Chapter 118: Race Weekend | Saturday | WHAT A DRIVER! WHAT A DRIVE! II
"What a valiant defense from Alessio Lorandi, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep back the man leading the race, the man on a mission who, despite taking three more laps than he did with Lando Norris, managed to catch up on the eighth lap and complete an overtake to once again accomplish the near-impossible recovery of going from last to first. FATIH YILDIRIM WINS THE SECOND HEAT OF THE DAY, THE GROUP A AND C HEAT, and that with a three-second gap, as only now does Alessio Lorandi, the Italian child, finish a clean second with Jehan Daruvala finishing a clean third," Giancarlo commentated in full excitement as Fatih went through the start-finish line.
"You say it is impossible, but he is proving the opposite, having already done it twice. I mean, he looks like he is driving a completely overpowered kart, and seeing his current pace, I can’t really shame those who reported him and had him investigated because I would really believe that he is cheating had it not been proven otherwise," Luca said, taking a calm commentary as the race was fully considered over despite a few drivers still yet to finish their race.
"I can’t argue with that since he seems to be at least a second faster than the fastest of the rest of the drivers, as he has already managed to open a three-second gap within the two laps he had completely free air after taking the lead. He went on to deliver two more golden laps, increasing the number of laps he has on the record list."
"I mean, it is as if he had driven a thousand times on this track. The disbelief I heard when his first practice was the official untimed session, and despite that, he went and delivered ten record-breaking laps, beating drivers who had plenty or at least some track time before the competition’s official free practice. To him, it seemed like the track just clicked, and had it not been for his official documentation showing that he never visited this track, I would have believed him if he had said that he trained on this track for his whole life."
"Now that he has two heat wins, so long as he doesn’t get disqualified in the next two heats he has to participate in, then he is most likely going to be able to start in the top ten during the pre-final. There, with fewer people to overtake, he should be able to complete even more overtakes and either start on the front row or at least in the top five if push comes to shove and he loses pace," Giancarlo said, with the track finally being fully empty and expected to remain that way for a few minutes before the Group B & C heat was about to start.
"You are not emphasizing on it deliberately so that he receives the commentator’s curse, don’t you? Because if you are doing so, then I don’t really have a counter for it, as it makes for a very good race if he starts in front, but I don’t think he is going to be happy hearing me say that," Luca said teasingly, adding a sense of humor and earning himself a chuckle from Giancarlo as their back and forth continued, keeping the audience entertained during the clear track period.
......
"Having learned his lesson from the first time he faced him, Lando Norris pushed as much as it is humanly possible for him to push, and with a bit of luck that came in the form of a crash for the drivers in front of Fatih, forcing him to slow down and come out more than five seconds behind the closest group, LANDO NORRIS FINALLY TAKES HOME A HEAT WIN JUST AS FATIH MANAGES TO CATCH UP TO HIM! BUT THE LAPS ARE OVER, AND THE CHECKERED FLAG IS WAVED FOR LANDO, LEAVING FATIH TO BE CONTENT WITH A P2 FINISH! LANDO CELEBRATES IT AS IF IT IS A RACE WIN, AND IT IS DESERVEDLY SO, AS HE HAD TO PUSH AS IF HIS LIFE WAS ON THE LINE, KNOWING THAT HIS TEAMMATE AND THE NIGHTMARE OF ALL THE DRIVERS ON THE TRACK WAS CHASING HIM AND SHAVING OFF SECONDS WITH EACH LAP."
"I’m sure he would have been praying to God that the laps would finish faster than Fatih’s pace, and it seems his prayer has been answered as he finally manages to keep his lead."
"I mean, his pace is so fast that we have already forgotten that this is his second international competition, with both competitions he has participated in being very prestigious events where the best drivers in the category participate, joining from all over the world. He drives with none of the clumsiness you expect from someone making a shift from the national to the international scene, where the competitiveness of the category ramps up. None of them are things you can attribute to him; the opposite is happening, and he is the one terrorizing those who are at a minimum two years older and more experienced in the international scene than he is."
"He doesn’t look like a ten-year-old at all. If I were reading a book about the performance he has been showing and the consistency with it, he sounds more like a man made exclusively to race. I, for one, have become a fan and will be looking forward to his career in racing. And it looks like your curse worked since he had been delayed at the start by more than five seconds."
"If I had known that my prayer would be answered, I would have prayed for lottery numbers."
.......
"Unlike the last times where he lost or won with distance, this time it doesn’t look like that as they come out of the final hairpin side by side! Alessio Lorandi is using the advantage of his racing line and pushes Fatih to the dirty side, gaining a short distance as they both keep the pedal to the metal for the final drag race to the start-finish line a few hundred meters ahead. Lorandi has a short distance advantage from the cheeky move he pulled, and if it stays as it is, he will guarantee his win.
BUT FATIH LIFTS, GIVING UP THE POSITION TO LORANDI, AND TUCKS BEHIND HIM FOR A SLIPSTREAM, WHICH, FOR SUCH A CLOSE DRAFT THAT IS LESS THAN A METER, WILL GIVE HIM UP TO 5 KM/H OF ADDITIONAL SPEED! THAT SEEMS TO BE HIS INTENTION BEFORE HE COMES OUT OF THE OTHER SIDE AFTER STAYING BEHIND LORANDI FOR JUST A SECOND, USING HIS SUPERIOR SPEED TO REGAIN HIS LOST DISTANCE, AND IT COMES DOWN TO A WIRE FINISH, AND IT GOES FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATIH’S WAAAAAAAAY!
FATIH YILDIRIM TAKES HIS THIRD WIN OF THE DAY AND CEMENTS HIMSELF A POLE POSITION FOR TOMORROW’S PRE-FINAL! OOOOOHHHH MYYYY GOOOOOD! THIS YOUNG MAN IS SHOWING US STRATEGIC THINKING THE LIKES OF WHICH WE ARE NOT USED TO SEEING IN THIS CATEGORY, AND THE CONSISTENCY HE BRINGS WITH IT IS SOMETHING NEW AS WELL, AS FOR THE FOURTH TIME TODAY, HE FINISHES ON THE FRONT ROW, BEING AHEAD IN THREE OF THEM!" Giancarlo, keeping to his usual, shouted with all his might, conveying the excitement he was feeling from the finish he had just witnessed.
"HE HAS A BRIGHT FUTURE! AND IF NOT HIM, THEN WHO HAS? I CAN’T HELP BUT WONDER WHAT MORE HE CAN SHOW US!" Luca joined him in shouting through the excitement, not caring about their throats since it was the final session of the day.
.........
"When is our meeting with her scheduled?" Helmut turned to William while the crowd was still in a standing ovation for the drive Fatih had shown them.
"On Monday noon after the final race," William answered, having to shout amid the loud cheering and clapping of the crowd.
"Try to bring that meeting to tomorrow morning before the pre-finals at noon," he said, finally making up his mind.
From the very first heat, he had already made his decision to go ahead with the plan to sponsor him and earn their first refusal option, which would give them the ability to match any potential competitor’s offer. Only if they failed to do that would they forfeit their first refusal right and allow the driver to go to the team that gave them an offer they couldn’t match.
"If it is just for a conversation, it is going to be difficult to change it, sir, as they will be swarmed by other teams as well," William answered, wanting to see if he had the permission to offer more during the call so that they would receive priority. Going as it was would be a very risky move, and they risked having their appointment remain as it currently was, and by then, it might be too late if Fatih’s representatives failed to hold themselves back and accepted offers before they could hear theirs.
"Then tell them that we are going to sponsor him for at least a year, no matter how the meeting goes," Helmut said after he took a moment to reconsider. After all, he was sure that other teams, both kart manufacturers and driver academies, would also be preparing offers to lock him in, and them having the opportunity to provide the offer first was worth a promise of a full year of sponsorship, even if their meeting didn’t end with an agreement. After all, he had no plan of not coming out of that meeting with an agreement.