Page 101 of Crash Course Omega
Plus, we only have twenty-five laps to make up the positions we’re losing.
I keep myself steadily in front of the Cuba Libre in P4, not giving them a single opening as we speed towards a chicane. At my speed, I can enter it flawlessly, and I love the way the car turns under the steering wheel. But the Libre has to slam his breaks. He comes in too fast, and it gives me the advantage.
My engine roars as I fire into the straight. Even just looking in my mirror to see what is happening is a risk at this speed, but I keep at it until I finally see the nose of Maddock's car.
I can’t keep looking at him when we’re still tight on the track. I don’t let P3 get too far ahead. I can still overtake him as soon as Maddock catches up.
And I burst into a grin as I see him smash past P5, and come hurtling through the chicane to get to the Libre.
“That’s more like it,” I rumble in approval as I put my foot down. I really hope he’s annoyed enough to climb through the positions, because I’m not going across that finish line unless Maddock is with me.
I just wish Harmony was out there so we could see her. I bet if we knew we were passing her every single time we went around the track, Maddock would pick it up. Even just because he’s embarrassed about his trash driving.
Not that P6 is ever bad. It’s a mix of luck and skill to keep ourselves so far ahead. But it won’t pay off if he doesn’t get a freaking move on.
I need to focus on myself, and we’re swinging into some hard corners.
I bite my lip as we swing into a sharp corner. I need to change up my strategy. No more falling behind just to annoy Maddock. He’s still gaining fast, and I hope the idea of us losing is enough to sort him out.
“Okay, sweetheart, here we go.”
“What?” my engineer replies.
“What?” I reply, pretending I hadn’t said anything.
I said I’d drive how she wanted me to, and it’s time to push.
I always admired how hard Carl could go; he'd hurl himself into a race with everything he had. So it’s time to put my foot down and have some fun.
There’s nothing stopping me anymore. As soon as I surge ahead of P1, everyone else fades away and it’s just me and the track.
I even stop trying to copy other people’s moves and think logically about where I need to be to block P2. I just go for it.
I've always worried about my battery, fuel, and potential damage, but this time I fly along the track like a dove.
I don’t care that I’m in the speed trap. I surge around the corner, soaring so far that nothing can catch me.
Those two long straights are the best place to ruin my tires and drain my fuel and battery, but who cares when I’m ten seconds ahead of everyone else and we’re coming into our last lap? It’s the corners I crave.
As soon as I get through the ninety degree turn, it’s my time to shine. No one’s going to touch me now.
“Where’s Maddock?” I ask for the eighteenth time since the race started. My engineer’s already ruffled after the stunt I pulled earlier, but with the engine screaming through my body, the wind rushing around me, I can take it. They can be as angsty as they want, as long as we get that nice, shiny trophy at the end of it.
“He’s still in P3. So hold your fucking position.”
“Yes, sir,” I say, grinning as I edge the pedal, my engine roars, and I absolutely go for it. I don’t like full speed because of what had happened to Carl, but the straight is just too tempting.
Especially when I fly under the lights and my engineer says the words I’ve been hoping to hear.
“Last lap. You're in P1. 6.49 ahead.”
The fastest lap time record for Silverstone is 1:27, and it’s killing me not to ask my engineer how I’m doing.
So, instead of trying to think, or plan, or plot, the only thing in my mind is Harmony’s smile, and the track.
The next sharp turn is coming in hot. Rather than my alpha senses, it’s my instinct as a driver that tells when to brake, and I let myself go into it.
“I hope she’s watching this,” I murmur as I slow the car, keeping myself fixed on the sharp corner, and yell out as I glide into it like a freaking pro.
