Formula 1: The GOAT - Chapter 157

Chapter 157: Ghost of La Conca V
“And as the drivers now come out of the pit lane and go out for the formation lap for the second time, it has finally been announced that Vincenzo has been disqualified from the entire competition. The incident will be investigated further after the race, before a decision for further punishment for his unsportsmanlike and dangerous driving conduct is made by the WSK organizers. What do you think?” Matia said, announcing the race director’s and stewards’ decision on the incident before asking for Giovanni’s thoughts.

“I’m pretty sure we all saw the replay of the entire incident from as many angles as possible, and we can say with confidence that he deliberately crashed into him, having even made a steering correction after cutting the track in order to hit Fatih, who seemed to be on another level of awareness to have even started avoiding him despite him definitely being outside of his field of vision. I watched his docuseries, and from it, I learned that he has very sensitive ears, and this looks like another proof of that. For me, the minimum I would go with is a ban from all WSK events for a few years. This is a dangerous sport, and the rules and regulations are there to reduce that danger to an acceptable level. If someone breaks those rules and deliberately endangers a driver, he should be punished for it, and heavily at that, to set an example and a precedent for anyone who might even consider attempting it in the future,” Giovanni said, just in time as the drivers realigned in their grid positions. The formation lap, which now counted as the third lap of the race, was finally completed.

“And for the second time in the final race, the drivers are once again lined up to start following the red flag. Fatih is now back down to ninth position, as the rules dictate that the restarting positions are determined by the last fully timed and recorded lap. Unfortunately for Fatih, that was the first lap, when he was in P10.

He moved up one position after Vincenzo was disqualified, but fear not, he still has seventeen laps to show us his magic. If he is who we think he is, the ‘Ghost of La Conca,’ then we are in for an interesting race!

AND THE LIGHTS ARE ON, AAAAAAAAAND THEY ARE OUT AS THE RACE RESTARTS FOR THE SECOND TIME! THE FRONT GRID STARTS AS WELL AS IT COULD, AS STAN PEX KEEPS HIS NERVES IN CONTROL AND GETS A GOOD START TO KEEP HIS POLE POSITION! HE’S FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY FLAVIO, WHO… WOOOOOOO! OH, FATIH MAKES A MOVE FROM THE START, HAVING GOTTEN A BETTER START THAN THOSE IN FRONT OF HIM!

HE HAS ALREADY GAINED TWO POSITIONS AND IS STILL IN CONTENTION AS THEY HEAD INTO TURN ONE! HE ONCE AGAIN MOVES TO THE INSIDE AND THE DIRTY LINE, BUT THE DRIVER IN FRONT OF HIM, JEREMY IGLESIAS, HAVING BEEN BRIEFED ABOUT THIS MOVE, MOVES TO COVER HIM! BUT THE TRACK IS SLIPPERY, AND HE NEARLY LOSES CONTROL AND HAS TO CORRECT! FATIH, USING HIS SUPERIOR CONTROL, TAKES THE LINE PREVIOUSLY COVERED BY IGLESIAS, GAINING A POSITION!

BUT HE IS NOT DONE! HE SHOWS HIS CONTROL BY BRAKING LATER THAN ALL THE DRIVERS AROUND HIM! DESPITE IT BEING A SMALL BRAKING POINT, IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE! HE MANAGED TO MAKE A MOVE AND TAKE THE INSIDE LINE INTO TURN ONE, BEATING RICK DREEZEN INTO THE CORNER! HE MOVES INTO P4 BY THE TIME THEY ARE OUT OF THE CORNER!

HE IS DRIVING LIKE A MAN POSSESSED, GAINING FIVE POSITIONS ON BOTH RACE STARTS! HE IS NOW ALREADY WITHIN SNIFFING DISTANCE OF THE PODIUM, AS NOW ONLY THE PEX BROTHERS AND FLAVIO ARE STANDING IN HIS WAY OF A RACE WIN! AND HE LOOKS INTENT ON ACCOMPLISHING THAT TASK IN THE NEXT FEW LAPS!” Matia nearly fainted from being out of breath, as he couldn’t even find time to breathe with all the action happening on the track and the interesting way Fatih was driving.

It was as if he hadn’t just been hit a few minutes ago, as all of the expected carefulness and wariness of the cars near him was nonexistent. It was as if he was used to being hit by other drivers.

In the next sequence of corners, Fatih, who had already adjusted his driving style after getting a sense of the car’s balance during the formation lap, closed the distance. By the time they were in the third sector of the restarting lap, he had already caught up to the three drivers in front of him and started his hunt.

Having exited with the most speed of the four drivers in the fight for the lead, Fatih tucked behind the second of the Pex brothers, gaining additional speed as he moved up through the gears. He reached sixth by the time they started taking the wide left-hander. Having reached the higher gear faster and carrying more speed than the front three, he sent a dummy, moving to the outside the moment he saw Jorrit Pex turn to look behind him.

He instantly canceled the move and went to the inside line, doing so at the same time Jorrit moved to cover the outside line, only to realize too late that his right-side tires were now in the grass, destabilizing the kart. As Fatih went through with the commotion happening behind the top two, they also turned to check, only to find Fatih already on their back and having taken the inside line to overtake Jorrit at high speed.

As he took the corner at full speed, his path differentiated from theirs. While the top two’s path was now to take the inside of the track, having started the corner from the outside for maximum speed, Fatih’s path sent him towards the outside line, which he embraced fully, not trying to move to the inside at all. This allowed him to regain the small amount of speed he had lost while taking the inside line, moving closer to the two drivers as the heavy braking point leading into the final hairpin came to them.

“AS FLAVIO AND STAN, THE RACE LEADER, APPROACH THE CORNER, THEY ARE NOW IN A DILEMMA OF WHAT TO DO! AND FATIH, THE ONE WITH THE MOST OPTIONS, HAS ALREADY CAMPED ON THE INSIDE LINE! HE IS NOW SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH FLAVIO, WHO BLINKS FIRST AND BRAKES, AS FATIH MOVES TO P2! STAN MOVES TO THE INSIDE TO COVER HIS DIVE MOVE, AND FATIH REACTS TO THAT! HE USES THE OPENING OF FLAVIO BRAKING EARLY TO MOVE TO THE OUTSIDE LINE, BRAKING LATER THAN STAN AS THEY NOW ENTER THE CORNER SIDE-BY-SIDE! FATIH IS ON THE OUTSIDE, STAN ON THE INSIDE!

IT IS THE FIGHT FOR THE LEAD ON THE RESTARTING LAP! WHO WILL BE AT THE FRONT BY THE START OF THE NEXT LAP? WILL IT BE THE DRIVER WHO WILL HAVE GAINED UPRECEDENTED EIGHT POSITIONS IN A SINGLE LAP, OR THE ONE WHO HAS KEPT HIS LEAD FROM THE START OF THE RACE?”