNQ
23 37 ▍Laura Haukanna                                       	00:01:29.423	00:00:02.465
24 58 ▍Shuhei Kamado                                        	00:01:29.535	00:00:02.577
25 63 ▍Nepö Kinder                                          	00:01:29.838	00:00:02.879
26 95 ▍Hanna Berezowska                                     	00:01:29.917	00:00:02.959
27 33 ▍Sam Blaatschapen                                     	00:01:30.437	00:00:03.478
28 74 ▍Adonis Fitzpatrick                                   	00:01:30.602	00:00:03.644  DNQ
29 18 ▍Giancarlo Rahel                                      	00:01:30.630	00:00:03.672  DNQ
30 40 ▍Adriana Ela Kowalski Lillian                         	00:01:30.669	00:00:03.711  DNQ
31  7 ▍Anneliese Devereux                                   	00:01:33.682	00:00:06.724  DNQ
32 10 ▍Ankei Souzare                                        	00:01:46.921	00:00:19.963  DNQ

[Patriotlandia]

Pierre-Louis had struggled recently in qualifying and yesterday's sprint qualifying, even for his home race, went no better. Failing to qualifying for the sprint event did not impress the sponsors. The rest of the day was filled with briefings and PR damage control. Media interviews and sponsor visits didn't leave much time for Pierre-Louis and his team to work on the car and get ready for, in the view of the purists, the real qualifying. All drivers on the team agreed the car need more front end in the Slaloms but this is all the platform had. Ultimately they decided to stiffen the rear suspension and get it turned that way. This could mean the car is more pointy but it will also be more unstable on the edge.

*The next day*
"One more lap, push, push, push", the voice on the radio said.

Pierre-Louis stayed silent, totally focused on extracting as much pace as possible out of the WGPC Motorworks car. He clanked down the gears into Gamble setting up turn 1 on his last chance to salvage the weekend. He has driven in these hills for nearly a decade but the WGP car was significantly faster than his previous outings. In this car, turn 2 was an easy flat taking as much curb as possible to setup a wide entry into turn 3. Now alongside the caravan lined fences of turn 4 he could finally let the Franklin engine roar as he made his way up the hill. From the low seated position, the tires obscure the track at Vista. Drivers have to turn in and hope they are still over tarmac when they see the ground again. The right-left-right-left of the Slaloms are a rhythm sections but the car felt a lot more planted today. As he exited turn 9 he had a quick peek at the steering wheel screen. The delta is green! Couple more corners to go. First, the Needle, a tight hairpin that sets up the back straight. A short section of DRS and the fast bus stop chicane brings Pierre-Louis to the last corner. The finish line is now in sight.

A big sigh of relief as he crossed the line is followed by the engine revving down, then the call on the radio.
"That's checkers, P3"
"Let's go boys!!!", exclaimed Archer.
"Great job, pick up rubber and bring it back home. Remember to stop by the podium, the team will meet you there." Responded calmly his race engineer.

Pierre-Louis stopped the car in the celebration section beside a Kismo and Race Eelandii car. He leaped out of the car to join his pit crew in celebrations before joining the announcer for a trackside interview.
"Less than a day after missing out on the sprint event, you go out and snag third. How does it feel to do this at home?"
"Can't really describe the feeling." Pierre-Louis said still out of breath. "We have put a lot of work in these cars but just haven't found the recipe for qualifying. I'm just happy for the crew, and the fans, to give them a result like that."
"You are starting right behind the pole sitter tomorrow, any ace up your sleeves at your home track?"
"I wish, turn 1 is called gamble for a reason. The inside line keeps you on the outside for the next three corners if you can't make the pass stick."
"Thanks Pierre-Louis, enjoy the celebration".

[Diarcesia]

Qualifying Day

That Laura managed to eke out some points for PB in the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia sprint race was a godsend. The team's operations appeared to be disorganized and jittery throughout the grand prix qualifying session. That was surprising, given that this event's format is the friendliest for the teams. Both drivers tried and failed to produce a competitive time to determine their starting grid. Perhaps the frustrations were starting to eat into the staff's morale. That Sam barely escaped disqualification also bore to Aldauren's mind. Questions about her continued participation in WGPC would be inevitable. He told himself that he aims to run a top-tier team with the most dedicated and deserving among its ranks. He grew fond of Miss Blaatschapen's journey to be a WGPC driver, such that he was sure letting go of her would be emotionally fraught.

Race Day

As the sun rose amidst the nice weather in Patriotlandia, Laura, Sam, and Aldauren found themselves outside the PB office in the paddock, wearing their tracksuits. All three exchanged pleasantries.

"How about we jog together?" Aldauren offered. Both drivers agreed. It was a quiet affair. No one brought up what occurred in qualifying and paid attention rather to their jogging route. This was therapeutic for the team principal, and hoped the same rang true for the others. The last thing he wanted to accomplish was distract them from pouring their all in today's race.

While Sam was quiet, she showed no indication of frustration at the moment, nor did she brought up the topic of her performance in the team so far. She new clearly well where she stood in that realm; she privately feared that WGPC 21 could be her last if this keeps up. Instead of pushing it or denying this thought, she acknowledged it.

Yes, I won't deceive myself, I am at risk here. And that's why I need to release my internal tensions and remove all distractions. I am here because I showed I'm one of the best. And I did that because I harnessed my passion to enter the sweet zone. I like to repeat this and find opportunities even in a tight situation.

[Tumbra]

Events follow immediately from this RP.

Patriotlandia
Saturday

“That’s impossible. How much is the stake?”

“Forty percent,” replied team principal Jack Brook, who was now sitting upright in his chair, his interest piqued by the sudden question of the inheritance of Pressley Racing. “Ted, I—I cannot emphasise enough how important it is that you don’t act hastily —”

“I don’t want it. Give it to Mom.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Pressley, I’m here just to inform you of the assets you’ll be inheriting post-inheritance tax. Tumbran law dictates that the decisions made in a will are legally binding,” replied the lawyer, Peter Fletcher, adjusting his glasses somewhat.

“And I’m sorry, Mr. Fletcher, but I can’t be…getting ownership of 40% of a WGPC team right now. D’you follow the news? D’you know which team I drive for? It’s definitely not the one bearing my father’s surname, that’s for —”

“Mr. Pressley, I can assure you, I do, and I tried my very best to advise Mr. Charlie on it, as much as I was legally allowed to. I advised him to place it in a blind trust, but he insisted on direct control being passed to you immediately. As of now, as of the moment of his death, even, you are the owner of 40% of Pressley Racing. I'm just here to advise you of the requisite duties and paths forward, and get your acknowledgement."

"Fine. Fine. He's fucked me over again from beyond the grave, has he, he's —"

"Ted," Jack said quietly. "We can discuss this in a while. I think Mr. Fletcher still has more to tell you. I don't think any of us want to keep each other here for longer than we want."

Still fuming, Ted sat back in his chair and listened to what else his father had left him. All in all, it was quite a bit, even after the inheritance tax. Reluctantly, he signed the legal document that meant he'd acknowledged the contents of the will; and after muttering an apology to Mr. Fletcher — one he took with good grace ("It's nothing I haven't seen before — good luck, Mr. Pressley, for qualifying") — he left, leaving his namecard with Ted in particular.

Which meant it was just Jack and him.

"Alright. What...what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Jack?" Ted enquired as Jack sat back behind the desk. Jack began speaking in a lower tone of voice, and at a pace that Ted had never heard him speak at before.

"Ted, whatever you do, I need you to hold on to this 40%. I know your feelings on the matter. I know the optics are terrible for both of us, especially if the news goes public at this point — right? A championship contender taking ownership of another team, even if it's partial. I can help you set up a shell company, holding company, come up with a legal personality, whatever — I just need you to hold onto this."

"What's with the urgency? Jack, is everything alright?"

"Would you believe me if I said that the entire future of our team is at stake? I know there's no love lost within this team and you — though with Charlie gone, I really, really hope we can come to something —"

"Jack, I love everyone here. You all have seen me since I was in nappies, in karts, in Tumbran Super Formula. It's just I can't race for a team bearing my surname right now. Maybe in the future, if something opens up and I decide it's right, then sure. But you've got two great drivers, and — the entire future of the team?"

Jack nodded gravely. "Let me tell you a little story..."

---

"Were we that starved for money?"

"I think Charlie just thought that if we were able to get one giant source of funding, rather than having to negotiate with twenty, we'd have an easier time. I voted against it at the time — I know what Kim is like, and I thought it was a Faustian bargain, and I'm standing with it. And we all know how that turned out. Initially Charlie and I thought we'd be able to keep Kim away — then the stroke happened in the off-season..."

"Mm."

Jack crept in even closer to Ted, motioning for him to come closer. "I'm not sure if this room is bugged," he whispered.

"You're being paranoid, surely."

"We've been arranging a coup. He'll be voted off the board at the annual shareholders' meeting, and then we'll use a clause in the contract he signed with Pressley to re-buy his stake. We've got buyers already, from Xinhua and Kotzellach; we've got enough to pay him to fuck off."

"Does he not already know?"

"Thomas Kim is many things, but a careful reader of legal documents he is not."

Jack leant back into his seat, which Ted took as a sign that the whispering was over. "Okay. Okay. What do you need me to do?"

"Hold strong. This will be harder than it seems, Ted, I — I don't know how to put it, but he's going to try and demoralise you to try and get you to sell to him. I don't know if you've heard, but back at base he's begun to start demanding the most inane shit from everyone with threats of dismissal. I don't know what his endgame with the Pressley name is, but I don't think it has to do with racing. We just need you to hold on for a few months, Ted."

"And after that, I can —"

"Well, speaking for myself, I'd rather the shares remain on-shore. Of course, you're free to dispose of them as you see fit, but...I don't know. Maybe it's sentimentality on my part, but..." Jack's voice trailed off.

"Jack, you realise I'm trying to help Ælund win the constructor's championship, right? I could use without the added stress."

"I know, Ted. You don't have to do anything. I know your relationship with Charlie went downhill in the last few years of his life, but..."

"The rest of you?"

Jack nodded. "If not for him, then...us? Sophie? Sonia, Norman, and all of them."

"Sure. I'll...make some calls."

"You tell me what ideas you've got."

---

Sophie and Ted sat at a table in the Pressley motorhome. Ted was quiet as he sipped on a second coffee; the tea sandwiches that Sophie had brought for him were tuna, his favourite.

"Is the coffee good enough for you, my boss?"

"Fuck off," he smiled as he ate a sandwich. "Oh, you always make it less bad."

"Take it easy, hm? Especially this week," she said, pensively. Ted had, of course, told her everything. "I'll be your point woman on the inside. Tell you everything you need to know."

"I don't know how much I want to know, Phie. This feels like a hell of a responsibility to take on. I don't need more information than I have to. And you already have a job, Phie, it's to talk to Nini and be there for her. She should be your #1 priority. As should the team."

'That's why I said need, Ted," she chuckled. "Will you be at the funeral? Mavis was..."

"Yeah. Yeah, I will be," replied Ted. "I think it'd be a bit too far if I didn't go." He scarfed down the last of his sandwich.

"So what's the plan, Buster Brown?" Sophie asked. "You know what you wanna do?"

"Well, I already know who I want as my proxy," Ted smiled. "And heaven knows he hates Thomas Kim too. And, if things go right, it'll be an additional source of funding for the team." He wiped his mouth; the two of them got up.

"Who?"

"Someone I know very well. Someone I know who won't mind getting dragged into this. Tell me, Phie, have you ever heard of the Ashburn family?"

[Katzeburg]

Ridgeline Raceway, Patriotlandia

Gil Langdon was twirling through the slaloms at dazzling speed. A few more turns. A few more moments of focus was all he needed. He could be on for something special.

The pure exhaustion of the last few days, more mental than anything, had been pushed to the side for the moment - just until the end of this lap. A momentary respite in the barrage of chaos and shifting sands the young Katzeburgian had found himself in. Flicking around turn nine, he began his approach towards the Needle, a sharp turn which spells the end of many a racer’s quick times in Patriotlandia. But Gil was refusing to give an inch. He had already given so much these last few days. Back in Katzeburg, he had well and truly hit rock bottom, turning up unannounced at the door of his WGPC national rival Ron Sommer with nothing more than desperation and a box of incredibly damp belongings.

His KISMO seat was the only thing standing between him and the endless void, the vast pit of nothingness which he saw his life collapsing into - and he wasn’t going to give it up without one hell of a fight. He divebombed into the racing-line, a little quicker than many would expect - but something just clicked for Gil on the turn, and as he pulled out of turn 10 at speed, the rookie move which would normally result in disaster and a fiery end to his qualifying session had instead seen him gain just enough time to potentially challenge for the front of the grid. Gil fired down the long patch of road in front of him, willing his car on to push just that little bit more, just that little bit faster. The KISMO had struggled for pace all season long, and even at Ridgeline his teammate Shuhei Kamado had struggled to get the car up to an acceptable pace, languishing on the bottom half of the leaderboard. Was it the pure abandon of who he was just a few weeks ago? Or was it just pure luck?

Ron Sommer didn’t seem to think it was the second one, according to their chat a few days earlier in Waldstein. The young man showed Gil into his small apartment in the city centre and made him a cup of coffee before they sat down in incredibly awkward silence. There was no downplaying of what Gil had done to Ron in the past. On the domestic circuit the two had often been at the top end of the ladder but the gulf in backgrounds couldn’t be more clear, and Gil never made Ron forget it. Even as kids tackling the domestic karting tracks which popped up mostly to make a quick barin from tourists before slowly shifting into courses which god-forbid actual racing could occur on, Gil bullied Ron relentlessly about whatever he could twist his young little mind onto - from the fact the Sommers could barely afford to maintain the vehicle Ron used for racing to the often patchwork overalls Ron would wear to race meets.

But what Gil didn’t see, or choose to understand, was the importance of those overalls to Ron. How his mother would spend several sleepless nights in front of the sewing machine working to ensure her son had something to wear which met regulation. How his father worked himself to the bone across multiple jobs just to ensure Ron could fit working parts on his kart. He never gave it a second thought - to Gil, Ron was just a poor kid who fluked his way into the same room, and that made Gil angry. Ron had rarely given anything back to Gil about it though. Even in the heat of the moment on the domestic track when the two had clashed, the Waldstein racer had refused to pull the first punch. This of course, often worked to only make Gil more mad about it all; as if the poor kid was taking the high road over someone like him. It was this line of thought which lead to Gil finally choosing to break the long-awkward silence in the apartment of Ron Sommer.

“When we were younger and I had a go at you on and off track, why did you never fight back?” Gil asked.

Ron took a moment to examine his counterpart. Surely this wasn’t the reason he had turned up at his door this early in the morning, he thought.

“I… I never saw the need to.” Ron finally replied.

“Why? I probably made your life hell, you never seemed to have any friends during race meets as most of the other racers would jump in and also give you shit.”

“You did.” Ron said tersely. “But my father would always tell me after those incidents that this was the way of the circuit. That I’d have to work twice or three times as hard just to have the same chance at succeeding as someone with a background like you. That the fact you were tackling me in such a manner meant that it was working and I was making progress.”

“Wait... You saw it as motivation?”

“A little. I think it was more proving to myself that I was deserving of a place through hard work. You know what they say - Never Give Up. Never Say Die.”

“What is that?”

Ron’s eyes went wide - he realised he was not in a room with family and close friends.

“It’s… a bit of a family motto for us I guess? A call to action to say we will never pack it in, no matter the odds.”

Gil chuckled and leant back on Ron’s couch. He wished he was able to take some of that to heart himself. “I bet you think someone like me is a quitter then,” he pushed out. “That when things are tough, we just give up and go do something else.”

“Not at all,” Ron said. Gil fired a questioning look of anger towards Ron. That didn’t make sense, not to him.

“Look, you came from a position of privilege, that’s certain,” Ron continued. “But the road to the WGPC is something which doesn’t happen overnight. It’s taken years just to get to the point of even being adjacent, let alone being in a team like we are now! You could have given up at any point, yet you persist. It’s not luck, Gil. The fact you earnt a spot through your driving alone proves it.”

Gil froze. He didn’t know how to respond. His father had always batted that notion down. To him, Gil was only where he was because of Archie Langdon. He could buy the fastest cars, the best engineers, the best agents. But what Gil didn't think about was at the end of the day none of that meant anything if Gil couldn’t actually do it out on track. He had only swallowed the first part.

He leant forward and ran his hands through his now shaggy hair. He hadn’t had a shower, a proper shower, in a couple of days between the travel from Aji No Moto and across Katzeburg to get from Penntop to Waldstein. He needed to push for the big one.

“Look, that’s not why I’m here. As much as it pains me to say it, I actually need your help,” Gil said, immediately regretting the tone he had chosen to take. There was still some nagging voice inside his head telling him to speak down to Ron, as if his fellow WGPC driver was basically his version of the help. Ron nodded in acknowledgement, but in his head he was racking his brain about what in the entire world Gil Langdon could possibly need from him.

“I… need somewhere to stay here in Katzeburg for a little bit. I’ve been kicked out of home by my father and I’ve nowhere else to turn.”

Ron raised his eyebrows in surprise. The great and mighty Gil Langdon, the person who thought he was better than everyone around him had turned to lowly Ron Sommer for help in his time of need. It’s moments like this and the response that you take which make a person, and Ron took a moment to think through his options.

“How long do you need?”

“A couple of weeks, maybe? I just need to find somewhere to live but the travel between nations for racing makes time limited. With the upcoming mid-season break it should be a little easier, but I just need to work through until then.”

“Why aren’t you staying over in Aji No Moto and KISMO for the most part? I’m sure they’ve got facilities and accommodation prepped for you - we have that over in Auruna with Viska.”

“Things… over at KISMO have been a little difficult lately. It’s not the easiest atmosphere to be around.”

“I see.” Ron raised his hand to his chin and stroked it, considering what to do. He held the fate of one of his direct WGPC rivals in his hands, and Gil knew it. If the tables were turned, he’d have no difficulty throwing you out onto the street, Ron thought to himself.

But you’re better than that. And Gil needs a helping hand.

“You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need,” Ron finally said, shattering the tense silence which permeated as he mulled over his options. A big, beaming smile snaked its way over Gil’s face.

“Thank you, I really mean it,” Gil said.

That night was arguably one of the best nights of sleep Gil Langdon has ever had, even if it was on the pull-out couch of a slightly too cold apartment in central Waldstein. And as the pair headed across to Katzestadt International Airport the next day to head over to Patriotlandia for the first sprint race of the season, Gil wondered how this new dynamic between the two may play out on the track. As it turned out, it didn’t seem to make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things, as Ron maintained his positive record over Gil with an 11th place finish in the sprint; Gil would finish in 16th as the slower of the two KISMO cars. The onrushing nature of the race weekend meant that as soon as they got off the plane in Patriotlandia, the two had barely seen each other outside of the starting grid. Gil would need to thank his new roommate later.

But for now, his thoughts turned to qualifying, and as he whipped around the final turn on his final run of the day, he knew that there was too much working against him to reshape the odds this time around. The car wasn’t fast enough, he wasn’t fast enough, he was too distracted by the fact he had to discard so much of what he had been in the past these last few days. Tearing down the facade of who Gil Langdon is as a person is not something that can happen overnight. But as he crossed the line to finish his lap, he began to think of what he would need to do to ensure he finished above Shuhei tomorrow. To keep himself out of the firing line for at least one more race.

“That’s… My word, that’s P1. That’s P1!” came the confused but jubilant tones of Gil’s pit engineer over his in-car radio. A smile crept across Gil’s face as he took the moment in. He could scarcely believe it himself. That had to be some sort of a mistake, right? But as he pulled back into the pit lane following his cool down lap, he glanced up at the leaderboard and saw the familiar colours of KISMO sitting at the top with the trigramme LNG in bold letters next to it. He was on pole for a WGPC race.

Now he just had to see it through to the end. Gil took off his helmet and let out a little chuckle as a thought crossed through his head.

Never Give Up. Never Say Die.

[Turori]

Race Eelandii VTGP Set for Difficult Climb in Patriotlandia

Grand Prix de Patriotlandia présenté par ASI Industries, Ridgeline Raceway, Vilnay, Foubrac, Patriotlandia :: With the race weekend taking on a different pattern due to the Sprint format being used for the first time this season, the practice session was replaced by a points earning race on Friday then Qualifying took its place on Saturday. On a track that few of the WGPC competitors had ever seen before Fridays Sprint event, the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia presented an opportunity for some drivers to make an unexpected splash if they could find something outside the simulator that the real track had to offer before their rivals uncovered the same tricks. That certainly may have played a role in the results of the Qualifying session at Ridgeline Raceway where three rookie drivers topped the charts. KISMO's Gil Langdon will have a massive opportunity on Sunday looking to improve on the 3 total points they have scored this season after putting in an unexpected lap to take Pole Position for the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia. Langdon will be joined on the front row by fan favorite rookie driver Nik Hazrin Lutfi of Sharktail.

Lutfi, the teammate to V&T Racer backed driver R.L. Cruisin, put in a career best qualifying performance, narrowly missing out on pole position and setting up what could be a great day at the track for Piers Ivchenko. R.L. Cruisin, currently 3rd in the WGPC Drivers Standings, will start the race in the 8th position and the goal for the veteran driver will be clear: Keep the Nexus Racing drivers behind them. With Nik Hazrin Lutfi in prime position to score big points if they can keep the #21 car inside the Top 3 on race day, Cruisin could help move Piers Ivchenko into the Constructors Championship conversation if they can keep Janne Laukkanen and Ryker Lane behind them. Of course, due to their position in the Drivers Standings, Cruisin will be doubly motivated to keep the championship challengers in their rear view mirror.

Heading into the Patriotlandia feature race, Piers Ivchenko are 3rd in the constructors standings and trail Nexus Racing by 37 points. An ideal performance in Patriotlandia could roughly cut that deficit in half heading into the WGPC Mid-Season break and would give the team a reasonable target to shoot for in the second half of the season. Piers Ivchenko are the top performing Brimstone team in the grid at this point in the campaign. Defending series champion Brendan Faloe, also on Brimstone Tyres, will start the race in 4th position behind another rookie driver, the hometown hero Pierre-Louis Archer who willed the WGPC Motorworks car to a 3rd place starting position - one of two Motorworks drivers to qualify inside the Top 10.

As for the Race Eelandii VTGP contingent, after a strong result in the sprint race with iBen Toralmintii holding on to a podium finish and Cocoabo #23 improving 9 positions to only narrowly miss out on scoring points, it was a small step backwards in the qualifying session which will see the two drivers adjacent each other on the grid in 16th and 17th position. There will be work to do for the duo to climb back into the Top 10 but it will be important for them to work together and stay out of trouble in an attempt to score points and continue their momentum into the season break.

Race Eelandii technical director Intoreil Palmsti'i and Juracai Klianiota spent time after qualifying reviewing the tape of the Top 6 qualifiers to see if they could determine what they were doing differently to mark a nearly half-second gap back to the rest of the competitors. At no point did they find anything obvious but they did have a few ideas of things they could try to tweak before the race on Sunday. They could reach out to two of their Tropicorp Partners as both Ted Pressley of Ælund Grand Prix and Skiia Vialiv of HMG Grand Prix were able to group themselves in with the faster drivers. The duo figured anything was better than nothing, though it did seem like this race could come down to the drivers as much as any other event on the schedule could, with 7 different teams represented in the first 7 spots on the grid.

---

---

Grand Prix de Patriotlandia présenté par ASI Industries, Ridgeline Raceway, Vilnay, Foubrac, Patriotlandia :: Although the starting positions earned for the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia Sprint Race would not contribute to a drivers average qualifying position metric for the WGPC 21 Season, they would still be pertinent for the Positions over Grid statistic. Of course there was a big splash in the Positions Over Grid metric at the Grand Prix of Turori where points leader Janne Laukkanen nearly failed to qualify at the Eelandii Grand Prix Course, then, charged up from the back row of the grid to salvage a 10th place finish much in the same way that iBen Toralmintii had done in the Abovian Grand Prix at the end of WGPC Season 20. The +16 Positions over Grid that Laukkanen scooped up was more than double the positive movement that any other driver had earned in the race. It was also a notable event for William Archer who finished in the 8th position with a +6 Positions over Grid marking the first time all season that Archer had improved from their qualifying position. Fellow drivers Gil Langdon and Skiia Vialiv also improved their position from the start for the first time all season, though neither had developed such an extreme reputation for falling from the start as Archer had done over the first 3 events of the season.

As the shortest race contested on the season thus far, the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia Sprint race was just the second event that didn't see a single driver improve their spot by double digit positions from the start of the race. Cocoabo #23 nearly accomplished the feat, improving 9 positions over grid but it was not enough for them to score in the Sprint Race Points. While no one had scored a double digit improvement in the sprint, two drivers fell double-digit positions from the start and incredibly for both drivers it would be the first time all season long they would finish a race in a worse position than they started it. The biggest drop was suffered by Kinu Luminna who had a great starting position in 3rd place but couldn't hold on in the Preston Autos machine and ended up finishing the race 16 spots lower in 19th position. Luminna had been one of the top performers in Positions Gained over Grid this season having successfully improved their position from start in each of the four races run this season prior to the Sprint.

Likewise, defending series champion Brendan Faloe also suffered a massive drop in the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia sprint, dropping back 12 positions from their 5th place start to finish out of the points in 17th place. Faloe had been second in the overall Positions Gained over grid standings heading into Patriotlandia but slipped back to 8th overall as a result of the poor showing to kick off the weekend. While Faloe and Luminna had improved their position from grid in every race prior to the Sprint, there were two other drivers who saw their streaks end when the first points were awarded in Patriotlandia.

Nepö Kinder and Dario Nülkeschlager had also both managed to survive the first four races of the season without any finishes worse than their starting position. The quirk with the Hülkenduo, however, was that both had finished exactly where they started on the grid not once but twice each in the four races that had already been completed. The ultra consistent drivers would see their "Equal or Better" Positions over Grid Streak snapped.

At the conclusion of the Patriotlandia Sprint, the Hülkenduo would be joined by a second driver who had managed to finish exactly where they started for the second time on the season, and that driver was the most consistent of all. In four starts so far this season, Adonis Fitzpatrick of HMG Grand Prix has never finished a race with a deviation of more than a single position from their starting spot - twice finishing a race exactly where they started and twice finishing one position lower than they gridded. It also makes Fitzpatrick one of just three drivers with at least three race starts this season who have failed at any point to finish higher than their starting position. Yet no one can compete at this moment with the driver who has lost the most total positions from Grid, down 37 spots from the start of the season for an average loss of 7.4 positions per race. In her return to top flight World Grand Prix Championship action after being promoted from the Cygnus Test Driver slot, Olivia Stone has proven she still has what it takes to get speed out of the car with the 8th best average qualifying position on the grid, but hasn't had what it takes in race conditions with the 24th best average finish among the 31 drivers who have completed a race. Olivia will start the Patriotlandia Grand Prix in the 14th position with plenty of room behind her to keep her downward streak alive for a sixth consecutive event.

Movin' on Up! 1 :: SOM +8.4 2 :: RAH +5.0 3 :: LAU +4.4 4 :: TUV +3.0 5 :: HAZ +3.0 6 :: CRU +2.8 7 :: FAE +2.6 8 :: VVV +2.6 9 :: NÜL +2.0 10 :: HAU +2.0 11 :: LAN +1.4 12 :: JOH +1.2 13 :: GTA +0.8 14 :: KAM +0.5 15 :: LNG 0.0

It's a Long, Way, Down! 16 :: LMN -0.4 17 :: KIN -0.4 18 :: FTZ -0.5 19 :: PLA -1.0 20 :: VIA -1.0 21 :: PRE -1.2 22 :: C23 -1.4 23 :: TII -1.4 24 :: BZW -1.5 25 :: AKS -2.0 26 :: MAR -2.0 27 :: BLA -3.3 28 :: DEV -4.3 29 :: ARC -5.4 30 :: STO -7.4 31 :: ANG -8.7

---

twii.tur Support Series ✓

@OGP

Questions are currently being asked in the Race Eelandii! camp after twii.tur Support Series driver Winston Klossovsky failed to finish for the fourth consecutive Grand Prix. This time out, it was a catastrophic error on the third lap of the Tropicorp Sifaka @OGP that resulted in both Race Eelandii entries being eliminated from the race. After being early Constructors leaders, Race Eelandii have fallen like a rock down to 8th in the Constructors Standings while Klossovsky and Triiki Mokalrisa no longer find themselves within striking distance in the Drivers Standings. The series next moves on to Iskohtrinkyy next week.

#WGPC21 :: #SupportSeries :: #Tropicoast

[Abanhfleft]

William Archer had a much less complicated relationship with the rain than his friend Donny Fitzpatrick. He had been a poor driver in wet conditions… until he wasn’t. Like pretty much everything else that had led William to the WGPC, he had learned how to race in the rain at the Crossbay Circuit. It was the time when he had asked a sign from the racing gods telling him where he should go next. William had literally come from behind and won the race in a phenomenally poor Bitten Heroes car, and William could still remember the jokes about how Bitten Heroes had designed a speedboat because of how he had managed to cut through the field in the rain. And that wasn’t to be the only moment of glory for the young driver in changeable conditions. William had managed to put himself on the podium at the first race of Season 19 of the WGPC in Liventia despite a combination of rainy conditions and a DRS flap that was opening when it wasn’t supposed to do so.

William hadn’t had many chances to show his newfound prowess in the next season and a half, but this particular Sunday in Turori might be his best chance to strut his stuff. But then, Eelandii was more of a technical circuit and William had never really done well in the technical tracks, and Eelandii was another one of those tracks that William hated viscerally like Akresna. Could the rain live up to its name of “the great equalizer” though? Oh, William would definitely love that. But wishing for one thing was entirely different from actually doing it. The first points-paying position was just four places away from him. No real biggie, right?

William had developed a reputation for being a tire whisperer and a lover of the overcut. He loved to go long on his first stint and then slap on the softest compound of tires available and regain places in the final laps. It hadn’t been the most effective strategy once William had made the leap to a WGPO-sanctioned series, and his engineers had tried to talk him out of it more times than not. Back in Preston, William had been stubborn about it. He insisted that both he and the car had the pace required to pull off the overtakes in the last twenty or so laps of a given race, and that strategy had been moderately successful in Season 19, the season when William fully bought into his own hype and started believing he was world championship material. His strategy was good when the car was also good, and as Season 20 showed, the Preston car that year had been anything but good. And now that William wasn’t putting in good qualifying sessions for Viska as well, the overcut just simply wasn’t viable anymore. That hadn’t stopped William from trying and failing, and it was getting to the point where William had become the living definition of insanity: doing something over and over again and expecting a different result each time. But common sense had finally gotten to William, and he realized that there was no use overcutting in a tight and technical track like Eelandii. If anything, it was time to go for the undercut.

The undercut was basically just the reverse of William’s preferred strategy: take as many positions on the first stint and then hold on to those for as long as possible on the final stint. It was doable for William; he was good with tires, after all. He had just never thought about it that way before. And it seemed like the perfect strategy for a driver like William in a place like Eelandii. Really, he should have thought of this before. But he had just gotten too comfortable in the Preston car that other options simply did not come up, at least not until now. And now seemed like as good a time as any for William to push the limits of his own comfort, especially if points were on the line.

What William Archer did at the Eelandii Grand Prix Course was nothing like what he did at the Crossbay Circuit all those years ago, but the end result was still decent for him. William had finally gotten off the mark and scored his first points of the season, although he understood that unless he had the mother of all turnarounds and won literally all of the remaining races (both feature and sprint) then he was probably not going to win the drivers’ championship this season. It would be great if that did happen though, but William would just have to be happy with what he had gained right now. Maybe there was a possibility that he could have gotten more if it wasn’t raining and DRS was available, but there was just no use dwelling on it.

“P8, great job,” William’s race engineer told him once he had passed the finish line. “It took us some time, but we finally have points on the board.”

“Finally,” William said back. “That took a little bit longer than expected, but better late than never, eh?”

“Indeed. Let’s carry this momentum forward to the next race, okay?”

“Man, I would really love that,” William muttered.

[Sharktail]

Ridgeline Raceway, Patriotlandia

Hazrin smiled satisfied. He took a screenshot of the news coverage of the Week 9 Grand Prix de Patriotlandia. The best picture for him so far in the WGPC campaign, of course, after the moment of his fastest lap at the Abovian Grand Prix that secured him his first and only point until now. He pressed the forward button and sent it to his mom. What a moment to capture, and a moment he can brag after waiting for a long time with unsatisfactory results and driving. He laughed to himself seeing the response from family and friends. It's a good moment for him to relax, as tomorrow, one mistake can send him to the back in a second. "It will be awesome if I'm able to stay top 5 tomorrow."

...
Back before the qualifying session

Izara took her leave after they settled, taking care of several sponsor-related matters, leaving Hazrin alone as he made his way to Piers Ivchenko paddock. Done with his own prep, he walked around for some fresh air, giving a little glance to the surroundings. Patriotlandia is fresh. It will be more beautiful to have a good qualifying session today. Hazrin entered Piers Ivchenko's paddock. His car, number #21 looks good. He gave a hard stare to the car, more like hoping and praying, "Please help me get a good result today and tomorrow. He then looked at the track that lay ahead. He will continue to remember the sprint race. His first experience on this track ended in 18th place. Far from point guaranteed position. Seeing his teammate, Cruisin, add more points for the team just makes him nervous and happy at the same time.

He is ready to go out for qualifying. Exchanging a few words including praising Cruisin for a Top 5 finish in the sprint race, he had time to play around with Cruisin and joked,

"Should we swap cars today? Maybe I can go all out and get a pole position today."

Both just laugh it off. Pretty much as he is just joking around, he knows his data far from what he said, but dreaming is not a sin. As he entered the track, he drove the car the best he could. Who will expect the unexpected? Yeah, and after qualifying was done, his joke almost came true. He will start in P2 tomorrow. As much joy can be heard from his radio crew, he is still shocked. "Maybe they really are giving me a Cruisin car today?"

It was a really short, joyful moment for him. Why short? Well, if he performs well tomorrow, then it can be considered a long moment for him. Now left here in Ridgeline Raceway is the race itself. The high position comes with high pressure. "Please, Top 5 or at least Top 10 tomorrow." He knows it will not just be him, but the whole Sharktailian, family, friends and team want that result from him.

[Trans-Dniesters]

Vasily Semyonovich Gatutin might have called himself naive if he thought that Yakov Yurievsky’s efforts to get into the heads of the drivers had ended with the departure of Skiia Vialiv, but he really should have known better. Despite rumors that Finance Minister Boris Tokarev had just handed the Urotovsky-Gatutin “financial advisor” an impossible mission, Yurievsky didn’t look like he was remotely worried about anything at all. In fact, the sinister grin had returned to the old man’s face, and Gatutin could only assume that Yurievsky had found a way to solve his problem, probably with the assistance of one Ivan Radchenko. And Yakov had not shown that he had any sort of agenda at all against Nepö Kinder before, so when Vasily heard that Yurievsky had started talking to Nepö once again, alarm bells went off in Vasily’s head. “What’s the bastard done now?” Vasily asked himself as he left his usual place on the pit wall to return to the garage.

Vasily arrived too late to hear whatever Nepö and Yakov had been talking about, but he arrived just in time to see the old man leave with a smirk on his face. Vasily had seen that smirk more than enough times to know that whatever he had told Kinder could not have been any good. Speaking of which, the Hulkenberger driver looked more annoyed than anything else. Now that was something that Vasily couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or a bad one. He didn’t know enough about Nepö to tell if Yakov had successfully managed to get into her head or not. Whatever the case may be, Vasily knew that Nepö couldn’t let that happen. And this might actually be a well-timed coincidence as Vasily felt like he needed to talk to Nepö anyway. Her results in recent weeks had not made for good reading, especially when compared to her teammate Vincent Von Visp. Nepö was supposed to be the more experienced driver out of the two and even had an AOGP championship under her belt, while Von Visp was supposed to be nothing more than a pay driver. But it was the Recuecian who was apparently succeeding in the current iteration of the UrGa machine, and Nepö had fallen away from a promising position in the Patriotlandia sprint race and couldn’t finish in the points while Von Visp held on to second place. Vasily needed to talk to Nepö and make sure that her head was still in the game.

“What in the world was that all about?” Vasily asked Nepö, who was still staring daggers at Yakov Yurievsky’s back. “What did the old man tell you?”

“It’s nothing,” Nepö shook her head. “He’s just stirring shit again.”

“He’s trying to get into your head, Nepö,” Vasily said. “Yakov always does that whenever a driver he doesn’t like is on the team.But now he also has a driver he likes on the team, and he wants to make sure that you don’t outshine his boy. Don’t let him do that to you. Don’t let him get under your skin. I don’t know if this is just the first time or if this has already happened before, but do not let Yakov into your head.”

“He’s not in my head,” Nepö insisted. “He’s not going to get in my head.”

“All the same, always be on your guard,” Gatutin cautioned her. “Just when you think Yakov’s given up, that’s when he’s actually preparing to strike. However, there’s something else that I wanted to talk to you about. Let’s get our minds off of the old man and onto your results.”

“They’re not good,” Kinder cut off the UrGa team principal. “It’s not been good since the podium at Nimbus. I’m aware of that.”

“It’s good that you’re aware of it,” Vasily nodded. “But being aware of something and actually doing something about it are two different things. This isn’t the Nepö Kinder that should have gotten the second seat in this team last season. This isn’t the Nepö Kinder that won the AOGP Championship. I want that Nepö behind the wheel of my car. I need that Nepö in my car. And I don’t usually do this, but I am no longer asking. I am demanding. Bring me the Nepö that wins races, the Nepö that wins championships.”

Nepö didn’t say anything; instead, she just nodded her head and went back to looking over the data from the sprint race. Vasily wondered if he had pushed it just a little bit too far with Kinder, but he probably wouldn’t know her response to his challenge until later in the weekend.

[Tropicorp]

On the Loss of a Founder, CEO and Partner

WGPC21 Supplier Performance Standings (After Week #5 Sprint)
[1] - 88 :: Tropicorp Racing Supply
[2] - 71 :: Phoenician/InMotion
[3] - 57 :: Brimstone
[4] - 34 :: Solymok
[5] - 5 :: Blue Sulphurate

Grand Prix de Patriotlandia présenté par ASI Industries, Ridgeline Raceway, Vilnay, Foubrac, Patriotlandia :: The first Sprint race of the season had come and gone. While Tropicorp Racing Supply had the advantage at the start, being awarded Pole Position through iBen Toralmintii, the veteran driver was unable to maintain the top spot and would fall to third in the final finishing order, conceding three points in the Supplier Performance standings to rival Phoenician/In-Motion who took the Sprint Victory through Ryker Lane. When the track closed on Friday night after the conclusion of the first Sprint Race of the World Grand Prix Championship season, everything was normal. Sure the rhythm was off. The schedule was off. The feel was off. But otherwise, everything was normal. When the drivers, teams and crews woke up Saturday morning and arrived at the track they would soon find out that not everything was the same as it was the day before. Charlie Pressley, the founder of Pressley Racing, had died.

Many were not even aware as they came to the track as news hadn't fully circled yet. Obviously, however, with a team in the Paddock and the way news gets released in this modern era, word was starting to spread. Less than a week removed from the teams first ever Grand Prix victory in Eelandii, its founder was gone. The relationship between Tropicorp and Pressley Racing was still blossoming. Having just begun at the start of WGPC Season 21, Tropicorp officials had limited interactions with the Pressley Racing CEO Charlie Pressley, and did most of their negotiating with Jack Brook and Stephen Cheung. It could not be understated how important the partnership was to Tropicorp. After having supplied half of the grid with Tyres during World Grand Prix Championship Season 21 and having four Factory-backed teams receiving both Tyres and Engines from Tropicorp, it seemed for a time that the Tropicorp Engineering supply chain would be down to a single team, Race Eelandii, after Ælund decided to re-introduce their own power plant for WGPC Season 21.

Then stepped in Pressley Racing. In search of new supplier partnerships after their tyre (Brústeinn) and Engine (Kaylan) Suppliers coincidentally exited the sport in the off-season, the Tumbra based team was impressed by the on track performance of the combination which powered Cygnus driver Brendan Faloe to the WGPC Season 20 Championship, and, the continuity of the partnership between Tropicorp Engineering and Tropicorp Racing Supply in Tropicoast. Of course, the departure of other Tropicorp partners was likely also a factor for Pressley Racing who saw an opportunity to get top-tier support from Tropicorp as one of just two fully factory backed teams on the grid and the commitment that they would not receive any hand-me-down equipment.

The nerves were naturally high throughout the Tropicorp campus in Tropicoast when, over the first 3 races of the season the two Tropicorp Factory Supplied teams just had one driver out of four classified in the points and not a single podium finish. With Tropicorp Racing Supply and the Sifaka tyre sitting atop the Supplier Standings having found the podium in all three events through Ælund and HMG Grand Prix, all eyes were on Tropicorp Engineering. Was there an issue with the powertrain? Or was it just a matter of time. The Tropicorp Summit, held in Tropicoast among team principles and technical directors of the Tropicorp Supplied teams prior to the Grand Prix of Turori opened some possibilities, and the results in Eelandii were clear. 3 out of 4 Tropicorp Factory backed cars in the points, one in victory lane. True to their commitment to giving equal or better equipment to Pressley Racing, it was Dario Nülkeschlager who dominated the weekend, beating Race Eelandii's Cocoabo #23 to pole position then wiring the race to shatter the ceiling for Pressley Racing. Just as much as it was excitement and relief in the Pressley Racing Paddock, it was the same in the Tropicorp Supplier Truck and back home in Tropicoast. No one was happier than Canifor Agifalous, the Director of Partnerships at Tropicorp whose job really was on the line regarding the future of the Tropicorp product line. Outside of the team itself, there was perhaps no one more invested in the success of the Pressley-Tropicorp partnership then Canifor Agifalous.

Though he never met Charlie Pressley in person, Agifalous felt personally saddened by the news. Of course any loss of life was always condolence worthy, but this was different. This was a team that had just been through the highest of highs. Right from the driver and the CEO down to Zantu in the engine room in Tropicoast, everyone was on top of the world with the victory in Eelandii. Now this, to have things crashing back down to reality. While the teams at the track would be distracted by the flow and pace of the race weekend, helpfully forced to move on, Canifor Agifalous had no obligations on this day other than to take some opportunities to talk to some of the teams in attendance at the twii.tur Support Series race at the Tropicoast Beach Course. That wasn't for a couple of hours. In the meantime, Agifalous penned a condolence letter to Pressley Racing. He wasn't sure what would happen to the team now. Would Thomas Kim become the CEO? He knew very little about Kim either, other than he made money on Apps and spent it to go racing. Agifalous began to wonder if he would have to re-assert the importance of the Pressley-Tropicorp partnership. He was hoping that being fresh off a victory would help to justify any such conversations.

As their mind wandered down that train of thought, Canifor Agifalous began to realize just how important this partnership was for Tropicorp. Without their name prominently displayed over the entrance in Lintulahti anymore, Tropicorp needed this partnership. It was beyond money - that was no object, it was about competition. The partnership was one of opportunity and perhaps Tropicorp needed it more than Pressley at the time but now, in this period of potential uncertainty, Canifor Agifalous wanted to make sure that Pressley Racing knew that Tropicorp was there for the Pressley Racing team, no matter what they needed to get them through.

---

Tropicorp Supplier Performances Standings are calculated by taking the points total of the best finisher of each supplier into consideration each week. Fastest Lap is not a consideration in the standings as presented.

---

SKIIA VIALIV ✓

@Skiia

Wahhhhhhooooo! That's more like it! A fascinating track that is well suited to my driving style. Wish I could have had more time on track during the Sprint but after everything we've been through I'm super pumped to be starting this race in 6th position. Theres a bunch of inexperience on the grid in front of us as well and while I wish them the best of luck, I'll be ready if they make a mistake! The season starts now. #ForzaHMG

#WGPC21 :: #Patriotlandia :: #Ridgeline

TROPICORP RACING SUPPLY ✓

@TropicorpRS

Everyone here at @Tropicorp would like to express our sincere condolences to the entire Pressley Racing Family on the loss of their Founder Charlie Pressley. Tropicorp will be dedicating a moments silence at our upcoming race in Pressleys honor and will look to work with Pressley Racing to determine how best to honor Mr. Pressley's legacy.

#WGPC :: #InMemorium

[Doubeia]

Nini turned her steering wheel rightwards as she manouvred the final corner of the Ridgeline Raceway. Pushing down on the accelerator, her eyes were set on the finish line. She couldn't cock up. She wouldn't accept cocking up. Not after all the practice she'd put in. As she crossed the line, her race engineer relayed to her words she'd never thought she would hear.

"It's P7, Nini. P7," he said, "Great lap there, you really made this one count."

"Let's go bro!" she happily exclaimed, "This is real shit!" She tried to conceal her excitement, but that she had qualified so well this time round was making her loopy. As she made her way back to the pits, she couldn't help but break a wide grin. It felt good that her efforts were repaid. The sprint race might have dampened her mood, but this qualifying session brought it back up again.

Stepping out of her car, everyone could sense that Nini was chirpier than usual. Given the garage was more sombre following Charlie Pressley's passing, she chose to be more subdued with her celebrations, fist-bumping her engineers while donning a smile they hadn't seen in a while. Her happiness wasn't contagious, but she did spread her smiling sickness to some of her engineers. There was a light skip in her steps as she walked to the paddock.

As the day went by, Nini's joy didn't once falter. That day was just a great day. Her dad finally called her again, and hearing the praises from her lads in the garage was enough to fuel her happiness. She didn't want to call it a craving, but she always liked to receive compliments from others. It just made her feel warm and fuzzy in the cockles of her heart, and after weeks of receiving pity and words of encouragement, it felt nice to finally reciprocate them by putting in a good performance.

As she lay on her bed, Nini didn't know what to call the feeling that had been resting in her stomach for a while. As excited as she felt for the race the next day, she also felt a sense of apprehension, a cautiousness that the race wouldn't go well for her. What-if scenarios were playing in her mind: what if she managed to climb all the way to a podium? What if she won? But on the contrary, what if she crashed out, or did so badly she dropped out of the points? Her mind was racing with every single scenario for tomorrow's race she could conjure up, and even as she tried to sleep, she couldn't shrug away the worry that was creeping up onto her.

"No, Nini, you'll do well! You got this!" She mentally reminded herself. She liked to say her confidence hadn't been completely shot, but at the same time she wasn't sure if she was going to do well. Was the qualifying just a fluke? Nini tossed and turned in her bed, desperately trying to stave off her doubts so that she could have a worry-free sleep. She couldn't be sleep-deprived for the race, not when it was the prime opportunity for her to finally score some points.

That night, she dreamt she won the race. It was the best dream she had in a while.

[Auruna]

Viska HQ
Sterlennau, Auruna

From the outset, Viska is fighting a losing battle. Against a larger and more powerful adversary that has a lot of say within the MNA, it seemed impossible to fight back against Schkeska's threats. Kiiro thought that Viska was absolutely powerless but he couldn't just accept defeat. After receiving the notice, he started figuring out a way to effectively fight back against Schkeska's case, especially one where Viska could avoid paying any fines and other unnecessary bills, or at least pay the smallest amount. Being an independent team, Kiiro had to be careful.

Digging through his mind for an idea that could work was just tiring, always reaching an impasse whenever he came up with something he thought would be a reasonable direction to go for until he gave it a thorough consideration to find out that it'll likely result in something worse. He knows that they could do something about it before bringing out Jöna's "idea" as a kill shot. But what is is exactly is what's been a trouble to find out.

Then Kiiro receives a notification of an online meeting between MNA team owners or representatives that was hosted by none other than Schkeska Racing. It was an obvious attempt to taunt Kiiro and his team. He could just ignore it and go on with his day but that's what Schkeska wants him to do as an admission of defeat. Hesitantly, he accepts the invite to the meeting, prepared for whatever bullshit the Schkeska representative has in store for him. Thankfully, he wasn't the only audience as when he joined, he was greeted by Raiko Meirokana who is currently the team principal of Viroluki-Viska in TTGP, Sport Mikuren representative Erino Kÿrenökkähö, and Garnell Tävonte, people and teams friendly to Viska. Other MNA teams that at least bothered to acknowledge the invite soon joined which was then followed by MNA representatives from each branch.

This might be a big one. Kiiro thought as he sat idle while waiting for the star of the show.

Not known for their punctuality in stuff like this, Schkeska's chosen representative finally joined after nearly 5 minutes. Immediately, they started to present their case to everyone present. No wonder the Schkeska AEC and ARC teams wanted to distance themselves from the main Schkeska Racing guys. As the Schkeska representative kept blabbering on about the current situation, Kiiro was trying to hold back his rage, hiding it behind a stoic façade, not wanting to play right into Schkeska's trap. Brushing off the insulting words, he wished that he was back at is former profession as a forward air controller during his military service so he could request an S-15 airstrike on Schkeska. For now, Kiiro has to endure all the bullshit that was being mindlessly spouted by the Schkeska representative.

Kiiro was growing tired of it, but there's no way out. While he was glad that Raiko and Garnell are defending him and his team, Schkeska just wouldn't back down. Maybe it's time for Jöna's idea to be put in play, he didn't want to use it immediately but what else did he have? He wanted to speak out but he hesitated, having no true counter to Schkeska's arguments. It was until he heard a high-ranking MNA personnel speak up against Schkeska which caught everyone off-guard, even Kiiro who was surprised to gain an ally from within the MNA.

Lukas Ziuvin, former driver now head of MNA Veratuna, started defending Viska as well as Sport Mikuren and VSK with well-researched evidence of misconduct and abuse of power by Schkeska including one regarding the forceful behind-the-scenes acquisition of Team Lipovana in the E-Series. The Schkeska representative struggled to refute Lukas' statements and resorted to outright denying the accusations and unknowingly insulted Lukas with a petty remark.

Kiiro stifled a smile as he watched the Schkeska representative at a loss for words as the entire case was ruined. Even worse is that Garnell, the most brutally vocal of the bunch, chimed in with his own observations and evidence while trying his very best to remain professional, not that it mattered this time after the Schkeska representative's earlier insults. Slowly, the whole call erupted into a shouting match between Garnell and Schkeska.

"That's enough!" Lukas loudly exclaimed. "If your team's confident in your claims against Viska, Mikuren, and VSK, then why not publicly announce it in the spirit of transparency here within the MNA? In fact, why not announce it in the upcoming public press conference about the new seasons of Formula Auruna and the Aurun WGP3. I'm sure the public would want to know what is happening between our beloved teams, they'd be dying to know about it."

The Schkeska representative became nervous with all eyes on him to respond to Lukas. "Of course a no-show will be admitting defeat." Lukas said. "Although whatever your decision may be, all will result in further investigation on Schkeska Racing, MNA Livonsk, and MNA Satokaurinka. Be wise."

However, out of spite, the Schkeska representative left the call to the dismay of everyone present. It was an unsatisfying end with no actual resolution to the situation. Lukas shook his head. "You're all dismissed." He said before turning his attention to Kiiro before he left. "Kiiro, we're not done yet. Trust me."

Kiiro just nodded and subtly mouthed "thanks" before leaving the call, sighing deeply in relief afterwards. He couldn't hold back his excitement with this surprising development although he was still skeptical about it. He really wanted to share it with Jöna but Viska is not yet safe from Schkeska's wrath. He had to be patient for a while, waiting for any important update from Lukas about the situation as it might not be what he expected whether it be good news or bad. He is unsure of how it will go.

For now though, Kiiro's workload lessened as he didn't have to worry much about the Schkeska issue, giving him an opportunity to come with his team trackside in the next race weekend to support Artur who took over from Jöna who is currently in a lengthy break. It should keep his mind off the problem that loomed over his team, at least for a brief moment as it continued to develop.

Mikanen kaokastaa kummittasee auria, puosellaskataa aurinen haluskassesa lentajaa je täitäjää. Keha aurinen seirällä nie sulaine maanaise on ikainenlumia.

The wolf's betrayal haunts the eagle, burning its desire to fly and to fight back. But the eagle's resolve will not melt in this land of eternal snow.

[Crpostran]

OOC: This is a collab post with Indusse. This is a two-part story, with this being Part 1. Indusse will post Part 2, once it's fully completed.

---

Café du Vilnay
Vilnay
Patriotlandia
Post-Qualifiers

Giancarlo Rahel sits in a corner seat, with a view of the beautiful lake. The restaurant he’s in sits along the scenic Lakeshore Drive. He hadn’t been having the best of times here in Vilnay, racing wise, other than getting through pre-qualifying & a non-impressive sprint. In the qualifiers, there wasn’t much he could have done, considering only 2 Motorworks racers qualify for the GP. Once again, he was unable to go through, finishing in 29th. Fellow team-mate Pierre-Louis Archer sprang a major surprise and went through in third buoyed by a strong home crowd. Batu Tüvshinbayar took the other Motorworks spot for the GP, which left his new team-mate, Naveen Kalkar, who finished in an impressive 22nd spot, out of the GP as well. He was set to meet with Kalkar today at this cafe.

A waiter came to take the order, “Thanks but I’m waiting for someone”, said Rahel, as he waited for his team mate. Looking out of the window, he saw the gentle waves hit the shores of the lake. A soothing moment for him, as he remained frustrated over his disappointing performances. And finally...there he was! He could see the outline of Kalkar walking along the street. He hasn’t really had a chance to talk in detail with Naveen, despite being team-mates, hence today’s cafe meet.

“This must be it!” thought Kalkar as he reached for the cafe door. Kalkar tries pushing the door forward , but it doesn’t open. “The other way sir!” he hears the manager shouting. Rahel was left confused on whether to laugh or go help his new mate. Kalkar, unamused, pulls the door to enter the cafe. Naveen looked disturbed as he entered the cafe. He then spots Rahel looking at him while sitting in a corner. Kalkar approaches Rahel, “You must be my teammate, finally we get to have a conversation” smiles Kalkar.

Rahel gave off his trademark, shiny, grin, and nodded for Kalkar to take the seat opposite to him. “Finally”, remarked Rahel, who was more relaxed now, leaning back on his chair, “Feels like we’ve been in the same garages, same team, following similar strategies….yet barely had a proper conversation eh?”

“You’re right.” answers Kalkar. “I am not much of a person who speaks a lot, I like being alone and probably because of my rather aggressive mood.” “I am glad that you decided to invite me over for a nice talk. I do believe that teammates should have a good bonding between each other.” smiles Kalkar.

“It’s my pleasure Naveen, or is it Kalkar?” After a brief bit of silence, Rahel chuckled and said “You know, considering how the season’s been going so far, we might as well get to know each other right? No use sitting in the same garage like strangers after all! And, as for being alone, I totally get that. Back in my childhood, I didn’t really have a lot of friends, considering my family’s standing & being allotted private tuitions instead. I always loved the sound of cars, which finally turned into my love for racing. But racing’s already a lonely enough sport. No harm in having someone in your corner.

“Naveen, Kalkar, it’s all your wish. Names are just a tool for communication and to identify each other.” laughs Kalkar. “I have been a motor enthusiast from the time I have known things. Indusse is one such country where motorsport is not very popular. But recently the government decided to improve the motorsport infrastructure in our country. I am very proud to say that I have been an active participant in the effort. Even a fellow Indussean racer who races in the support series, Harry Riggs is helping us out. It feels good when you see new drivers with talent coming out from your country.”

Rahel chuckled, nodding. “Yeah I get that, motorsport is growing back in Crpostran aswell. We have the CRL- the Crpostranian Racing League. The place where I got my name, and led me to eventually join the hunt for a WGPC seat. He leaned forward, with a small hint of pride, “Not to brag, but I hold the record back home for winning the most titles. That gave me, let’s say, over-confidence, to step out & try for the WGPC. Thought that “If I can dominate in Crpostran, surely I could abroad aswell!” Rahel went silent for a while before - “Media in Crpostran ate it up. They hyped me up, with headlines, debates, and all the hullabaloo. The face of Crpostranian racing, they called. And now, with this form? They’ve been on the attack. Every bad result, failure, even technical snags, all make it onto the papers.” He shook his head, “It’s a brutal shift man.”

“How has Motorworks been treating you?” asks Kalkar, after a pause. “I am grateful to be offered a seat under their team, but this particular clause seems unfair to us.”

Rahel exhaled, rubbing his neck. “Well, rules are rules right? We have to follow them. I don’t mind the rule to be honest, but..yeah. It can be frustrating. In my opinion however, it pushes the four of us to be better, encouraging competition between ourselves to bring out our best. I am eternally grateful to land the seat for the team. The weeks before WGPC began were super hectic. My god. Absolute chaos (posing like Martin Scorsese’s meme). Travelling country to country. Team after team. All hopeless cases. Closest I got was in Doubeia, for Ivchenko, but to no avail. Then came Motorworks, and it was a huge sigh of relief for me, and my family. I accepted immediately. I do love our team, they are what’s been pushing us to stay strong after all.” Rahel remarked with a small smile.

‘I agree with what you just said. Things will not always be easy for everyone. Where’s the fun when everything works as you want it to.” chuckles Kalkar. “We have a motorsport team from Indusse, planning to debut as a team in the next season of the World Grand Prix Championships. Fiarti Racing is what they are called. They have been showcasing commendable performance in the Support Series that has been happening alongside.” Suddenly, Naveen’s gaze shifts towards the counter and he says to Rahel, “That waiter has been looking at us for some time now, I think we should place an order for something off their menu.”

Rahel followed Naveen’s gaze, to see the young man in the white t-shirt, intensely staring, in a not-so subtle manner. He had that look, the “Are these guys here to just warm their seats???” Rahel shouted “OIII! Mate, over here”, loud enough that some heads turned their way. The waiter snapped out of his trance, startled, quickly made his way over, trying to act as if he’d never seen them before & was greeting them for the first time.

Rahel grinned and whispered to Naveen, “Figured we should order something before he starts charging us rent for sitting here.” Taking a quick scan through the menu overhead, and replied “I’ll have whatever’s the strongest coffee you’ve got, and, hmmm, let’s see. Ah, I’ll have 2 donuts & a classic cheesecake. Looks decent. He turned to Naveen, with an eyebrow raised, “What about you mate? Might as well eat & relax while we sulk about our racing careers.”

“Hmm well, let me take a look at this fancy menu.” he takes the menu off Rahel’s hand and looks over to the waiter. “I think I will have a chicken lasagna and a cold coffee for a drink. I think that will last for sometime.” Naveen looks at the waiter a bit sharply this time and says, “This wouldn’t be a lot for you, would it be?” The waiter grins while giving back an equally sharp look and says, “Not at all sir, after all this is why we are working here in the cafe.”

Rahel had his eyebrows raised to the brim the whole time in their brief, but intense staredown. “Alright, now I get why you said you were very aggressive. Remind me to never get on your bad side eh?” Rahel jokes, shaking his head. “I don’t want to see you two wrestle over..lasagna, of all food items. Actually, could you add a plate of lasagna for me as well?” Rahel asked the waiter. The waiter, still holding his notepad, gave Rahel a nod. “Two lasagnas, got it. I’ll get those out to you soon.”, he said dryly, before heading back to the kitchen. “Man oh Man! That was the most intense experience with a waiter in my life!” Rahel replied. He looked out, seeing a small ferry, probably one catering to tourists to see the lake, treading the waters slowly. With his sixth sense alerting someone’s gaze at his table, he looked to his right, he saw a couple, perhaps from the way they were holding each other’s hands a while ago on the street (NO I WAS NOT INTENTIONALLY LOOKING AT THEM), two teenagers, a boy & a girl look with interest at the pair of us, murmuring while looking at us. “Should we be concerned?” asked Rahel to Naveen, gesturing subtly with his eyes to the pair who’re about to enter the café.

The couple tried to enter the cafe, and suddenly Naveen had a funny looking smile on his face. “Look at them, I am sure that they’re going to push the door instead of pulling it.” Both Rahel and Kalkar fix their eyes on the door waiting to see what is going to happen next. The very next second, both the teenagers entered without making a mistake on how to open the door. “No way! Is that so obvious that you’ve to pull the door?” says Kalkar in complete disbelief, while Rahel laughs out loud. The couple enters the cafe and starts to scan for seats and ends up sitting besides the drivers. One of them raises their hand looking at the waiter, and the waiter comes running towards them. “What a pleasant day it is, can we have the usual? Get us the cheesecake and the cappuccino we have everyday.” says the boy to the waiter. The waiter smiles, nods in agreement and goes back to the kitchen.

To be continued................

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

The First City, the Nexus Wardship of Former Citizens of the Nimbus System
22nd of March

OFFICIAL NEXUS RACING STATEMENT

We at Nexus Racing were saddened to hear the news this morning of the passing of Charles Pressley, founder and part-owner of the Pressley Racing Engineering WGPC team. A controversial figure whose approach to team and driver management we often disliked and disagreed with, he was nonetheless known across the paddock for his drive to ensure the establishment and success of his team’s Grand Prix efforts. He lives on through his contributions to a sport about which he, like us, cared deeply.

To Charles’ friends and companions and to our peers at Pressley Racing and their affiliates, we extend our condolences and respects.

Karl Rain, Nexus Racing Head of Communications and Public Relations

[Hodori Motorsports]

bfr.himeblog.net
The Blue Flag Report

Circle: Blue Flag Report
Post by WrenchBitch
WrenchWitch


It’s me. The birdbrain’s still sick and given the lack of engagement with her planned abuse of simulation software she’s taking a break, so here I am. 87 Pigeons adds: Not that sick anymore; cold meds and the human immune system are magic Edit: Shush you. You should be getting some bed rest. 87 Pigeons adds: I have a laptop so I can get bed rest and chip in with editor’s notes at the same time so nyeh

The Blue Flag Cup is her thing so I’m inclined to let her take care of that when she’s ready to resume full duties. 87 Pigeons adds: I can send you the tables though. I have sent you both the tables post-Turori and the ones updated to the end of the Patriotlandia sprint. So in the meantime, I’m going to start with two things that the single-digit readers of this will continue to not bother with. 87 Pigeons adds: Assorted Side Shenanigans. That’s the name we agreed upon for things not pertaining to the blue Flag Cup. Edit: Pigeon, No. Also, I distinctly recall giving a flippant “whatever” to your proposal. 87 Pigeons adds: *sad birb noises* I’ll have them up and running after the actual grand prix race, and not this stupid sprint format farce.

Heading into the Patriotlandia Grand Prix, we have that fuckwit yet again inflicting more and more damage to the Souzare name by continuing to fail to set a competitive qualifying lap and letting his lack of skill shine by finding something to crash into after his unbelievably slow qualifying laps. At Ridgeline, this was the barrier as usual. 87 Pigeons adds: Cryptofucker AI Techbro Idiot/Barry R the second biggest OTP of WGPC21, behind only Tednne. Heading into the Slaloms in the sprint qualify and approaching Gamble in the grand prix qualify. How has this fuckwit not gotten kicked out yet?

Commentator highlights from one the pirate streams I’ve been watching, since no reputable broadcaster in Hodori wants the rights to the WGPC given its various (ongoing) Vilita-related issues:

“And there’s a car gone off!”
“That must be Ankei Souzare then.”
“It looks like it’s one of the HiTENs, crashing just before the Slaloms.”
“That’s definitely Ankei Souzare then.”

If it’s any relief, his ejection’s more or less inevitable. My personal investigation is still ongoing, and given that Ankei Souzare is Ankei Souzare, he’s likely going to do something so egregiously stupid that the WGPO will take action before I can finish. Meanwhile my friends and contacts from Berezowska’s pit crew have vented their frustrations to me, and some of the juicy things they’ve told me and let me share are that they have no more spare parts and even less patience for that fuckwit, and that they’re trying to figure out how to boot him from the team given that he owns it.

The more I type for this the less motivated I become to do actual, proper analysis. So that’s all for now I guess.

Edit: Since the birdbrain insisted, here’s some tables with a few minor corrections; let’s be honest, with all the automation and driver assistance “features” the Nimbans have burdened and defiled their cars with, we really should stop pretending that the “drivers” contribute anything meaningful. Really putting the “auto” in “automobile”, so much so that you could replace Laukkanen and Lane with dead squids and see no difference in performance. Hell, stick that fuckwit in a Chase Cutter, and either the automobile will turn him into a podium contender or he’ll find a way to turn the thing into an electrical fire and smouldering pile of debris.

Post-Turori, one of several Vilitan havens for intellectual property theft:

 P  No  DRV  Driver               Constructor             LNC    BFP    MBP    Lap Rate
 1  17  LAU  Chase Cutter #17     Nexus Racing              0      0      0    100    %
 2  21  HAZ  Nik Hazri Lutfi      Piers Ivchenko            1      1      0     99.592%
 3  66  VVV  Vincent Von Visp     Urosovsky-Gatutin         1      1      0     99.592%
 4   1  FAE  Brendan Faloe        Cygnus                    1      1      0     99.592%
 5  94  LAN  Chase Cutter #94     Nexus Racing              1      1      0     99.592%
 6  27  NÜL  Dario Nülkeschlager  Pressley Racing           1      1      0     99.592%
 7   9  TUV  Batu Tüvshinbayar    WGPC Motorworks           2      2      0     23.265%
 8  55  LNG  Gil Langdon          KISMO                     2      2      0     99.184%
 9  37  HAU  Laura Haukanna       GPA Pryfors Bilar         2      2      0     99.184%
10  51  CRU  R.L. Cruisin         Piers Ivchenko            2      2      0     99.184%
11  77  TII  iBen Toralmintii     Race Eelandii VTGP        3      3      0     98.776%
12  12  SOM  Ron Sommer           Viska                     3      3      0     98.776%
13  63  KIN  Nepö Kinder          Urosovsky-Gatutin         3      3      0     98.776%
14  22  JOH  Nini Johnsilvaturr   Pressley Racing           4      4      0     98.367%
15  96  ARC  William Archer       Viska                     4      4      0     98.367%
16  23  C23  Cocoabo #23          Race Eelandii VTGP        5      5      0     97.959%
17  82  LMN  Kinu Luminna         Preston Autos             7      7      0     97.143%
18  91  KAL  Naveen Kalkar        WGPC Motorworks          10     10      0      0.000%
19  95  BZW  Hanna Berezowska     HiTEN.gpt                11     11      0     78.776%
20  74  FTZ  Adonis Fitzpatrick   HMG Grand Prix           11     11      0     75.510%
21  58  KAM  Shuhei Kamado        KISMO                    12     12      0     78.367%
22  14  VIA  Skiia Vialiv         HMG Grand Prix           13     13      0     69.796%
23   7  DEV  Anneliese Devereux   Eminent                  15     15      0     73.878%
24  84  ANG  Angela Ling          Preston Autos            16     16      0     73.469%
25  30  MAR  Otto Markul          WGPC Motorworks          20     20      0     20.816%
26  33  BLA  Sam Blaatschapen     GPA Pryfors Bilar        24     24      0     51.429%
27  13  PLA  Pierre-Louis Archer  WGPC Motorworks          26     26      0     47.347%
28  85  STO  Olivia Stone         Cygnus                   27      5     22     88.980%
29  16  KAW  Azalia Kawakai       WGPC Motorworks          30     30      0      0.000%
30  18  RAH  Giancarlo Rahel      WGPC Motorworks          32     32      0     23.265%
31  88  PRE  Ted Pressley         Ælund Grand Prix         51      0     51     79.184%
32  40  AKS  Adriana Lillian      Eminent                  69     11     58     46.939%
33  89  GTA  Abdoulaye Goita      Ælund Grand Prix         70      0     70     71.429%
34  10  ASZ  Ankei Souzare        HiTEN.gpt               191    191      0      0.000%

 P  Constructor             LNC    BFP    MBP    Lap Rate
 1  Nexus Racing              1      1      0     99.796%
 2  Piers Ivchenko            3      3      0     99.388%
 3  Urosovsky-Gatutin         4      4      0     99.184%
 4  Pressley Racing           5      5      0     98.980%
 5  Viska                     7      7      0     98.571%
 6  Race Eelandii VTGP        8      8      0     98.367%
 7  KISMO                    14     14      0     88.776%
 8  Preston Autos            23     23      0     85.306%
 9  HMG Grand Prix           24     24      0     72.653%
10  GPA Pryfors Bilar        26     26      0     75.306%
11  Cygnus                   28      6     22     94.286%
12  Eminent                  84     26     58     60.408%
13  WGPC Motorworks         120    120      0     57.347%
14  Ælund Grand Prix        121      0    121     75.306%
15  HiTEN.gpt               202    202      0     39.388%

A wet race with multiple retirements, so the nominally independent Abovian organisation Tropicorp subsidiary Ælund is no longer the only constructor to have MBP. They do, however, have the distinction of being the only one to have 100% of their laps not completed due to DNFs.

And I can already hear those Tropicorp sycophants complaining, to which I direct them to the second half of my display name and also, if you don’t want to be considered by me, a number of people involved in Hodoran domestic motorsport, and the Hodori GT-A to be a part of Tropicorp, don’t simp for the thieves at Tropicorp, spending your entire presence in international motorsports in an alliance with them, and then renew your supply deal and refuse to publicly denounce and break from them after being informed of their acts of intellectual property theft. The impression Ælund have given here in Hodori is that they tacitly endorse Tropicorp’s illicit use of a Yemigama HPI chassis design for AOGP and other Vilitan misdeeds and have so far actively refused to distance themselves from Tropicorp. The truth may very well be the opposite, but from what I’ve been able to see it doesn’t seem that way.

The Hodoran government may have deemed it appropriate to lift the ban on Tropicorp products after they admitted guilt and paid Yemigama HPI an undisclosed sum rumoured to be over half a billion Kerai in an out-of-court settlement, but Tropicorp has not been forgiven. Not by the Hodoran motorsports community. Not by the GT-A. Especially not by me.

Post-Patriotlandia Sprint:

 P  No  DRV  Driver               Constructor             LNC    BFP    MBP    Lap Rate
 1  17  LAU  Chase Cutter #17     Nexus Racing              0      0      0    100    %
 2  66  VVV  Vincent Von Visp     Urosovsky-Gatutin         1      1      0     99.631%
 3  27  NÜL  Dario Nülkeschlager  Pressley Racing           1      1      0     99.631%
 4  94  LAN  Chase Cutter #94     Nexus Racing              1      1      0     99.631%
 5  21  HAZ  Nik Hazri Lutfi      Piers Ivchenko            2      2      0     99.262%
 6  55  LNG  Gil Langdon          KISMO                     2      2      0     99.262%
 7   1  FAE  Brendan Faloe        Cygnus                    2      2      0     99.262%
 8  37  HAU  Laura Haukanna       GPA Pryfors Bilar         2      2      0     99.262%
 9  51  CRU  R.L. Cruisin         Piers Ivchenko            2      2      0     99.262%
10  12  SOM  Ron Sommer           Viska                     3      3      0     98.893%
11  63  KIN  Nepö Kinder          Urosovsky-Gatutin         3      3      0     98.893%
12  77  TII  iBen Toralmintii     Race Eelandii VTGP        3      3      0     98.893%
13  22  JOH  Nini Johnsilvaturr   Pressley Racing           5      5      0     98.155%
14  23  C23  Cocoabo #23          Race Eelandii VTGP        5      5      0     98.155%
15  96  ARC  William Archer       Viska                     6      6      0     97.786%
16  82  LMN  Kinu Luminna         Preston Autos             8      8      0     97.048%
17  95  BZW  Hanna Berezowska     HiTEN.gpt                11     11      0     80.812%
18  74  FTZ  Adonis Fitzpatrick   HMG Grand Prix           11     11      0     77.860%
19   9  TUV  Batu Tüvshinbayar    WGPC Motorworks          12     12      0     21.033%
20  58  KAM  Shuhei Kamado        KISMO                    12     12      0     80.443%
21  91  KAL  Naveen Kalkar        WGPC Motorworks          20     20      0      0.000%
22  30  MAR  Otto Markul          WGPC Motorworks          20     20      0     18.819%
23  14  VIA  Skiia Vialiv         HMG Grand Prix           23     23      0     63.100%
24  33  BLA  Sam Blaatschapen     GPA Pryfors Bilar        25     25      0     55.720%
25  84  ANG  Angela Ling          Preston Autos            26     26      0     66.421%
26  85  STO  Olivia Stone         Cygnus                   28      6     22     89.668%
27  16  KAW  Azalia Kawakai       WGPC Motorworks          30     30      0      0.000%
28  18  RAH  Giancarlo Rahel      WGPC Motorworks          33     33      0     30.258%
29   7  DEV  Anneliese Devereux   Eminent                  35     15     20     69.004%
30  13  PLA  Pierre-Louis Archer  WGPC Motorworks          36     36      0     42.804%
31  88  PRE  Ted Pressley         Ælund Grand Prix         51      0     51     81.181%
32  40  AKS  Adriana Lillian      Eminent                  70     12     58     51.661%
33  89  GTA  Abdoulaye Goita      Ælund Grand Prix         70      0     70     74.170%
34  10  ASZ  Ankei Souzare        HiTEN.gpt               217    217      0      0.000%

 P  Constructor             LNC    BFP    MBP    Lap Rate
 1  Nexus Racing              1      1      0     99.815%
 2  Urosovsky-Gatutin         4      4      0     99.262%
 3  Piers Ivchenko            4      4      0     99.262%
 4  Pressley Racing           6      6      0     98.893%
 5  Race Eelandii VTGP        8      8      0     98.524%
 6  Viska                     9      9      0     98.339%
 7  KISMO                    14     14      0     89.852%
 8  GPA Pryfors Bilar        27     27      0     77.491%
 9  Cygnus                   30      8     22     94.465%
10  HMG Grand Prix           34     34      0     70.480%
11  Preston Autos            34     34      0     81.734%
12  Eminent                 105     27     78     60.332%
13  Ælund Grand Prix        121      0    121     77.675%
14  WGPC Motorworks         151    151      0     56.458%
15  HiTEN.gpt               228    228      0     40.406%

One further retirement in the sprint race brings the number of drivers with MBP to five. The newest member of the meatball club is Devereux, declared persona non grata by every team and motorsports governing body in Hodori thanks to her involvement with the very much illegal in Hodori crypto project Fan Token. 87 Pigeons adds: And her having anything to do with Fan Token is why I called her “Cryptobitch”.

At the top of the table, we have the number 17 Nexus Racing Chase Cutter occupied by Janne Laukkanen as the only entry to have completed every lap run so far. Officially in this unofficial cup in second and third with the same number of laps completed, each missing only one, the best two actual drivers are Vincent Von Visp and Dario Nülkeschlager.

[TJUN-ia]

How does one respond to grief? Grief, that one emotion humans are forced to experience at least once. Grief, that one emotion that comes in many forms at the same time. Grief, an unpredictable emotion that combines denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance in a space as small as 5 minutes and as long as 5 years and then some. Such emotions can do different things to different people, but it is how you cope with that grief and how you move through it that defines you as a person. At least, that was how Batu Tüvshinbayar came to understand it.

The topic was apt not because of the failure of pre-qualifying, but because of news that arrived that Saturday morning in Patriotlandia. Charlie Pressley, owner of Pressley Racing and father of Ted Pressley, was dead. Died in his sleep at an advanced age. He could feel walking the paddock that day that things felt different, especially with those associated with his former team who had to get on with the job despite their former boss not being here anymore. Batu couldn't imagine the conflict going on between their grief and their work and he felt that was either going to be the ultimate motivator or a weight on all of their shoulders for the rest of the weekend. As for Ted, Batu felt that he didn't exactly have the best relationship with his father, so he felt the younger Pressley was sad for the team, but happy to see the back of him.

Which got Batu thinking. If one or both of his parents were to go, the people who strived for him to be strong through all the tears and all the pain dealt by their hands, would Batu...mourn them? It was a tricky question to answer. On the one hand, he did have some respect for them as their son...you can't really forget what your parents did for you. But after everything they did in his schooling days, after all the punishments and the ire they showed to him just because he was emotional and struggled to initially find his place in the world, did they deserve to be mourned? Batu didn't know. He hadn't spoken to them since he moved out and had no plans to. They were his parents...but they were in the past. Batu had to focus on the present.

After the disappointment of Pre-Qualifying yesterday, Batu knew that he had to do better today. He wasn't going to sit out of the Feature Race, not on his watch. His viewing of the Sprint race gave him some mental notes to work on for this session, but the WGPC doesn't care about notes and preparation. It's all about how you do in that car when given the chance...and Batu knew he couldn't fail.

Time limit on the clock, another Traditional session to deal with. But unlike the previous session, where all the pressure was on him to succeed, Batu actually had track knowledge of what was about to come thanks to Pre-Qualifying...and that might've helped with what was about to come. He felt pretty good about one lap in particular, a lap that saw him fly down the Slaloms at breakneck speeds before beautifully taking to The Needle. He felt the lap was good by the time he got to the final corner, but a 1:27.573 was just something else entirely. That effort was not bested by the #9 but it did mean one thing: Batu would be starting his 2nd race back from P10. Gil Langdon on pole, Pierre-Louis Archer in 3rd and Batu in 10th. Incredible...simply incredible.

Back at WGPC Motorworks, he celebrated that performance with the team while also being the 'elder statesman' to his teammates, congratulating Archer (P-L) for that hell of a lap while commiserating Naveen Kalkar, who was 22nd on the day but won't start due to the 2 Car Rule. Batu knew that had to suck and so, he made sure Kalkar was properly appreciated. "You did a great job out there", he told him, "and I know your time will come. Trust me on that, Naveen."

Another driver who didn't make the start, for the 2nd straight weekend, was Adonis Fitzpatrick, who was less than two-tenths off of Sam Blaatschapen but couldn't get it done. HMG as a team will have one car starting 6th and the other not racing...and that puzzled Batu a fair bit. Adonis was doing so well, he even finished 4th yesterday, but ever since Batu rejoined the series, Donny's quali form has dipped sharply. Was that connected? Did Batu's reappearance act as a distraction for the Fleftic driver? Batu was hoping it wasn't himself that was the problem, he would hate it if it was true, but sometimes you cannot have smoke before fire...so Batu knew he had to communicate. Just in case.

Hey. You OK?
Listen, I know that sucked. I know this all sucks.
I hope you're doing OK. You don't want to be digging yourself into a hole, trust me on that.
We have a break coming up, after this weekend. I feel you might need it to get yourself back to the Donny I know you can be.

I know this sucks. But I know you can do better than this. You just have to try and find the old you again.
Me returning and you having this rut seem to have happened at the same time. Which sucks, because I really want to go 1v1 with you. Like the good old days.

I hope you are OK. That's all.
See you when I see you.

[Nico Hulkenberg]

HMG

The same old story of the ever-bipolar HMGs had once again come to pass, with Skiia Vialiv placing her H01.1 in the top six and Adonis Fitzpatrick - on the back of a strong sprint performance - being totally unable to even qualify. Confusion reigned supreme in the garages, and the team's head honchos corralled together in the back corner to ponder the main question: "What the fuck is going on?" Johan wasn't a typical smoker. In fact, he had tried to give it up many times over the years, but it was moments like these that dragged him back in - or, rather, dragged him out, as he had to vacate his spot in the garage to have a few puffs.

"Genuinely, Adrian, I don't know what we're doing wrong. I think the car is haunted. Every upgrade package we bring, every setup tweak, they all seem to make the car angry."

"It's just the narrowness of the setup window. I mean, Skiia is up there."

"Yeah, but it doesn't make sense. How can Donny score points in the sprint and then fail to qualify for the race, only for Skiia to fail to qualify for the sprint and then qualify P6? It doesn't make sense, man! Nothing does! I don't know what this team has to do to make two friggin' cars function properly at the same time!"

"Calm it, Johan. We deal with what we have in front of us, that's all we can do."

"All we can do, all we can do. What point is there to running a race team if we're only ever going to have one car in the fucking race?"

"Well, HiTEN manage it quite well..."

"I don't give two shits about HiTEN or the chucklefuck that claims to drive that thing! All that matters is that we're always crap with one car. It's like god's punishment for trying."

"Isn't it better to be good with one than none?"

"Technically, yes! But if we want to sign anyone for next season, how can we guarantee to them that they won't go from podiums to sidelines within a matter of weeks, huh?"

Johan concluded his crashout by flicking his cigarette on the ground and stomping it out, before returning to the pit wall.

[Liventia]

CUTOFF

for the Grand Prix de Patriotlandia présenté par ASI Industries at Ridgeline Raceway

[Liventia]

Week 9: Race

Conditions:      	Dry
Laps:              	60
Nation:         	PTR
Circuit:        	Ridgeline Raceway
Event:                	Grand Prix de Patriotlandia présenté par ASI Industries
Safety Car on Laps:	
Cars on Grid:        	26

Start               	POS  # ▍DRV Name                                         Team                                     	Time        	Pts	Fastest Lap	
 1 ▍LNG            	  1 12 ▍SOM Ron Sommer                                   Viska                                        	01:34:48.896	25		
 2 ▍HAZ            	  2 55 ▍LNG Gil Langdon                                  KISMO                                        	00:00:01.687	18		
 3 ▍PLA            	  3 27 ▍NÜL Dario Nülkeschlager                          Pressley Racing                              	00:00:08.190	14		
 4 ▍FAE            	  4 23 ▍C23 Cocoabo #23                                  Race Eelandii VTGP                           	00:00:22.898	11		
 5 ▍PRE            	  5 88 ▍PRE Ted Pressley                                 Ælund Grand Prix                             	00:00:53.521	8		
 6 ▍VIA            	  6 14 ▍VIA Skiia Vialiv                                 HMG Grand Prix                               	00:00:54.562	6		
 7 ▍JOH            	  7 17 ▍LAU Janne Laukkanen                              Nexus Racing                                 	00:01:18.164	4		
 8 ▍CRU            	  8 37 ▍HAU Laura Haukanna                               Pryfors Bilar                                	00:01:24.258	3		
 9 ▍LAU            	  9 82 ▍LMN Kinu Luminna                                 Preston Autos                                	00:01:28.152	2		
10 ▍TUV            	 10 66 ▍VVV Vincent Von Visp                             Urotovsky-Gatutin                            	00:01:31.420	1		
11 ▍LAN            	 11 21 ▍HAZ Nik Hazrin Lutfi                             Piers Ivchenko                               	Laps Down: 1			
12 ▍GTA            	 12 22 ▍JOH Nini Johnsilvaturr                           Pressley Racing                              	Laps Down: 1			
13 ▍SOM            	 13 77 ▍TII iBen Toralmintii                             Race Eelandii VTGP                           	Laps Down: 1			
14 ▍STO            	 14  1 ▍FAE Brendan Faloe                                Cygnus                                       	Laps Down: 1			
15 ▍ANG            	 15 96 ▍ARC William Archer                               Viska                                        	Laps Down: 1			
16 ▍C23            	 16 13 ▍PLA Pierre-Louis Archer                          WGPC Motorworks                              	Laps Down: 1			
17 ▍TII            	 17 58 ▍KAM Shuhei Kamado                                KISMO                                        	Laps Down: 1			
18 ▍NÜL            	 18 95 ▍BZW Hanna Berezowska                             HiTEN.gpt                                    	Laps Down: 1			
19 ▍ARC            	 19  9 ▍TUV Batu Tüvshinbayar                            WGPC Motorworks                              	Laps Down: 1			
20 ▍VVV            	 20 33 ▍BLA Sam Blaatschapen                             Pryfors Bilar                                	Laps Down: 1			
21 ▍LMN            	 21 84 ▍ANG Angela Stella Tan Fang Ling                  Preston Autos                                	Laps Down: 1	 + 1	1:29.250				
22 ▍HAU            	 22 94 ▍LAN Ryker Lane                                   Nexus Racing                                 	Laps Down: 1			
23 ▍KAM            	 23 63 ▍KIN Nepö Kinder                                  Urotovsky-Gatutin                            	Laps Down: 1
24 ▍KIN            	DNF 89 ▍GTA Abdoulaye Goita                              Ælund Grand Prix                             	Ret. lap 14			
25 ▍BZW            	DNF 51 ▍CRU R.L. Cruisin                                 Piers Ivchenko                               	Ret. lap 12			
26 ▍BLA            	DNF 85 ▍STO Olivia Stone                                 Cygnus                                       	Ret. lap 10

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Drivers' standings

Pos # ▍DRV Name                                          Team [Engine]                                                                                Tyres                                        Pts
 1 88 ▍PRE Ted Pressley                                  Ælund Grand Prix [Ælund CMYK-T20V8H]                                                         Tropicorp Racing Supply                      54
 2 27 ▍NÜL Dario Nülkeschlager                           Pressley Racing [Tropicorp TRE-2T24V8]                                                       Tropicorp Racing Supply                      53
 3 17 ▍LAU Janne Laukkanen                               Nexus Racing [Nexus Racing Paragon Warp]                                                     Phoenician-In Motion                         52
 4 51 ▍CRU R.L. Cruisin                                  Piers Ivchenko [UrGa Zh-S-1000]                                                              Brimstone                                    43
 5 94 ▍LAN Ryker Lane                                    Nexus Racing [Nexus Racing Paragon Warp]                                                     Phoenician-In Motion                         33
 5 12 ▍SOM Ron Sommer                                    Viska [Viska RG Motors]                                                                      Phoenician-In Motion                         33
 7 89 ▍GTA Abdoulaye Goita                               Ælund Grand Prix [Ælund CMYK-T20V8H]                                                         Tropicorp Racing Supply                      31
 7 37 ▍HAU Laura Haukanna                                Pryfors Bilar [Pryfors Bilar]                                                                Phoenician-In Motion                         31
 9 74 ▍FTZ Adonis Fitzpatrick                            HMG Grand Prix [Preston Autos Skychief V6]                                                   Tropicorp Racing Supply                      23
10 55 ▍LNG Gil Langdon                                   KISMO [Kissan Motors KS.APEX-01]                                                             Solymok                                      21
10 63 ▍KIN Nepö Kinder                                   Urotovsky-Gatutin [UrGa Zh-S-1000]                                                           Solymok                                      21
12  1 ▍FAE Brendan Faloe                                 Cygnus [Sturmburgher PD02/25]                                                                Brimstone                                    20
13 66 ▍VVV Vincent Von Visp                              Urotovsky-Gatutin [UrGa Zh-S-1000]                                                           Solymok                                      18
14 77 ▍TII iBen Toralmintii                              Race Eelandii VTGP [Tropicorp TRE-2T24V8]                                                    Tropicorp Racing Supply                      14
15 23 ▍C23 Cocoabo #23                                   Race Eelandii VTGP [Tropicorp TRE-2T24V8]                                                    Tropicorp Racing Supply                      13
16 82 ▍LMN Kinu Luminna                                  Preston Autos [Preston Autos Skychief V6]                                                    Brimstone                                    12
17 95 ▍BZW Hanna Berezowska                              HiTEN.gpt [Franklin WGP-X2]                                                                  Brimstone                                    8
18 14 ▍VIA Skiia Vialiv                                  HMG Grand Prix [Preston Autos Skychief V6]                                                   Tropicorp Racing Supply                      6
19 58 ▍KAM Shuhei Kamado                                 KISMO [Kissan Motors KS.APEX-01]                                                             Solymok                                      4
19 30 ▍MAR Otto Markul                                   WGPC Motorworks [Franklin WGP-X2]                                                            Blue Sulphurate                              4
21 96 ▍ARC William Archer                                Viska [Viska RG Motors]                                                                      Phoenician-In Motion                         3
22 85 ▍STO Olivia Stone                                  Cygnus [Sturmburgher PD02/25]                                                                Brimstone                                    2
23 84 ▍ANG Angela Stella Tan Fang Ling                   Preston Autos [Preston Autos Skychief V6]                                                    Brimstone                                    1
23 21 ▍HAZ Nik Hazrin Lutfi                              Piers Ivchenko [UrGa Zh-S-1000]                                                              Brimstone                                    1

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Constructors' standings

Pos NAT ▍Team [Engine]                                                                                Tyres                                        Pts
  1 NIM ▍Nexus Racing [Nexus Racing Paragon Warp]                                                     Phoenician-In Motion                         85
  2 ABL ▍Ælund Grand Prix [Ælund CMYK-T20V8H]                                                         Tropicorp Racing Supply                      85
  3 TMB ▍Pressley Racing [Tropicorp TRE-2T24V8]                                                       Tropicorp Racing Supply                      53
  4 DOU ▍Piers Ivchenko [UrGa Zh-S-1000]                                                              Brimstone                                    44
  5 PDN ▍Urotovsky-Gatutin [UrGa Zh-S-1000]                                                           Solymok                                      39
  6 AUR ▍Viska [Viska RG Motors]                                                                      Phoenician-In Motion                         36
  7 DCS ▍Pryfors Bilar [Pryfors Bilar]                                                                Phoenician-In Motion                         31
  8 HÜL ▍HMG Grand Prix [Preston Autos Skychief V6]                                                   Tropicorp Racing Supply                      29
  9 V&T ▍Race Eelandii VTGP [Tropicorp TRE-2T24V8]                                                    Tropicorp Racing Supply                      27
 10 ANM ▍KISMO [Kissan Motors KS.APEX-01]                                                             Solymok                                      25
 11 ESM ▍Cygnus [Sturmburgher PD02/25]                                                                Brimstone                                    22
 12 HVZ ▍Preston Autos [Preston Autos Skychief V6]                                                    Brimstone                                    13
 13 HDR ▍HiTEN.gpt [Franklin WGP-X2]                                                                  Brimstone                                    8
 14 WGP ▍WGPC Motorworks [Franklin WGP-X2]                                                            Blue Sulphurate                              4
 15 LIS ▍Eminent [Sidus 616W-1]                                                                       Blue Sulphurate                              0

A decision on the team license owned by Eminent will be taken following the mid-season break. The drivers who will take part in pre-qualifying and the sprint race starting grid for the Ajian Grand Prix will be communicated after this time.