CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER 54: QIN’S DOUBLE MOVE

Upon reaching the second lap, Qin Miao realized that even if he started using a fuel-conserving lap time, the other party posed no threat to him.

Since the car behind posed no threat, Qin Miao simply maintained this state and entered cruise mode.

Meanwhile, in front of Qin Miao, Qin Yun was unaware that Qin Miao had entered cruise mode. She would occasionally glance at the rear-view mirror to observe the distance between the two cars.

During the first two laps, because Qin Miao maintained a stable rhythm and had extra weight in the car, Qin Yun pulled away by about 0.4 seconds per lap.

0.4 seconds might not sound like much, but in a real race, this gap is almost visible to the naked eye.

Realizing this, Qin Yun secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Actually, at the start, Qin Miao put quite a bit of pressure on her, so now that she noticed the opponent’s long-distance rhythm wasn’t as good as hers, she naturally relaxed a lot.

But at the same time, she felt a bit of regret.

She initially thought today’s race would bring a worthy opponent, but it turned out to be nothing more than an empty joy.

Qin Miao, oblivious to the other side’s thoughts, just stabilized his mindset and started focusing on long-distance laps.

By the fourth lap, with the car in front distancing itself, and the car behind unable to catch him, Qin Miao found himself alone, and thus without much pressure, he focused solely on doing long-distance lap times.

Unknowingly, Qin Miao entered a state he was very familiar with, the so-called Man and Car Unity.

His driving style remained fuel-efficient, but Qin Miao felt more aware of the car’s limits.

With this unity, Qin Miao approached the corners with more extreme braking and accelerated with more precise timing, barely correcting his car upon exiting turns, indicating that the throttle depth was just right every time he exited a corner.

Without realizing it, Qin Miao improved his lap time by 0.5 seconds per lap.

Originally, this 0.5-second improvement was negligible compared to Qin Yun ahead, as Qin Miao only had a 0.1-second per lap speed advantage over Qin Yun.

At this rate, Qin Miao would need at least 15 laps to catch up to the front car.

However, the key was that Qin Yun, upon noticing that Qin Miao couldn’t catch up, also slowed her pace.

After all, at the start, everyone instinctively drives more aggressively to secure a better position.

But after transitioning to long-distance, keeping up with such extremes was impossible. After all, they’re not professional drivers, and staying in extreme states is prone to mistakes.

In reality, unlike games where a mistake means you can restart, a mistake in real life often means the race is over.

Thus, their original closing speed increased from at least 0.1 seconds to 0.4 seconds.

By the seventh lap, Qin Miao had entered Qin Yun’s slipstream.

Truthfully, after leaving Qin Miao behind, Qin Yun hadn’t paid attention to her rear but focused on her lap times.

She only realized Qin Miao had caught up because of a reminder from her engineer over the radio.

"Miss Qin, the red AMG behind is catching up at a pace of 0.4 seconds per lap."

Hearing her engineer’s words, Qin Yun’s pupils shrank, and she looked into the rear-view mirror.

She saw the red AMG just five meters behind her car.

Although on the straights the two cars could visibly distance themselves, once into the corners, they closed in even faster than on the straights.

At this point, Qin Yun felt a considerable pressure.

Even though the championship reward for this race was insignificant to her, practically pointless, her natural disposition wouldn’t allow her to concede at such a moment, so she instinctively defended.

In Qin Miao’s car, Yu Jialiang, staying quiet during the start to avoid disturbing Qin Miao, only sighed when he noticed Qin Miao couldn’t catch Qin Yun, adopting an attitude of being baggage.

But now, noticing Qin Miao closing the gap, he got excited.

After all, this was a rare chance to defeat Qin Yun, even if it was only on the track, and he wasn’t the one driving.

But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the car he was in could overtake Qin Yun, and that was enough.

However, by lap nine, as Qin Miao latched onto the slipstream of the car in front down the main straight, approaching T1 with less than a 0.5-second gap, Qin Miao suddenly noticed the AMG, originally following the racing line, moved to the middle of T1, blocking his slipstream and line.

This block directly pulled Qin Miao out of his Man and Car Unity state.

Snapping back to reality, Qin Miao instinctively lifted the throttle, preventing a collision, only to be stunned to find he had unwittingly chased close to the car in front.

The most crucial aspect is that the opponent has already started defending against me.

Qin Miao had experienced a lot of offense and defense in games, but this was his first in real life.

So Qin Miao became excited when faced with this situation.

Save fuel? Save it my ass; even in eco mode, I’m faster than the opponent now. So if I drive normally, overtake them, and then switch back to eco mode, they probably still can’t catch up to me.

This way, wouldn’t I get first place and finish the race steadily?

Only children make choices. As an adult, Qin Miao wants both first place and to finish the race.

So when Qin Miao came out of the state of Man and Car Unity, Yu Jialiang, sitting in the passenger seat, clearly felt the change in Qin Miao’s driving style.

If Qin Miao’s driving style from the start of the race to the eighth lap was steady and consistent, with aggressive yet linear acceleration and braking, avoiding sudden hard braking and throttle slamming, focusing on being at peace with the world,

then after Qin Yun blocked Qin Miao’s path at T1, his entire demeanor changed, becoming sharp and aggressive, and his driving style suddenly intensified.

The timing of throttle and braking points were pushed to the extreme, often correcting the steering due to slight understeer while exiting corners, and during each corner, Yu Jialiang could feel the car vibrating on the edge of grip and hear the sharp cry of the tires.

This aggressive driving resulted in a faster approach speed to the car in front.

There wasn’t much to say about the T1 and T2 corners. Both cars performed equally in those, and even though Qin Miao was relatively faster, he couldn’t find a good opportunity to overtake.

But Qin Yun, after all, wasn’t a professional race driver. Even with a lot of practice, her talent was just so-so.

So, by the time they passed T2 and approached the braking point before T3, the gap between Qin Miao and Qin Yun had shrunk directly from 0.6 to 0.3.

Since T3 is a low-speed corner, and the AMG GT has a long hood, from the perspective of the driver and passenger, a 0.3-second gap was just three or four meters, and from their view, the entire front of the AMG GT was almost stuck to the rear of the car in front.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Yu Jialiang’s hair stood on end when he saw the scene and instinctively exclaimed, "Wow!"

However, Qin Miao could still use his extensive experience and understanding of the car beneath him to gauge the distance between the two cars, so he didn’t make the mistakes common among beginners when exiting the corner.

He didn’t release the throttle or brake out of fear of collision.

When entering T3 or passing through T4, where identical car performance makes overtaking impossible, Qin Miao maintained his distance from the car in front. In fact, since his relative speed was faster, he slightly released the throttle to keep the time gap between the two cars at 0.3 seconds.

The distance between the two cars remained until the straight stretch before T6, where Qin Miao launched his first attack.

Exiting T4, because Qin Miao accelerated earlier and took a wider line, his speed was nearly 2 kilometers per hour faster than the car in front.

With this 2 km/h speed advantage, Qin Miao easily caught the slipstream of the car in front on the ensuing straight and was already just 0.1 seconds behind before entering the faux corner, T5.

Though T5 was a faux corner, it was still a turn, so Qin Miao didn’t pull out. It wasn’t until after passing T5 that Qin Miao pulled to the left, taking the outside line.

Some might consider pulling to the outside line not a good attack choice, but Qin Miao had a more precise grip on corner entry speed and braking points than his opponent.

Moreover, Shanghai’s T6 is a hairpin turn, even if Qin Yun blocked Qin Miao’s inside line during the corner, Qin Miao could take the crossover line to gain a speed advantage before the next T7.

Using his better line and throttle timing, Qin Miao could use his higher tail speed to overtake on the straight.

Qin Yun, ahead of Qin Miao, though only moderately talented, had been racing for many years; she naturally understood why Qin Miao was pulling out to the outside line.

So the first moment Qin Miao pulled out, she also steered left to block Qin Miao’s path.

When Qin Miao noticed her intent, he smoothly changed direction to the inside line.

Normally, in a legitimate defensive move, the defending car can only shift direction once. If it changes direction twice, it’s considered a foul, commonly known as dragon painting.

In official races, this kind of defensive move would be penalized.

But this was not an official race, and there were no comprehensive regulations.

This was just a recreational event prepared for the wealthy, and the organizers didn’t expect two experts to appear on the track, who even started competing earnestly.

So with a bewildered expression, the AMG GT, which had been tricked to the left by Qin Miao, suddenly steered to the right again.

At this point, Qin Miao’s car front was already at her rear wheel, and if Qin Miao didn’t give way, and she continued to steer, the two cars would inevitably collide.

Next, there was a high probability of witnessing an American-style pit maneuver, with the car in front likely to be flipped by Qin Miao, and due to high tire grip, it would start rolling uncontrollably.

Though Qin Miao was young, he wasn’t impulsive by nature, and he knew exactly what he needed most from this race.

So realizing the opponent’s firm defense, Qin Miao slightly eased off the throttle, abandoning this attack.

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