And it's race day for Ruby, will she be able to convert her pole position to first place in the race? Wait and see...
Oh, and also, this is gonna be based off a real life track, so if any of you can guess it, you can have a cookie :D
Also, I didn't realise that this year they'd changed Kers to ERS, so thanks to vcdm for pointing that out! :)
Sunday- 10:01 AM- Race Day- Signal Grand Prix Race Track.
The green light came up, and the cars were off. Ruby used a bit of her ERS for a boost, and went in to the first corner with Yang trailing not too far behind. The cars went into the first corner, and Ruby braked sharply, and made her way round the turn. It curved one way, and then curved the other way. To Ruby's alarm, Yang was almost level, and she had the inside advantage on Ruby, but Ruby wasn't having it. She used ERS to give her another boost, and pulled away level with Yang, but at the next turn, which wasn't very sharp, Ruby had the inside advantage, and Yang had to move across or she would risk a penalty for knocking Ruby off the track.
Ruby grinned as they went into the fourth turn, and she still had the inside, so she pulled away from Yang with another boost from her Kers, and for the rest of the lap, Ruby lead, with Yang half a second behind her.
Over the next few laps, Ruby kept putting distance between herself and Yang, extending her lead to two seconds. Ruby and Weiss' team had upgraded the brakes in Practice, and Ruby found that the brakes were a lot more responsive, so she was allowed to be more aggressive on corners, braking late, and still managing to execute the turn perfectly.
"Okay Ruby, since our brakes are more responsive, there's been less tyre wear, so you can stay out longer, we'll tell you when the tyres are worn out, and you can pit in then."
"Got it," said Ruby. She rounded turn turn seven, which was quite a hard turn, as you had to be at an exact speed. Too slow, and you'd lose time, too fast, you would overshoot the turn, and also lose time. The turn wasn't very sharp, but it steadily went left, for quite a while. Also, you had to be at the right speed while exiting turn seven, because as you went into turn eight, it was a lot sharper than turn seven.
Ruby came up to turn nine, and turned the sharp corner, using a little bit more of her Kers to give her that boost. She went along the straight, and hit the brakes until she was down in second gear. She turned the corner, and drove along another straight, before approaching turn 11, and she didn't accelerate too much as she went into turn twelve, which was as sharp as turn eleven.
She managed to execute the turn perfectly, and checked her wing mirrors as the track straightened up. Yang was closing the gap now, and was just less than a second away from Ruby. Of course, Ruby couldn't tell this, but that meant that Yang was clear to use DRS. As they went down the longest straight in the track, Ruby saw Yang fast approaching thanks to the boost the DRS gave her.
"Not today Yang," said Ruby defiantly, as she cut across Yang's path. This would lose her time, but at least she could keep first place. Ruby was still ahead, having managed to fend her sister off, as she approached turn fourteen, and used the last of her Kers as she made the short turn at turn fifteen, and she turned left at turn sixteen, just managing to hit the apex. She looked in her mirror again, but cursed as she saw Yang was still right behind her.
The next few laps were pretty much the same, with Yang always within a second of Ruby, but never being able to pass her at the straight where DRS became available.
Lap 18/56
Yang had pitted at the last lap, and Ruby had been clear at the front for a while, but then she saw in the wing mirror that now Weiss, who had fought her way up from seventh, was getting closer.
"Ruby, Weiss is lapping faster than you, so you'll need to let her past."
"No way!" said Ruby. "Why should I do that? If I'm in first, then I deserve first!"
"Ruby, please, if Weiss is lapping well, and catching up, you don't want to mess up the rhythm."
Ruby sighed in frustration. She wanted to badly win, but it would look bad if she disobeyed team orders. She rounded turn sixteen, and checked the mirror again. Weiss was still catching up, maybe just more than a second behind her. But Ruby's competitive streak came out, so she didn't say anything and just drove on. As she rounded turn one, Weiss was almost directly behind her.
Weiss was number one driver, and she had been driving longer, so she had the better car technically, which was why she was catching up to Ruby so fast.
However, Ruby wouldn't let Weiss pass. She could see Weiss was trying to get past her, but Ruby just drove normally, and making it hard for Weiss to pass.
"Ruby, what are you doing? Let Weiss pass, she's pitting this lap, and if you slow her down, she might not be able to maintain her place, because Blake's catching up."
Ruby sighed. "But what about me? If I let Weiss past, then maybe I can't get my position!"
It was Ozpin's turn to sigh. "Ruby, I understand, but it's best for the team, because even if you do stay first, it won't stop Blake and Yang and the others from catching up."
"What, you're saying that you don't think I can keep first place?" asked Ruby, as she rounded turn eight, with Weiss still trying to overtake.
"Ruby, you know that's not what I mean! But if Weiss is faster, and is unlikely to be overtaken, because of her pace, not because you're bad. It's to do with pace. Weiss is currently fastest on the track!"
Ruby sighed as they got to the end of the straight leading up to turn fourteen. "We're almost at the pits, there's no point!"
"That's because you're being selfish!" cried Ozpin, losing his temper.
Ruby was taken aback, and she realised the logic from her manager was legit. "Sorry..." she muttered as she saw Weiss enter the pits from behind her.
Lap 42/56
Ruby exited the pits for the second time with her new option tyres. She exited with several seconds between herself and Yang, but Weiss had fallen behind to third, and was struggling to get past the blonde in second place. Ruby couldn't help but feel extremely guilty, as it was probably her fault that Weiss was now in third, when she could have been first or second. Ruby put her thoughts about it in the back of her head, and concentrated on the race.
With her new option tyres, Ruby found more grip than she had with the primes she had just changed. She clipped the apex perfectly in turn six, and she was now racing ahead, with Yang and Weiss falling further behind. Ruby checked her fuel, and decided she had enough to go with the rich fuel setting, which made the engine more powerful, at the cost of more fuel.
"Forecast is stating there will be rain in about fifteen minutes, so be prepared for an unscheduled pitstop."
Ruby sighed. Rain was Formula One driver's worst nightmare, especially after a mostly dry race.
Lap 52/56
The first drops of rain were visible on the track, but it wasn't the time to pit for intermediate tyres just yet. Ruby turned turn eleven, with Yang catching up, and Weiss not far behind, who was still being held at bay by Ruby's sister. Turn thirteen straightened out, and Ruby hit top speed approaching turn fourteen. She braked a little too late, and lost a bit of time as she rounded turn sixteen and crossed the line, and she was now in her fourth last lap.
The rain started getting heavier, and the track was starting to get a little damp, and Ruby could sense she was losing grip. Not much, but just enough that it was noticeable for the young prodigy.
"Okay Ruby, you're pitting on lap 54, and Weiss is pitting on lap 55, you don't have a problem with that do you?"
Ruby ignored the slightly hostile tone, and replied into the radio in the positive. She crossed the line again, and turned into turn one. The track was getting wetter, and Ruby checked her mirror, to see that Yang had almost slid out.
The lap seemed to last forever to Ruby, who was just trying to avoid sliding out due to the wet conditions. The track was bound to be getting wetter by the next lap, so she worried about how Weiss would fare. Ruby decided she had been selfish enough, so she spoke into the radio.
"Weiss can pit first, because it will be too wet in the next lap for option tyres," she said bravely, as she approached turn ten.
"Are you sure Ruby?"
"I'm sure, remember last season when I still managed to come fifth on options when everyone else was on wet tyres?"
Ozpin laughed. "I remember that well, well, if you're sure, I'll tell Weiss."
"I'm sure," said Ruby with a smile, although nobody could see.
So instead of pitting, Ruby turned turn sixteen and crossed the line again. The track was getting increasingly wet, and Ruby almost skidded at every corner, meaning she had to slow down significantly. Almost everybody else had pitted for intermediate tyres, so Ruby was the only one currently on track. What was only two minutes, felt like an eternity to Ruby, who was driving very carefully, making sure we going slow enough in the corners so she wouldn't skid. Eventually, she managed to get into the pitlane and have the tyres fitted.
The pit crew did a good job getting the tyres on, and Ruby exited the pitlane, and to her amazement, she was still in first. It was the last lap as well, and Ruby turned the first few corners, but she still went slow so her newly fitted tyres could get warm. In this time, Yang was only a second away, with Weiss not far behind as well. Ruby turned turn eight and turn nine perfectly, but so did Yang, which kept the pressure on her.
The only problem was that Yang knew Ruby inside out, so was likely to know some of the stunts that Ruby could pull to keep first place.
The two cars, close together, zoomed down the long straight, and Ruby needed to take the inside lane. However, Yang guessed this earlier, and went on the inside of Ruby.
Ruby panicked slightly as she couldn't move in without knocking into Yang, so she kept on the outside, to Yang's surprise. Going into turn fourteen, Yang braked a little too late, whereas Ruby braked early, and took advantage of Yang's mistake. There was gap left wide open, and Ruby turned into it, and she managed to stay ahead of the older girl, who hit the curb after overshooting the corner, and almost span out thanks to the rain. This caused Yang to brake slightly, as she didn't want to slide off this late. Ruby was in the clear now, and had a massive grin that would have made Cheshire Cat jealous, as she crossed the line, she let out a whoop of joy.
Ruby Rose was back!
But what would Weiss say to her after the race?
Results:
1. Ruby Rose (25)
2. Yang Xiao Long (18)
3. Weiss Schnee (15)
4. Blake Belladonna (12)
5. Lie Ren (10)
6. Neptune Vasilias (8)
7. Nora Valkyrie (6)
8. Jaune Arc (4)
9. Pyrrha Nikos (2)
10. Russel Thrush (1)
11. Edward Azul
12. Blanc Neige
13. Cardin Winchester
14. Sun Wukong
15. Scarlet Wilson
16. Rouge Walker
17. Ryan Verte
18. Velvet Scarletina
19. Dove Bronzewing
20. Sky Lark
21. Mercury Black
22. Emerald Sustrai (DNF)
23. Sapphire Moon (DNF)
24. Murray Thompson (DNF)
Standings after Signal Grand Prix:
1. Lie Ren- 60
2. Yang Xiao Long- 54
3. Ruby Rose- 40
4. Weiss Schnee- 32
5. Blake Belladonna- 30
6. Pyrrha Nikos- 26
7. Nora Valkyrie- 20
8. Jaune Arc- 14
9. Neptune Vasilias- 12
10. Cardin Winchester- 10
11. Edward Azul- 2
12. Russel Thrush- 2
13. Rouge Walker- 1
Team Standings:
1. BY (Blake & Yang)- 84
2. RN (Ren & Nora)- 80
3. RW (Ruby & Weiss)- 72
4. JP (Jaune & Pyrrha)- 40
5. CR (Cardin & Russel)-12
6. NS (Neptune & Sun)- 12
7. ES (Ed & Sapphire)- 2
8. RS (Rouge & Scarlet)- 1
Well, reviews are always welcome, and I'll see you guys on Friday! :D