CHAPTER 593: S3 BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX

The scarlet Ferrari glided into the first turn, engines roaring and tires gripping the asphalt.

The thousands of fans and the organizing marshals watched as the Z24 accelerated gradually through Interlagos.

Alone on the track, the driver looked focused in his warm-up.

"...Pole sitter Luca Rennick, Trampos Racing, 20 years old, six wins already this season and eyeing a seventh, roars through the track..."

"...Odds favor him heavily at 1.80, reflecting the bookmakers’ confidence in his record-breaking pace and pole position advantage..."

Minutes later.

It didn’t take long before Luca was revving at pole. His machine vibrated under his grip while nineteen other single-seaters lined behind.

At the disappearance of the fifth light, a toxic pulse gushed through the grid. Twenty machines lunged forward in successive unison with grappling tires.

Given the close calls during qualifiers, Mr. Grant made sure he kept his eyes on the live stream to ensure his drivers launched without fault.

Victor’s start was good, Luca’s impressive as usual.

"WOOOOOOOOHHHHH!"

The crowd’s roar shook the stands once the Brazilian Grand Prix came alive.

The twelfth race of a staunch season. The lineup here in São Paulo was enough to treat the population and the world to an undiscovered stimulation.

"...RENNICK IN P1! DAMGAARD IN P19! WONDERFUL! WONDERFUL! QUE GRADE! QUE GRADE...!"

In the race, Luca’s objective was to maintain the same fluidity he had during qualifiers.

If he could resurrect the pace difference he had built over his rivals in Q3, the Brazilian GP would be his win.

Of course, since all twenty cars were present now, qualifying speed and race conditions weren’t identical.

The main race demanded more polish and better racing judgment.

But being ahead in P1 must give some kind of advantage for Luca, where he could flirt with marginal track infractions to garner some gap.

[2nd Position closing in]

"...Through the Esses of Sector 3, the former teammates lock horns. Di Renzo is the one pressing. Into the fourth lap, he tries to close the gap on pole sitter Rennick, but can he really mount a challenge here...?"

"WOOOOOOOOOHHHH!"

The crowd cheered. Luca’s defense through the on-camber of T3 adrift his rival’s focus.

It was a textbook Corner Chopping that snuffed out Di Renzo’s immediate chance to overtake.

When Di Renzo remained fixated despite the setback, Luca couldn’t help but wonder if this was Jackson Racing’s moment in the campaign to redeem themselves.

If it was, Luca was glad for them, but he had no intention of being a stepping stone for their success.

"...And here he comes! The man in silver dives in once more, daring fate with LUIGI hot on his tail..."

"WOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!"

Luca felt his car shiver under the negative wind and immediately locked in Yaw Flex.

That was when he realized his rival was exploiting his backwash to gain an advantage!

Once Luca corrected his trajectory, Di Renzo was hit by his own turbulent air, and another flawless Corner Chopping left him completely befuddled.

But—

Someone had clearly been sharpening his racecraft.

Di Renzo felt only the disruption Luca created for a few seconds. As if he expected it, he swerved sharply left to recover before cutting back in.

Luigi saw that as his chance. He thought it was the perfect opening to school the two rivals ahead, taking the lead eventually.

But as the silver Ferrari reclaimed its line, Luigi’s ambition was abruptly interrupted. He had to veer off onto the grass instead!

SON OF A FUCKING BASTARD!

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!"

Luckily for the champion, there were no ruts on the grass to keep him stuck.

"...Antonio Luigi abandons the track, tires tearing through the green in a struggle to regain his line. AND NO ONE’S GIVING HIM ROYALTY THERE!"

P4—Albert Derstappen ↑

P5—Elias Nyström ↑

P6—Antonio Luigi ↓

At 10m, 65°, the black-and-golden Mercedes crawled back into contention, but two positions had already been lost.

Regardless of Luigi’s outrage, Campanella chose calm, preferring to let the remaining laps speak for the team.

The rival who had put Luigi in peril went scot-free after the stewards barely glanced at the incident.

Maybe as a sort of punishment, Di Renzo had lost the best chance he had there to overtake the Mazerunner.

But the gap remained relatively close despite the minor ruckus, so he searched for every possible opportunity through Interlagos’ laps.

When Luca heard of Luigi’s setback because of Di Renzo, he was happy. After that, he put some attention to what had popped up on his system.

[Corner Chopping +1]

[SYNC BAR: [][][][] 12.5%]

Luca wasn’t sure when last he had seen a point notification for one of his primary skills!

And Sync Bar too!

He was back. After his Editing that had cost 6.2 Tokens, Luca was finally seeing the results unfold.

Increasing the max completion value of his self skills meant he could push beyond what the system had originally intended.

When all his self skills reached 40, it was like saying he was twice as powerful as he had ever been before.

And finally, this change unlocked a window for far more frequent use of Sync Buffs.

More points would flow into the Sync Buff, filling it faster and allowing it to activate more often, just like in the early days of his career.

But Luca had decided he didn’t want to use Sync Buff during races anymore, so it was almost a shame to see these complete Sync Bars go dormant.

He had specifically Edited that administrative field to accelerate the leveling of his Resonance, Racer’s Flow.

Since Self Skills like Reflexes, Track Awareness, and Spatial Awareness were integral to the Resonance, earning points for them now would sharply increase the rate of his comprehension.

This also meant other Self Skills, like Corner Chopping, were temporarily redundant... for now.

It remained possible that later on, the system might allow the host to comprehend a new Resonance composed of a different set of skills.

While riding the wave of optimism, Luca received another point.

[Track Awareness +1]

[SYNC BAR: [][][][] 25%]

Now this one was actually useful to Racer’s Flow.

Since no level-up notification appeared, it was clear Luca needed more than a single point to make real progress.

His first attempt to cultivate Racer’s Flow during the Brazilian Grand Prix dissolved into mental chaos.

It seemed it was difficult to maintain this Resonance when there were no competitors ahead to track and react to.

After all, Racer’s Flow was designed for mid-pack racing, to climb toward the front. Perhaps another Resonance aimed specifically at leading and holding the charge existed.

At the 13th lap, Di Renzo inadvertently handed Luca exactly what he eventually wished he didn’t wish for, by taking the lead, giving him at least one driver ahead to track.

Di Renzo exploited the generous width of Turn 11.

A 16-meter-wide right-hander with a niche slope, it was a corner every driver had long since mastered.

To keep Luca from immediately capitalizing, Di Renzo had to run over the curb strips.

"Never go side-by-side," he recalled his ex-manager Matthews’ advice whenever attempting to overtake Rennick. "Quick and cunning."

The crowd’s roar was his boost into P1.

FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL SEASON, A SILVER FERRARI LED A GRAND PRIX!