CHAPTER 175: CHAPTER 117: EMERGENCE OF DOMINANCE

After some playful messing around, Qin Miao got a kick on the backside from Zhou Guanyu, and Zhou took a slap on the head as the incident passed.

After all, the race was about to start soon, and continuing to mess around at this moment would be a bit pointless, so the two returned to their respective cars.

Once everything was ready, it was about time for the practice session to start.

"Radio test, can you hear me?"

"Hmm... very clear. Frankie, could you turn off the music?"

"...Okay." Frankie turned off the music in Qin Miao’s earphones, then said, "Countdown to the start of the practice session: 3, 2, 1... Start!"

Upon hearing Frankie’s voice, Qin Miao started his car engine, while Sui Wentao hurried to the trackside. After checking the road conditions, he signaled Qin Miao not to drive yet, as many cars were already lined up at the exit of the pit lane before the practice session started, causing some congestion at the exit.

Although he had seen Qin Miao’s talent, he was a rookie, and Sui Wentao was worried that squeezing into the traffic would make him nervous.

So he released the car a little later.

Coincidentally, just as Sui Wentao released the car, Zhou Guanyu was also released by his team, and he happened to be queued right behind Qin Miao’s car.

Seeing Zhou Guanyu’s helmet with the blue-and-white porcelain elements through the rearview mirror, Qin Miao suddenly felt a phantom pain in his buttocks; damn it, Zhou Guanyu didn’t hold back at all with that kick earlier!

However, once Qin Miao entered the track and started accelerating, he had no extra thoughts to dwell on random things.

It was as if some switch was turned on in Qin Miao at the moment he left the pit lane, clearing his mind from distractions and putting him into an extremely focused state.

At this moment, Frankie’s voice came over the TR: "Familiarize yourself with the track in the first two laps, and then conduct a long-distance test of 7 laps on the third lap, after which return to the pits to change to a set of soft tires to test the long-distance wear of the soft tires. In the last ten minutes of the practice session, return to the garage, drain the fuel, and use the old soft tires to test the qualifying speed. That’s our plan for today.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?"

"No, keep an eye on the traffic conditions on the track for me." Qin Miao’s voice was calm, even a bit cold, which was markedly different from his usual speaking tone.

Frankie didn’t pay much attention, thinking it was just caused by TR’s electronic equipment interference.

During the first three laps on the track, Qin Miao mainly experimented with some techniques he learned while walking the track with Zhou Guanyu yesterday, to see if today’s track conditions would allow these techniques to be used in the upcoming test.

Three laps were enough for Qin Miao to firmly grasp these ideas.

At the end of the third lap, Qin Miao began the long-distance test.

This phase mainly tested Qin Miao’s speed and tire performance when driving the F2 car with a heavy fuel load over a long distance.

On the second lap of the long-distance test, Qin Miao clocked three purple sectors, with a time of 1:17.001, temporarily taking first place in the practice session.

This speed was at least 0.4 seconds faster than those drivers who started with soft tires to make flying laps.

Upon seeing Qin Miao’s achievement, Frankie’s heart was filled with understanding and joy, while the Prema Racing team principal Roxin let out a sigh of relief, as if exhaling all the accumulated stress, worries, and negative emotions.

At that moment, Roxin felt a sense of security similar to when Qin Miao took Qimeng to claim their cash prize and saw the money deposited in his bank account.

Lately, Roxin felt much like Qin Miao did back then, knowing Qin Miao was strong and having confirmed his abilities through numerous internal tests and live tests. But Qin Miao hadn’t actually raced, so no one knew exactly how he would perform in real competition.

Roxin’s heart was always uneasy, and with recent global events adding external pressure, combined with internal stress, his nerves had become tense, leading to exhaustion over time.

But now it’s different; Qin Miao’s performance in the practice session truly reflects his innate talent.

Elsewhere, within Ferrari’s spacious red motorhome, Ferrari’s team principal Mattia Binotto and technical director Simone Resta sat in a room resembling a living room.

However, the conference room usually used for meetings only had the two of them at the moment, and they weren’t discussing anything but were both observing the TV screen showing the F2 practice session.

...

On the track, Qin Miao completed the seven-lap long-distance test with hard tires, twice breaking the lap time record set on his second lap. Now the fastest lap time, clocked by Qin Miao, was 1:16.607, with the fastest speed across three sectors made by him.

"Alright, the test is complete. The data looks promising, exceeding our expectations. Let’s head back to the garage."

Following instructions, Qin Miao returned to the pit.

However, Qin Miao didn’t stay in the pit lane; he switched to a set of soft tires and headed back onto the track to test the degradation of the soft tires on this track.