It may seem crazy to put in some of the content in this chapter in my own POV, but WHAT ELSE WAS I GONNA DO!? I'm a participant myself so I'd pretty much have no choice.
Anyways, enjoy this chapter on the 2014 season opener.
ROUND 1
SPEEDIAPOLIS 500 – SPEEDIAPOLIS RING, U.S.A.
February 16, 2014
SEGA were already showing good pace for their chances of defending their 2013 title which came courtesy of Sonic himself. Tails Prower had won the exhibition shootout at SPEEDIAPOLIS on February 9 in his first-ever appearance for the Nissan/Toyota team. In the coming days, SEGA had all four of their participants post incredibly fast lap times, leaving Diddy Kong worried about how slow his pace was already proving to be.
However, on Wednesday, February 12, I would go on to be the fastest qualifier, as I drove my light blue Nissan around the 2.489 mile brick-shaped superspeedway in 45.151 seconds. Tails was the second-fastest, followed by Sonic, then Diddy Kong, putting all four Nissan/Toyota team cars in the top four grid slots. So, … I guess you could say that SEGA were still looking near-invincible.
In the qualifying duels on Thursday, I won the first duel while Diddy took the second one, showing that Nissan's potential had not been lost.
Come Sunday! The skies were completely gray. Clouds were everywhere and the outdoor temperatures were very cold, but there was no hint of snow falling anytime soon.
I had left the drivers' meeting that morning with many things on my mind, such as when Diddy Kong was going to be announced into the new Super Smash Bros. game. However, the biggest thing on my mind was the fact that the long wait to the start of the 2014 season was finally over! I felt like I couldn't wait to get in that Nissan and take off at 200 miles per hour around the SPEEDIAPOLIS RING.
Minutes before the race, I couldn't help but have a quick word with Diddy before we got strapped into our Nissans. There was something on my mind that morning that made me feel a lot of sympathy towards him, yet I almost didn't want to mention it to him.
"Hey," I said as I approached him next to his Nismo GT-R, "I wonder why the long face today?"
"Oh, I was just expecting that I'd be on the Smash roster at some point this week (Diddy had not been announced yet at that point) with my latest adventure with DK hitting the Japanese gaming market on Thursday, … but it didn't happen."
I placed a hand on his shoulder, "I still have my faith that they'll announce you eventually. Probably next week when it hits the market in the rest of the world."
Just as I finished my sentence, Diddy turned to face me and gave me a faint grin.
"I sure hope you're right, pal," he said.
"I'm pretty sure my prediction may be correct," I replied, "Now why don't we think about that some other time … and shift our focus to this race."
With that, we gave each other a high-five and a handshake, then I walked over to my car which was sitting at the front of the grid.
As I approached my car, my engineer walked up to me.
"We didn't touch a single component on this setup. It's been proven perfect all week and we're gonna keep it that way."
"Thanks," I said back to him, "We're gonna need that," and I opened the door and climbed into my car.
Within the next minute, I was strapped in and just about ready to see those grid lights go off.
I sat there, waiting in the last moments of anticipation before the command finally came:
"GENTLEMEN, … START … YOUR … ENGINES!"
I flipped the start switch and the engine right behind my cockpit burst into life. I cautiously pushed down on the gas pedal with my right foot to rev up the engine to ensure it would be warmed up and ready for 500 miles.
Moments later, I looked through my windshield and saw the safety car's lights turn on right in front of me. That meant that in just about a few seconds we were going to be doing a few warm-up laps behind the safety car.
Just the lights came on, the new 2014 Chevrolet Corvette pace car peeled away from the start/finish line with myself being the first car to follow. Tails would follow me during the warm-up laps.
As the warm-up laps were taking place, the starting grid for the 56th SPEEDIAPOLIS 500 would look like this:
ROW 1
1. myself – NISSAN R390 GT1; 2. Miles "Tails" Prower – TOYOTA EXXON Superflo Supra
ROW 2
3. Sonic the Hedgehog – TOYOTA GT-one; 4. Diddy Kong – XANAVI NISMO GT-R
ROW 3
5. Greg Richards – AUDI R8 TEAM GOH 2003; 6. Bob Stu, Jr. - HONDA G'ZOX NSX
ROW 4
7. Shadow the Hedgehog – AUDI R8 TEAM GOH 2004; 8. Al Reder, Jr. - MAZDA 787B
ROW 5
9. Knuckles the Echidna – McLaren F1 GTR; 10. Pedro Fernandes – OPEL Astra V8 Coupe 24h
ROW 6
11. Jean Dubois – Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM
After three warm-up laps, the safety car turned towards the pit lane and I led the field back to our grid slots. As soon as the ten cars behind me were all lined up in their slots, we waited for a few more seconds before the lights above the start/finish line began to turn on.
This was it! 200 laps. 500 miles. Enthusia fans had waited all winter for this! The teams had worked for weeks to get ready for this prestigious event, and now it was time to see if all that work could pay off.
One light, two lights, three lights, four lights, five lights, … and finally they all turned off again, which meant only one thing: GO!
Immediately, I shifted into first gear and stomped on the gas pedal with every piece of strength my body had, and began to accelerate quickly going into the first corner.
I stayed in the lead for almost the whole first lap until Diddy Kong, whom had started fourth, was already up to speed and had passed Sonic and Tails, and was now right behind me.
I made no attempt to block Diddy, although he did give me a little bump draft to boost me before he eventually passed me for the lead before the end of the first lap. As Diddy crossed the start/finish line he had already just earned himself five bonus points counted towards the Professional Cup championship for leading a lap.
From there, Diddy refused to look back. He quickly zoomed off and I found myself in a battle for second place with Sonic, Tails, Greg Richards and Al Reder, Jr.. It wasn't long before Shadow showed up from nowhere and joined the second-place melee, but none of us were a match for challenging Diddy for the lead.
Diddy had just about pulled up a five-second gap to second place when the first round of pit stops took place around lap 40.
Diddy seemed to be a master with his fuel mileage, being the last to pit on lap 42. Even after his stop, he was still leading, but by then the rest of us had just about caught up with him.
Sonic, Shadow and I all got a chance to lead during the second quarter of the race, each winning five bonus points for leading at the start/finish line the first time we did so. However, Diddy was not about to let himself back off and fall out of the draft. After several more lead changes, Diddy made another one and began to lead for quite a while … again.
The remaining laps of the first half were relatively uneventful, even after the second round of pit stops, in which Diddy was again the last to pit and got out of the pits still with a comfortable lead.
Then, just after we hit the halfway point of the race, French debutant Jean Dubois had a run-in with the outside wall coming out of turn four, trashing the front of his Mercedes. The next thing I saw was that the yellow lights on the wire fences over the outside barriers were flashing, meaning that the officials were about to deploy the safety car and temporarily slow down the race.
Diddy Kong led us back to the start/finish line and reduced his speed once he had caught up behind the safety car. As the rest of us approached Diddy, we slammed our brakes and lined up single file behind him.
I took the opportunity to radio my engineer about wanting to alter my strategy for the second half. I was not happy with the way my car was performing during the first half and I desperately wanted to find a way to stay in the game. I was feeling pretty sure that my car's setup was a little bit tight in the exit of the corners. I had been having to jerk my steering wheel way off to the left like crazy just to get it to turn properly.
Unfortunately, nobody dared to pit under the caution, so I had to cope with oversteer for just a little while longer. As the safety car pulled back into the pits, the green flag came out and we were soon back up to speed in full racing conditions.
Diddy didn't keep his lead for long, though. Al Reder, Jr. soon charged his way through the pack like a rocket blasting by stars in space and was soon right behind Diddy.
On lap 117, Reder bumped the back of Diddy's car going into turn two. Diddy just about got a little bit sideways and was only just lucky enough to avoid spinning, but Reder dove to the inside lane and passed him for the lead. Diddy was not happy at all.
Reder had always been an occasional rule breaker during his career and even now with more than twenty years of experience, he would still try to knock others out of the way to gain another position.
Diddy tried to fight back, but Reder kept his speed up and was quickly running alone, leaving Diddy stuck in second place for now.
I soon caught up with Diddy and decided to tuck in behind his car and bump draft him down the straights to give him some extra speed. Sadly, this did nothing to help us catch Reder's Mazda.
Soon after, Diddy radioed me on his teammate communicator and claimed that he wanted to accuse Reder of cheating, which he had done in the past and had often gotten away with it, but Diddy was determined that Reder wouldn't get away with it this time.
Reder would keep running alone for quite a while.
On lap 123, I made my third pit stop and took the opportunity to tweak the setup that they claimed was perfect but proved not to be.
As soon as my fuel tank was filled to the max and I had four fresh tires fitted on my car, I peeled out and hoped that my handling problems were over. Sure enough, within a few laps, I was convinced that my car was now handling the way it properly should be, and I started posting very fast lap times, but Diddy still had the fastest lap of the race.
On lap 156, Pedro Fernandes made contact with Shadow the Hedgehog and went for a spin coming out of turn one while Shadow continued without any considerable damage done to his Audi. Fernandes recovered and got his yellow Opel running again, but the spin still triggered the caution lights, so we once again had to run behind the safety car.
Diddy felt very relieved that the safety car had come out. This would bunch the whole field again right behind Reder so everyone had a chance to go for the lead again.
Sonic and Tails were complaining about engine power issues with their Toyotas. However, everyone would be expected to pit under this caution. It would turn out to be the final pit stop of the day for everyone who was still running.
Reder led a ten-car snake down into the pit lane and everyone was over the wall and ready to perform their most important job of the day: the final pit stop that would be crucial for the closing laps.
As we approached our pit stalls, everyone went right to work. Last minute tweaks were made, the fuel tanks were filled up and the tires were changed one last time.
Diddy's crew was the fastest and got Nintendo's young Kong Country hero out of the pits back in the lead. I came out second, followed by Tails in third and Sonic in fourth. Reder came out fifth, losing four positions.
However, when the green flag came back out on lap 160, Reder was back into second place within about thirty seconds. He bumped me out of the way to steal second place back. I felt my heart pounding like crazy as I struggled to keep the car straight after Reder bumped me, but I was able to prevent myself from slowing down too much and risk dropping out of the lead draft, but I could feel all of my blood being turned into adrenaline. I felt so unhappy with Reder's behavior and wanted to knock the orange and green Mazda out of my sight, but he kept going and began to chase Diddy again.
Fifteen laps later, Reder knocked Diddy out of the way again and recaptured the lead.
At that moment, Diddy had had enough! Remembering those rough times in the nineties when Reder had a vicious rivalry with Donkey Kong, in which DK was almost always the victim during the 1995-1998 period, Diddy was determined to prove to his family once again that the Kong family name could still fight back against the North Carolinian superstar.
On the very next lap, as we came out of turn four, Diddy approached Reder and gave him a small tap on his left rear fender. I watched Reder's car veer sideways towards the left and head towards the inside retaining wall that separated the track surface from the pit lane. Reder's Mazda smacked the wall hard and slid back up the track into the outside wall towards the grandstands.
As I was about to approach Reder's wrecked car, I jerked my steering wheel to the left and just about blended right down to the retaining wall without making contact with it. As I passed the stricken Mazda, I had just about escaped being smacked in the driver's side door (right side).
The other cars running behind me also made a narrow escape from a possible near-fatal collision with the Mazda. Some of them had to jerk their steering wheels in a panic state to avoid crashing into Reder's wrecked car.
As for Reder's rivalry with the Kongs (only DK and Diddy have ever competed with him), Diddy had once again prevailed and Reder was left with a wrecked car. The Kong family name had taken him down once again, although Diddy had now done it many more times than DK had been able to.
The safety car was on the track just a moment later with Diddy Kong as the race leader again and me running in second place. Shadow was running in third just ahead of Sonic, Tails, Greg Richards and Knuckles. Bob Stu, Jr. had eighth place with Pedro Fernandes in ninth.
At this point, nine cars were still running, and with just over twenty laps to go by the time the race restarted again, it looked as if it would be down to the top seven to settle the score as Stu and Fernandes quickly proved too slow the keep up in the draft.
However, just ten laps later, the caution came out again. I had no idea why they would be deploying the safety car in a situation like this! This was supposed to be the run to the finish.
I eventually got a reply from my engineer informing me that there was a piece of debris on the track, somewhere in turn one. I could only have guessed that it may have been from Fernandes' earlier spin, but it could also have been from casual contact between two other cars rubbing against each other at some point during the race. Still, though, I had no idea how that piece of debris ended up there, but the race officials wanted it removed now so as to improve safety and take down the risk of someone cutting a tire to shreds.
Eventually, the debris was removed, and the green flag flew once more. There were now seven laps to go, and Diddy Kong still led.
I stayed right behind my Nissan teammate until lap 196 when Shadow sneaked his Audi right under me in turn four and overtook me by surprise to take second place. I was not expecting him to do something like that, given that he was only a rookie. He never had any experience in the series until today.
Not so long afterward, Sonic slipped by for third place in turn three on the next lap. It soon became quite apparent that I was not going to be able to win my third SPEEDIAPOLIS 500.
I soon found myself just ahead of Tails and Knuckles, and we were locked in a battle for fourth place. Diddy was also in for a final battle. Shadow and Sonic quickly caught up with him after taking me out of his draft.
It would come down to those three to settle it for the 2014 SPEEDIAPOLIS 500.
Throughout the final five laps, Diddy kept his foot on the gas and blocked each and every move that Shadow made in his attempt to become the first rookie to win the SPEEDIAPOLIS 500. Sonic stayed put in third place, deciding that it would be best to help a teammate win, but he would have to get by Shadow first.
Meanwhile, I was still holding off Tails and Knuckles in my deepest efforts to keep fourth place and the 405 points that would come with it. I never let my right foot off that gas pedal. I may not have had a chance to win it anymore, but I still wanted to rack up as many points as possible.
Diddy had his chance to get the maximum amount of points possible: 560. That included the 550 points for first place plus ten bonus points for leading the most laps during the race.
After about two more minutes, the white flag was seen waving over the start/finish line, meaning that the 200th and final lap was about to begin!
Diddy was still holding off Shadow and Sonic. As they came out of turn two, Shadow made one last attempt to take the win away from the former Nintendo champion, but as he was approaching the dark red and gray Nissan Skyline GT-R, Diddy swerved into his lane and Shadow found himself looking at nothing but the back of Diddy's #23.
Down the back stretch, Diddy had Shadow looking as if he was pushing him down the straight, although it was really Diddy blocking him to prevent him from getting by. He wanted to win the 500 just as bad as anyone else could, even though he had already won it once.
Into turn three they went for the final time, and Diddy tackled the last two turns faster than Shadow, and he pulled away from the dark silver Audi.
As soon as Diddy was out of the last turn, the butterflies in his stomach were just about going away. He knew he was going to do it. He could see that checkered flag before his engineer even told him it was there! He could feel some happiness coming to him.
The next thing that everyone would say was:
"DIDDY KONG WINS THE SPEEDIAPOLIS 500!"
Sure enough, Diddy crossed the line and won his second SPEEDIAPOLIS 500! Shadow crossed the line only a second and a half later, followed closely by Sonic in third.
While the top three cars crossed the line, I still had to keep Tails and Knuckles behind me as they were still trying to take that fourth position away from me. Once I got out of turn four and could see the end of this race coming, I let out a sigh while, at the same time, keeping an eye on my mirror in case one of those two SEGA stars behind me (one of which was a teammate, ironically) would dare make a move on me. They didn't, and I crossed the line with a fourth place finish while Tails took the last top five slot with Knuckles coming in sixth.
Greg Richards finished seventh with Bob Stu, Jr., eighth, and Pedro Fernandes, the ninth and last car across the line.
My engineer seemed to be impressed with a fourth place finish, knowing that its never easy racing at SPEEDIAPOLIS.
"405 points in the bag. That should be a good start to the season," my engineer radioed me.
I could only feel like saying, "Hey, … it's only the beginning of the year. It may count now, but it will count even more, come the later times."
At that moment, the next thing I heard was my engineer telling me that Diddy had won the race. That put a smile on my face. My most-trusted teammate and best racing ally had succeeded again.
This was the second time that Diddy Kong had won the SPEEDIAPOLIS 500. He became the first video game character ever to win the race more than once, and he succeeded me as the youngest-ever repeat-winner of the 500.
As the cool-down lap began, Diddy was going absolutely crazy! As he was driving his victory lap, he gave out a bunch of loud cheers in his radio and monkeyed around a bit in his car while he was still moving at about 100 miles per hour!
As I drove past Sonic and Shadow during the cool-down lap, I could see Diddy's car ahead with a rolled down window and a fist sticking out of it. I could tell right away that it was him going wacky in celebration. I pulled up alongside him and waved a hand at him to congratulate him for his victory. I looked through his window and saw him give me a thumbs up in return! Friends will be friends!
As Tails and I were about to pull our cars back into our team's garage, we stopped on pit road by the start/finish line to watch Diddy do his victory donuts, which he followed with a burnout show! Smoke came bursting from his tires and from behind his car and flew everywhere.
Tails and I eventually parked our cars in the garage, as did four other drivers.
Shadow and Sonic parked their cars in parc ferme, where the top three finishers would go. They were soon joined by Diddy.
I got out of my car with a lot of sweat pouring out of me. I looked around the garage, and the nearest bottle of water I could see, I grabbed it and drank the whole thing down in about a minute!
Shortly afterward, Tails and I walked out into the open pit area and made a run down the pit lane to watch the podium ceremonies. A bunch of guys from our pit crews also came to join us.
Thousands of people had the whole place filled up. They were waiting anxiously to see Diddy, Shadow and Sonic appear on the podium stage and take those three steps that only the top three race finishers would have the honor of celebrating on.
Within five minutes, we heard the sound of about a hundred thousand people cheering as loud as they could as Sonic appeared from behind the stage and took the right side step with the number three on it for finishing in third place. He was quickly joined by Shadow who took the step on the left with the number two on it for second place.
Then came the one whom everyone was waiting for: Diddy Kong!
Diddy ran up to the stage and did some of his trademark acrobatic jumps in celebration and waved to everyone in the crowd in a friendly salute before he took the higher step right in the middle of the stage with the number one on it.
The three drivers were joined by a senior representative of the Nissan/Toyota team along with special political icons of America.
The Japanese national anthem played (once only) for both Nintendo (the winning company, therefore counting as the winning nationality in some record books) and Nissan/Toyota Racing (the winning team).
In the moments that followed, we watched Diddy receive his winner's trophy, our senior team member receive the team's trophy, Shadow receive his second-place trophy and Sonic receive the third-place trophy.
This was followed by a symbolic tradition in the SPEEDIAPOLIS 500 (as is also the case at Indianapolis), the Winner's Quart of Milk!
An member of the Board of Enthusia walked up to the stage and handed Diddy the quart of milk. We were expecting him to simply open it and pour it down his throat immediately, but on this day he seemed to take a little more time than he did four years ago when he first won this race. Perhaps, he was trying to fight off some sweat.
This seemed to give Shadow and Sonic just enough time to find a way to keep the celebrations going fast.
As Diddy was wiping the sweat off his wet face with one hand, Sonic grasped the milk from Diddy's other hand while Shadow reached over and removed the cap from the quart-sized carton. Then, they each grabbed one of Diddy's shoulders and, with one big lift, they lifted the milk over Diddy's face. The milk poured out of the carton and down Diddy's throat as it should.
I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the two hedgehogs pinning Diddy's arms down and forcing the milk into his face like that. It was even the first time I had ever seen Shadow in such a mood like that, too, something I never thought I'd see in my life! In all of the madness going on down on pit road, I could hear others laughing, too.
I could only imagine if a picture like that would be symbolic of something between Nintendo and SEGA. I knew only one thing, Nintendo would celebrate while SEGA would just be a part of it and contemplate on the next race. Perhaps, the next time Diddy and Sonic saw each other at the so-called Smash Mansion, they'd be receiving a lot of attention for what happened here at SPEEDIAPOLIS, particularly this moment with Sonic and Shadow shoving the SPEEDIAPOLIS 500 Winner's Quart of Milk down Diddy's throat and all over his face while on the big podium stage!
Once the two hedgehogs had poured all of the milk down Diddy's throat, they finally let go of his arms and set the empty carton down on the stage floor. Diddy wiped the milk off his messy face and let out a little laugh at the hedgehogs' milk gag.
After a few more minutes of celebrating on the podium, the three video game characters stepped off the three steps and left the stage, each carrying their trophies with them.
Tails and I scooted out of the pit lane madness and sneaked back into the more quiet garage environment where our team was celebrating Diddy's win.
The moment we walked in, however, there were a couple of guys with microphones and some walking cameramen. It could only mean one thing: the media!
Oh, how hard it is to handle post-race interviews can be quite cruel, but I'd been in the series through seven previous seasons already, so I knew how to handle the press!
Tails and I were interviewed side-by-side so the media could speed up the process. This gave me a chance to hear what the young fox had to say about his first race with our team. Just as he finished, I pointed my finger to him and said, "This kid's got potential," before giving him a pat in the back while the camera was still on us. Surely, at that moment the television viewers got to see how much I'd soon find this pal of Sonic's to be a very reliable teammate.
As soon as the media was out of our faces, we waited for Diddy and Sonic to come back from their post-race interviews in the podium press room. Some of our crew members were watching them and Shadow on the television broadcast, so Tails and I joined in with them.
It took them about seven minutes for the three to answer every question the media answered before they finally let them out.
Tails and I, along with a few crew members, strolled past the back of the garage and into the paddock area to look for Diddy and Sonic.
We eventually found them with their first-place and third-place trophies in hand.
The next thing I saw was Donkey Kong running up to Diddy and scooping him up in his arms. He hugged him tightly and congratulated him for his win.
"C'mon, now. Give your little nephew some space!" said Sonic.
"Don't worry, Sonic. I'm not gonna drop this trophy," replied Diddy, knowing what his acrobatics made him capable of.
DK carefully let Diddy back on his feet.
"Say, uh, … why don't we put this trophy in our paddock room for now," said Diddy to DK.
"Good idea, little buddy," replied DK, "I can't wait when we bring that trophy home tonight!"
Diddy let out another victory scream as he made his way to his paddock room.
I turned to see Sonic approach me and offer me a high-five for a great finish. I laid my hand out in front of me and Sonic gave it a slap.
"Your first race in that red machine and you get a podium finish. You really do have an unbreakable potential," I commented.
"Pretty words from a team captain," replied Sonic, "You had a good run yourself, too."
"True, but … not quite as well as I normally would run here," I said.
At that moment, Tails walked up from behind me and joined the conversation.
"Just one race, and the whole team's already got over 1,500 points!" he said.
"Believe me, we've done that before," I commented.
"I know that, but … considering the pace we had today, … I think there's room for a few tweaks in the some of the setup packages."
I couldn't keep myself from grinning at Tails' comment.
"Now there's another reason why we chose you to replace Junior," I said to him, "You can tell when it's time for the guys to update the packages. It somehow amazes me that after just one race with us, you can already tell when we're gonna need it. That could really be a big help to just about everyone involved with the team."
Tails grinned back at me, "I guess you couldn't have said it any better."
"I told you he's got some potential in him," said Sonic, "His technical knowledge is gonna make this team better than what it already is."
I couldn't agree more with Sonic's words.
"Well, … can't wait for March to begin, then, huh?" I said.
"Me neither," said Tails.
At that moment, I was remembering something else, something that had to do with Diddy Kong, even something that Sonic might know about. I turned back to the blue hedgehog.
"Say, … uh, … I've been noticing Diddy's mood off the track lately really hasn't been very bright. He says he's tired of waiting to be announced into the roster for the upcoming Super Smash Bros. tournaments. I was wondering, since you made it in, if you'd have any idea if it might happen or not?"
Sonic tapped his foot several times, seeming as if he was trying to think of something to say.
"Listen, uh, … don't tell Diddy about this, … but … as far as I understand it, … it's very possible he might make it in this upcoming week."
I didn't feel 100% sure, but I wanted to believe that Diddy would soon be in.
The bottom line was that, for now Diddy could keep a smile on his face for at least a few days, given that he had just won the SPEEDIAPOLIS 500 again.
It was proven just five days later that Sonic's prediction was correct, as on Friday, February 21, on the day of the American/European release of "Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze", Diddy was indeed announced into the new SSB roster, much to my relief, and his.
After one race out of twenty-one, the points looked like this:
Diddy Kong – 560 points
Shadow the Hedgehog – 505 points
Sonic the Hedgehog – 455 points
myself – 405 points
Miles "Tails" Prower – 350 points
Knuckles the Echidna – 300 points
Greg Richards – 250 points
Bob Stu, Jr. - 200 points
Pedro Fernandes – 150 points
Al Reder, Jr. - 105 points
Jean Dubois – 50 points
With Diddy Kong celebrating a SPEEDIAPOLIS win, he was already proving to be a favorite to win his badly-wanted third championship.
Coming up in chapter 3, the Professional Cup Series heads to the streets in the capital of England as the 400-mile VICTORIA race would truly wear the drivers out in the first step of March's march.
