The Akinabalu circuit began roaring with engines as the sun rose from Mount Akinabalu. Each driver will have 3 laps to complete and set their best lap out of the 24 drivers to qualify for the ROA Cup round 1. About 64 drivers are competing in this edition and Alice and Sugimoto checked the leaderboards to see when they'd be starting. As they looked at the leaderboard, Someone approached them.
"Hey there you two." Kara said as she greeted them.
"Heya Kara." Sugimoto responds as he greets her.
"Hey there Kara, when are you starting for the qualifiers?" Alice asked her.
"Oh I'm starting in the afternoon, how about you guys?" Kara asked back.
"We will most likely start at night, we're the final drivers for the qualifiers." Alice told her.
"I see, good luck for tonight!" Kara told them.
While talking, Kara looked at Richard's garage from a distance and noticed a white Ferrari 488 GT3 parked inside with teams of mechanics working on the car.
"Have you seen Richmond's team? They're quite stacked for today's qualifiers aren't they?" Kara told them.
"Yeah, the Riversons are pretty serious about winning the ROA Cup this season." Sugimoto answers her.
"You know Richard too, Kara?" Alice asked curiously.
"Yup, me, Richard, and Asashi here used to race as rivals back when we were in the academy, we were also friends outside the track." Kara told Alice.
"Is that true Senpai?" Alice asked Sugimoto.
"It's true, we used to race against each other since the academy days. I was usually the better driver and always got first place when we faced each other in a race." Sugimoto said confidently.
"Don't get too cocky Asashi, I'm here to win and grab pole position for the qualifiers." Kara told Sugimoto confidently.
"Aiming for pole position huh? I wouldn't want to crush someone's dream." Sugimoto said teasingly.
They stared into each other's eyes with fire in their eyes. The drivers wanted to up each other in the race to prove who was the better driver, but their stare-off quickly ended when Kara's teammate called her over.
"That's my cue, I'll see you guys later!" Kara said to them and waved goodbye.
Alice and Sugimoto waved back and she walked back to her garage and met up with her teammate. After that, Sugimoto and Alice stroll together in the paddock area. There, Alice felt some uncertainty about Sugimoto's relationship with Richard.
"Say Senpai, you said that you used to be friends with Richard, how can you be friends with such a jerk?" Alice asked him.
"Richard wasn't always like that, he used to be quite friendly and really outgoing when we were still friends." Sugimoto revealed to her.
"Friendly huh, then why did he become a jerk all of a sudden?" Alice asked him.
"I don't know the whole story, but after his father was found guilty of fraud and bribery, he became a completely different person. He became short-tempered and easily frustrated by the smallest thing. At least that's where I heard it from." Sugimoto told her.
"I see. I guess peer pressure can really affect a guy huh?" Alice told him.
"It's quite sad, but at least he's still a talented driver." Sugimoto told Alice.
A few hours passed and the drivers from each team began showing their talents and setting up good lap times. The leaderboard keeps changing after each race takes place.
