I must admit that I haven't been really motivated to write this story despite having a broad idea of how this story unfolds. The reason is because I've been focusing on 'Culinary Rivals' which has basically become the flagship of my Fanfiction writing - and it's still ongoing. I can't believe it's been over three months since I've updated!
Still, in light of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend (and the title-decider between Hamilton and Rosberg), I'm finally updating!
Chapter thirteen: The Wall of Champions
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canada: many days later
The only race of Class One North America that wasn't hosted in the United States was finally underway. After qualifying from the previous day, things were going well for the X-Tech Racing Mercedes-AMG team. A second row lockout meant Aurora and Shade started the race in third and fourth positions, respectively.
That also meant they could employ their strategy to draft, slipstream, and fight for the overall win. Pole position was secured for the third time by Alain Blanc in the Belgian Audi Club RS 5 DTM, and second position was taken by Virgin Racing USA's Red Bull Nissan GT-R, driven by the Mexican Michelle Martinez.
At the beginning of the race, Shade and Aurora were instructed to keep a steady pace in the opening lap. This was not only because they needed to find their pace and warm up the tyres to increase grip, but also because of what might happen in the last chicane with so many cars fighting on the first lap. It was better to have things sorted out first.
Shade knew enough about the Canadian track to understand what the strategy meant during briefing. The infamous Wall of Champions was dangerous enough already and at it would only be worse if a high volume of cars came into the final chicane at once. Only so many would suffer the consequences.
In Formula One, the wall was known for the times a driver had crashed here. Such examples involved Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve, and Sebastian Vettel. But despite how much slower the Class One cars were in comparison to Formula One, it was still a dangerous section of track, as the Class One cars were capable of high cornering speeds.
Indeed, in the opening lap, the engineers' predictions were spot on. While their Mercedes-AMG C-Coupé DTMs closely followed Alain Blanc's Audi into the final sector, the Nighsworn siblings were almost tempted to overtake the Audi but they were strongly advised not to do so immediately. Shade objected but he complied with the order anyway, and soon enough the Belgian Audi Club RS 5 DTM exited the chicane…
…and ended up grinding against the infamous Wall of Champions. This not only caused damage to his car's front wing, but caused him to lose a bit of control too. As a result, Shade and Aurora – who followed the advice of their engineer – slipped into respectively 3rd and 2nd positions. The Red Bull Nissan GT-R had taken the lead.
"Well done. At this rate, we'll be on course for another podium finish," the engineer said. "Push, push, push."
Even worse for the Audi, the collision also meant a drop out of the top five. The BMW EfficientDynamics M4 DTM and the Hudson's Bay Company BMW M4 DTM flew right by it as well, and by then Alain Blanc's Audi was under pressure from the other Virgin Racing USA Nissan and the Accelerated Racing Microsoft Nissan GT-R.
Far ahead, things were going the Nighsworns' way. With constant slipstreaming and overtaking, they were able to pass the Red Bull Nissan GT-R and kept on pressing on.
The field, after the incident on the opening lap with the Audi, had finally sorted itself after two laps. The Mercedes duo looked unstoppable as they continued to build on their aggressive lead. It seemed like they were more motivated to build on the podium finish they had in Austin.
Now halfway through the race, the battles were tight. The pit window was open at this time and by then the Mercedes duo had built a commanding lead – almost 12 seconds ahead of the pace. With such an advantage, the engineers took the opportunity to radio Shade in – who was running behind his sister.
"Box now. Box now," the engineer said. "If we time it right, Aurora will be able to leave the pit lane ahead of you and in time for her to make up a lot of ground."
"Okay," Shade replied.
Due to the penalty he received from the previous race – unjustified in his opinion – Percy's Honda had his qualifying position demoted to 14th place. At the same time, his teammate Carina had qualified in a sufficient 11th place. While in position to attack for points, the UK-based team realised they were going to have to increase their performance if they were going to challenge for the championship.
Angered, Percy made his push from this far back in the grid on the second lap. The Petronas Lexus RC F and ahead made an error at the circuit's hairpin by going in too quickly. Percy, taking advantage of this, attacked from the inside and slipped one place ahead.
By the halfway point of the race, Percy had made up seven places and shot into 7th place. He passed the IKEA Honda NSX-GT on the way but on almost every lap he nearly, nearly, hit the Wall of Champions. Many times he exited the chicane and onto the runoff kerb, but he only barely touched the wall.
However, on this lap it was this tactic that allowed Percy to carry enough speed to overtake another car. With dangerous speed, Percy maneuvered his Honda to catch up to the Pearl Red Oracle Nissan GT-R and overtook it on the straight before crossing the start line to take 6th.
"Box, box, box," his engineer instructed.
"Okay, okay. Got it," Percy said, satisfied he had managed to pass that Luna Watson. At this rate, he might be able to get a podium finish!
Midway through the second sector, Percy continued bringing his engine to astonishingly high revs and, lo and behold, saw the rear of the Hudson's Bay Company BMW M4 DTM, with the unmistakable stripes of the clothing company in sight.
I have you now! Percy thought.
Carina, on the other hand, had managed to make up one place to recover her starting position of 11th, as Percy had overtaken her earlier.
Driving past barriers and trees made Leon Pinetree think this was less of a city racetrack and more like a private park. Indeed, while Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was located on an island in itself, Leon was surprised he was even in Montréal to begin with.
"Maria will be pitting ahead of you, so box on the next lap," Durant instructed.
"She's holding out well," Leon admitted, as he drove the car through the second sector. There were one or two chicanes in the sector that surprisingly had a lot of open area as opposed to the relative straightaway the sector provided.
Leon took notice of the grandstands where thousands of C1TM fans sat and watched the touring cars pass by. He followed Maria's BMW which was a decent pace ahead of him, and while Leon continued to follow his cousin to the hairpin, he took caution of the Honda in his mirrors. Wow, wasn't this the car that had an accident in Austin? It sure looked like it.
He breathed steadily as he continued to add more power to the engine and feeling the heat of over 500 horsepower fill up the cockpit. It made him feel more and more dehydrated every second, so Leon used the drinking system to hydrate whenever he needed.
He looked through his helmet and tried to keep up with Maria while passing the hairpin, at which the Honda behind him made a bid to attack. Fortunately for Leon, the attack failed, as he was able to enter the corner through the inside. He felt the kerbs rumble against the right side of his car and afterwards exited at full throttle.
It was a fierce dual between the BMW and the Honda as the cars zipped through the longest stretch of track on the circuit. The cars were neck-and-neck with the BMW on the left side and the Honda on the right.
It seemed like the Honda had the upper hand, though, because it was also building off of the slipstream of the BMW EfficientDynamics M4 DTM. At the final chicane, before the Honda attempted to attack Maria's BMW, Leon saw it follow Maria into the pit entry and slowing down to about 50 km/h. Shrugging and free of pressure, Leon carefully slowed down to enter the final chicane and exited quickly to regain some speed – and at the same time avoiding contact with the insidious Wall of Champions as he began chase to the Red Bull Nissan GT-R.
The pit crew of BMW Team Canada had already unwrapped prime tyres from the tyre warmers and the crew of thirteen pit stop members prepared for work. They had seen one of the leading Mercedes cars, the Monster Energy Mercedes-AMG C-Coupé DTM to be specific, pass by their pit box and saw the X-Tech Racing crew get to work, with the sound of wheel guns drilling and air jacks firing. Many seconds later, Dr. Dan Hilbert informed them of Maria's upcoming approach.
They saw the Crystal White BMW M4 DTM approach the lane and swipe into the pit box. Immediately an air pump was injected to its side to power the pneumatic air jacks, with four wheel guns drilled into the wheels to unscrew them. The wheel gun handlers then passed off the used tyres to a member beside them and let a third member put in the hot prime tyre almost immediately after, in which the wheel guns were drilled to screw the tyre on and the air pump removed to release the jacks and send the car off.
It hadn't taken long, but the time Maria had taken to drive through the pit lane was costly enough already. As soon as the jacks went down she revved the engine in an effort to accelerate as much as possible whilst keeping to the speed limit.
If all went well, she could challenge for her first podium on home ground, when her parents would be watching her.
The prime tyres weren't really as fast as the option tyres, Maria admitted, but she had no choice. Leon would probably be making up more ground and arrive half a lap later or something like that.
Luna Watson had just completed her tyre change and began powering onto the track to rejoin the field in 10th place, which was unfortunate as she had been doing well in 7th in the earlier stage until a technical problem at the Wall of Champions caused her to grind her Nissan GT-R against the wall. Fortunately the car could still move, but it had cost her a lot of time, in which her sister car the Microsoft Nissan GT-R had made up ground on her.
It didn't seem like she was in position to get a podium here in Canada after all. The Mercedes duo was dominating the race, as it happened. After her tyre change, her sister car had overtaken her.
Just keep pushing for points, she thought.
She managed to rejoin the field and as she looked in the mirrors for an opening, she saw the Belgian Audi Club RS 5 DTM pass by her. Luna was surprised. Had the Audi fallen behind this badly?!
Meanwhile, the two cars ahead of her had just completed the first sector, with Luna's Oracle Nissan GT-R not far behind. She passed by another chicane and the grandstands on the way, and continued to try to make ground throughout the second sector.
By the time she completed the hairpin, the Nissan was well following in the Audi's tracks. However, from the data given by her engineer, she was neither gaining nor losing ground on the Audi. It seemed quite constant.
On the longest straight, the Class-One touring cars led by the Toshiba Mercedes-AMG C-Coupé DTM and the Monster Energy Mercedes-AMG C-Coupé DTM began to make the most of accelerating to top speed. Four pistons within each engine powered the cars to dynamic proportions and still kept going. Not far behind, as the Mercedes powered their way to the final chicane, the Red Bull Nissan GT-R and the EfficientDynamics BMW entered the chicane as well, followed by the Pepsi Honda NSX-GT.
However, when Luna went to enter the chicane herself, she saw through her side windows the race marshals waving yellow flags around. Had there been in accident? Yes there was. The Need for Speed Audi RS 5 DTM was out of action, as it was clear it was stopped still by the Wall of Champions.
For the most part for Luna, the race was going smoothly. Staying in the points was important and she watched the Hudson's Bay BMW M4 DTM exit the pit lane of which Luna saw quite far away. With the Audi out, this allowed Luna to bump up to 9th place again.
"We are seeing fierce competition here in Canada, and for those of you who are just tuning in, the Mercedes-Benz racers are unstoppable. I think either one of those two will get the win here," the broadcaster said. "However, it is the battle for 3rd that we are really interested in."
The pit window had closed several laps later as the field sorted itself further. Changes in the lead occurred almost exclusively between the X-Tech Racing Mercedes, with the Red Bull Nissan, the EfficientDynamics BMW, and the Pepsi Honda battling it out for 3rd. Meanwhile, the Hudson's Bay Company BMW was leading ahead of the Belgian Audi Club Audi, the Oracle Nissan and its sister car the Microsoft Nissan.
But it happened in the final quarter of laps for the Pepsi Honda NSX-GT, when Percy O'Carroll attempted to fight out with Michelle Martinez's Red Bull Nissan GT-R, did he make a huge mistake.
Entering the final chicane, he attempted to slip into the chicane and cut past the Nissan on the outside curve, but unable to control just how fast he was going into the chicane the car eventually carried its speed forward and – inevitably – smashed against the Wall of Champions.
"Oh my gosh!" Percy roared, slamming his fists against the race wheel. Lucky for him the wheel didn't snap, and he had to unfasten the safety harnesses keeping him attached to his seat so he could exit the car.
"Are you okay, Percy?" the engineer radioed.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Percy replied, trying to calm down as he may. "The car will need to have some parts replaced, though."
It wasn't before long that a dozen more cars had flown by him – albeit at a relatively slow speed because of the yellow flags. First the Hudson's Bay Company BMW M4 DTM, and then the Oracle Nissan GT-R (whom Percy suspected the driver must be laughing at him).
On the other hand, far ahead, the accident and yellow flags meant it looked like the Mercedes had the win in the bag. The safety car – a BMW M4 GTS – was deployed as the marshals with heavy equipment attempted to clean up the damage on what was the most dangerous section of track on Circuit Giles Villeneuve.
That went without saying the C1TM racers had to be notified of the incident as well.
"Yellow flag," Luna's radio sounded.
"Aw but at this rate we'll never get more points," Luna complained, as she swerved her car left and right to slow down and follow the Microsoft Nissan and the WRT Audi at a much slower pace. With only several laps to go, it seemed impossible to improve further.
"But at least we'll pick up a double points finish. That's more than enough for the team."
"I suppose you're right."
By the time the green flag went down, Maria knew she was in an excellent position for a podium finish. She rocketed forward to overtake the Red Bull Nissan on the opening straight to try to stay close to the Mercedes duo, but once again it was like the Mercedes were in a league of their own.
That is, they gained about a tenth of second for every sector, which was about three tenths of a second a lap. That was a lot of distance covered!
"Push that pace, Maria. We'll get locked-in podium at this rate, even if you and Leon are 0.3 seconds a lap off the pace from the leaders," Durant said.
Maria slammed her foot down to rev up the engine even more. It seemed like her car was trying to behave as furiously as she was – whether she flew by the next chicane, past the hairpin, and through the final chicane to barely graze the Wall of Champions.
As Maria tried to push the pace again, she was once again forced to slow down because of another yellow flag being waved at the start/finish straight. One of the Lexuses of Runway Racing, the number 16 Tesco Lexus RC F, had grinded to a halt on the grass – most due to the Wall of Champions.
After passing the straight, the marshals at the end were waving green flags again, and this time Maria took an opportunity to get closer to the Mercedes. With the Red Bull Nissan a ways behind her, perhaps this was the only shot of getting a podium. That is, if Maria didn't end up crashing her BMW on the Wall of Champions as well.
And that's Race 3 of the Class One North America!