CHAPTER 134: RACE WEEKEND | SATURDAY | COMPETITION HEATING

"Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to the second day of the WSK Final Cup, or as I call it, the Day of Qualifying Heats."

"And it is a very deserving name, as across all categories, we are going to have a total of twenty-two heats, with the KF Junior category having nearly half of them at ten," Leonardo, the main commentator, said as the track was a few minutes away from being green-flagged for the KF Junior warmup session.

"I can’t agree more. It is the most intensive day of the weekend, with nearly more than two-thirds of all the competitive sessions. But would you like to hear something that I discovered today when I was going through yesterday’s session records?" Marco, the second and technical commentator, said, posing it as a question to pique interest from the listeners.

"Go on, let’s hear one of your crazy theories once again. I never get tired of them," Leonardo said, chuckling before leaving the stage for Marco to present his discovery.

"This is about two drivers, and although they are in different categories, I have a feeling that they are competing against one another based on the data. But I believe we will have to wait for today’s sessions to be completed before we have certainty," Marco said enthusiastically.

"Two drivers from different categories?"

"Yes."

"And you are saying that they are competing?"

"Yes, let me show you why I think so," Marco said before the sound of paper being unfolded was heard through the speaker, followed shortly by him continuing his explanation. "From the very first session, Fatih YILDIRIM went for a push lap on the second lap he was on the track, which was fast enough to place him on top of the overall timing sheet. Doing it once is interesting, but he went and did the same across all three free practice sessions he participated in, removing any doubts that it was not intentional. However, it turns out he is not the only one who did that. Just after the KF Junior group was done, the track was opened for the KZ2 category, and lo and behold, Max VERSTAPPEN too went on a push lap on his second lap on the track, not once, not twice, but across all three free practice sessions he participated in as well. This would have continued for the qualifying session, but Fatih’s qualifying lap was impeded on the final sector. Still, his pace before it was way ahead of anyone who could have threatened his pole position, which was proven on his second hotlap. Then what do you think Max did in his qualifying session?"

"Pole position," Leonardo answered, as he clearly remembered it from yesterday.

"Correct. Although for good drivers like Max and Fatih, their performance being good is not out of the norm, I went and checked the records of their most recently participated international competitions. Only Fatih showed this behavior of going for a push lap on his second lap consistently, with Max showing no such pattern at all. But to up and do it for four consecutive sessions, do you think it is just one of my crazy theories?" Marco asked, sounding exactly like someone obsessed with data would sound when presenting their crazy theories, despite knowing the logical leap needed for them to be believable.

"Had it been any other day, I would have said you are going off the rails once again. But for these two drivers, the situation is slightly different. There has been a rumor that Fatih and his family had a meeting after the Karting World Championship he participated in and won. If that is true, then it means they are both affiliated under the same team or sponsor, making the situation quite a competitive one despite being in different categories. But don’t you think that is too much of a stretch for them to do that?"

"What do you mean by a stretch, man, when you had just agreed with me? Are you..."

.......

"I was curious about it but held it in because I thought it was just me getting in my own head, but it turns out my suspicions were correct," Fatih mused as he stood in the pit lane with a helmet in his hand, waiting for the odd-numbered group to return from their warmup session.

"What are you talking about?" Burak asked him when he heard him mumbling in Italian.

"Oh, nothing, just looking, warming myself up," Fatih said when he realized he had accidentally shifted to speaking Italian, a continuation of what the commentators were talking about.

"Good, continue then," Burak said before resuming what he had been doing.

"I think Jos is the one behind this, not Max. The only thing he cares about is racing at the front and winning, and he would care less about what someone in a lower category is doing," Fatih said, knowing the characters of both Max and Jos Verstappen. He immediately connected the shenanigans to them, with Apollo being the only one to hear it.

"You are not going to back down, are you?" Apollo asked childishly, taunting Fatih.

"Why should I do that? We’d better set the tone now for the future when we meet on the track," Fatih said before putting his helmet on. In an instant, everything in his surroundings went silent as he entered full focus, ready for their session that was about to start.

A few minutes later, he and the rest of the group left for the track to start their ten-minute warmup session.

Once that was completed, the drivers finally moved to their groups, assigned based on their performance in the qualifying session, with the 1st going to Group A, 2nd to Group B, 3rd to Group C, 4th to Group D, and 5th to Group E, then repeating the division. This system was designed to be as fair as possible, giving drivers a second chance from a poor qualifying performance while maintaining a semblance of fairness.

..........

"FATIH YILDIRIM WINS THE GROUP A-E QUALIFYING HEATS, AS DANIEL TICKTUM AND LOGAN SARGEANT COMPLETE THE PODIUM POSITIONS."

"Lando Norris takes the win for the Group B-D

qualifying heats, with Robert Shwartzman and Alessio Lorandi joining him in the top three."

"Daniel Ticktum and Enaam Ahmed make it an RFM one-two as Fei Ye Yi joins them to complete the podium of the Group C-E qualifying heat."

"Alessio Lorandi takes home the win as Enaam Ahmed once again comes home second, with Remigio Garafano completing the top three of the Group C-D qualifying heats."

"For the Group A-B qualifying heat, it is Fatih Yıldırım who takes home the second win with a wide margin, as Lando Norris has to be content with P2, and Mauricio Baiz joins the two RFM drivers on the podium."

"Alessio Lorandi once again makes it two wins in three heats as Sasako Chaimongkol and David Beckmann bring it home to finish on the podium, making it a diverse mix for the Group D-E qualifying heat."

"He had a double and made it a hat-trick as Fatih YILDIRIM takes home a win, but that is not the end, as it is an RFM podium with his teammates Enaam Ahmed and Jehan Daruvala joining him for the Group A-C qualifying heat."

"Daniel Ticktum beats Lando Norris for the win of the Group B-E qualifying heats as Alexander Vartanyan joins them on the podium. It has been domination after domination for the RFM team, as they have had a podium in all previous heats but one, once again snatching a double podium in the current heat."

"Make it four-for-four as the man, the myth, the legend wins all of the heats he participated in, securing him a pole position start for tomorrow’s pre-final. Mauricio Baiz and Nilita Sitnikov completed the podium for the Group A-D qualifying heat."

"For the group B-C qualifying heats, it is Enaam Ahmed who takes the win for RFM as Lorenzo Travisanutto fights to the last corner to keep his P2 position against a very angry and charging Lando Norris, who lost two positions at the start due to a late reaction. But once again, it is a double podium for RFM, making it nine out of ten heats with at least one RFM kart on the podium. This brings an end to the KF Junior sessions for today, but it is time for your hypothesis to be put to the test, as the next three sessions will show us if you are right or wrong."

"And to match expectations, it is Max Verstappen taking the checkered flag for the first of the three heats of the KZ2 category..."

"It is Max Verstappen once again, making it two for two..."

"At least for today, your hypothesis stands correct, as he makes it a hat-trick as well. It is the same man, Max Verstappen, taking the checkered flag, securing him a pole position for the pre-final. I, for one, can’t help but look forward to the back and forth between these two drivers, if that competition even exists."