Except for crashing, of course.
Catching up to the top of his car I push and push until I overtake him.
Fuck yes.
Now, I just have sixty-six laps to go.
By the second, I can feel my tires losing grip and I know I’m losing my position. We are on lap thirty-three, which is halfway through, and it means it’s time for a pit stop. Originally, the plan was three pit stops until the safety car went out. One of the drivers hit a barrier when hitting curve three. The debris flew everywhere.
“I need to go into the pits, the grip on the medium is almost done. I can feel the tire puncture from here.”
“Go into pits. Pits we have the go ahead,” Alan, my race guide says to me. Reaching the end of the lap, I see the pit lane. I slow down and pull in, making it to Elektra’s designated area, which is the second garage on the lane. Pit stopping is always scary because of three simple facts: machines don’t always work, engineers aren’t always ready, and sometimes the tires just don’t want to be screwed on.
They start changing the tire from medium to soft. Medium makes the car heavier which makes the car go slower. Having the soft tires on my car could help me win the race by a second. The advantage being that it’slighter. I can feel the tension inside of me at the sound of them taking the tires off.
One second.
Two seconds.
Looking at the engineer in front for the thumbs up, they pull off the rotators, which apply the tires to the car. A second later, I get the thumbs up.
I immediately accelerate and I breathe out as I pull the throttle.
“You have Aoki at the front, no one has passed you since. He’s still driving on aging tires”
“Copy.”
Now all I have to do is pass him on soft tires, this might be one of the easiest things I’ve ever done.
It is definitelynotthe easiest thing I’ve ever done.
Sansui is on a one stop strategy. The medium tires on Aoki’s car are slowly withering, but he’s still ahead of me. The tires that I pitted for, helped close a five-second gap between us within a thirty-lap time frame.
I’m on his tail, and I’m ready to overtake. Currently, I’m pushing the car past its capabilities.
Every time I get closer to overtake, Aoki closes the gap between us by defending quite swiftly. Ren Aoki isn’t known for his speed or recklessness; he’s known for how well he defends when someone is trying to pass him. He does extremely well when it comes to that part of driving. It’s almost impossible to get in front of him. Only a few times has a person been able to rush past, and I’m going to be one of them.
I get closer.
Two more laps to go.
I get closer and closer.
Last lap.
Getting to the side of his car as fast as I can, I block him from shutting me out. At this moment, he’s in an impossible situation. It’s inevitable, I’m going to pass him.
I gain one more inch on his car. We get to the last curve side by side. Now it’s time for the last straight. I press the throttle as hard as I can. I gain an inch.
Another inch.
And then another inch.
Until I get past his front wing. I see the checkered flag wave now that I’m completely in front of him.
Holy shit.
“Ale, you just won the Spanish Grand Prix,” says one of my engineers in my ear.