the speed of love

chapter twelve • watkins glen

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Qualifying has always been one of my strong suits. The beginning of the weekend has gone off without a hitch, and I'm finally getting back in the groove with all of the sim racing and practicing I've been doing.

I'm in the middle of Q2, I set a time in Q1 to slide me into P11, getting me into Q2.

My focus snaps back to the track, as I'm in the hardest and fastest part of the track, turns 6-9.

Crap, I hope no one saw those track limits.

"Mack, watch track limits. That was a good lap."

I guess someone saw it then.

I whip the car over turn 10 and step on it until the finish line. I hear Henry chime in over the radio.

"Quick lap Mack, puts you in P1 with a time of 1:46.213. Purple sectors one and two, and green sector three."

"Nice, nice. How long left in the session?" I ask, slightly out of breath.

"Uhh, 2 minutes 30. Go ahead and pit, no one in the session had come close to your time yet."

"Alright, thanks Henry."

I turn off the radio button and do a slow out lap into the pit lane. I turn on the pit lane limiter and pull the car into the pits.

I quickly get out of the car and rest before Q3 starts. I pull my helmet off with the balaclava and set my helmet down on my vanity.

Multiple pat me on the back as I try to find a water bottle.

"Where the hell-" I mutter.

"Ahh Mack! Way to make a comeback." Pedro says from behind me and pats me on the back.

I nod and say, "Yeah thanks."

I see Pedro walking to his respective garage, fuming while walking. I can practically see flames shooting out of his ears.

I look towards the screens in the garage, and see that Pedro exited in Q2, finishing in P16.

Yikes.

Let's see.. I have 20 minutes until I have to get back in the car.

I make my way back towards my driver's room to cool down and take a breather from qualifying.

I walk through the back hallways of the paddock, avoiding people.

I turn the corner of the back hallways and meet Kiya back there.

I take a deep breath and smile hugely while I hug her. I run my hands through her hair while I hold her.

"I only have 20 minutes.." I groan.

"Shoot you're right, well we can just talk for now." She says.

I smile at her and continue walking down the hallway towards my driver's room. I open the door, and follow Kiya inside, who flops on the bed.

I chuckle, "You look more tired than me!"

"Ughh, it's mentally draining watching Pepe fuck up every four seconds." Kiya groans.

I laugh and reach for a 8oz Red Bull out of the mini fridge in my room.

Kiya sits up quickly and points at the can.

"Oh! What happened with uh.. Jonathan? That's his name right? What did he talk about with you?" She says excitedly.

I take a deep breath, "Uh, it's kind of hard to explain with these thin walls around here. I'll just show you the email."

I search for my phone in the room and finally pull up the email from this morning. I slide my phone over the desk where Kiya is sitting and let her read the email.

There is a period of silence where she is reading, and I raise my eyebrows.

I can tell Kiya got to the end of the email because she has a shocked expression.

"Holy Jesus." She says.

I nod my head.

"Yeah, he said I'm a top runner too."

"Wow."

I glance at the clock.

"Ope, shit it's been like 15 minutes."

I groan as I get up from the bed and open the door to let Kiya out.

"See you later?" I say.

"Of course."

I wait a minute until Kiya is back out with Pedro and I find my way back to the garage. I see my car being pulled out into the pit lane for Q3.

I take one last sip of water, and put my helmet on.

I make my way to the car and hop in. Still warm from Q2.

I hear Henry chime in over the radio, "Pit radio check Mack, pit radio check."

"Loud and clear."

"Alright, 2 minutes until session start, and about 1 minute 30 until you can exit from the pit lane."

"Alright"

I sit in the car, tapping my fingers against the steering wheel anxiously.

"Go"

I ease onto the throttle of the car to get it ready for higher gears, and then turn the pit lane limiter on.

I disable the pit lane limiter and ease into second gear, then third, then fourth, then I'm on the track. I do one initial lap for grip, in order to prepare for a full fast lap.

I take the whole track at half speed, waiting for my fast lap. After all, I only have 20 minutes to set one.

twenty meters, ten, five, my lap started.

I quickly climb my way up to the fifth gear in order to gain speed in the high speed sector one, turns 1-5.

I reach stop speed on the strait of the track, and quickly downshift in the slow-speed corner. I slowly ease on the steering, trying to keep the racing line intact with low grip on the track.

Using the same tyres for Q2 and Q3 was a mistake.

"Shit." I mutter.

I get a bit of underwater going into turn 7, which then results me getting of the racing line and onto the kerb.

"God damn track limits." I say.

I take the rest of the lap in recovery, mode knowing I still have time to take a fast lap.

time skip

My alarm blares through the hotel room, the light shining in through the curtains.

I got pole by 0.200 seconds, no big deal.

I'm back to my winning ways.

I get out of bed on race day, excited to get back into it.