End of the Century Talented Racer

Chapter 197

The second practice was interrupted by a red flag in the middle. The reason was that the line on the starting line timer protruded from the ground. The track staff cut it directly, and the race resumed. The drivers drove onto the track one after another.

Citroën, which performed normally in the first half of the second practice, seemed to be in trouble again. They suspected that there was a problem with the chassis of Altaïr's car, and the car of Australian local driver Vergeire, who performed poorly in the first practice, was also undergoing front suspension replacement.

With 10 minutes before the end of the second practice, all the teams started the long-distance test. The four drivers of the Bingcheng and Dongsheng teams were equipped with different formula tires to test the long-distance on the field. After replacing the new front suspension , Virgil also returned to the track.Before the stop of the second practice, everyone focused on the long-distance test, and no one set the fastest lap.

In today's free practice session, Bingcheng continued to show strong competitiveness. Stewart took the fastest lap twice, but Dongsheng seemed unconvinced by such results. Daniel said that Dongsheng Racing has not found the best yet. Excellent adjustment.

Bingcheng is the defending champion this season, and they are also recognized as the top favorites to win the championship this season. Therefore, it is not too surprising that Stewart took the fastest lap in the two free practice sessions today, while Dongsheng and Laisen are still Bingcheng. The city's main challenger, but there is still a gap of more than 0.5 seconds between them and the leader.

Dongsheng does not seem to be convinced by such results. Daniel, who won the championship in this race last year, said that Dongsheng’s car has not yet found the best adjustment: "I think we have not played our full speed. I am very concerned about the lap time. Not satisfied, the balance of the car is not the best, so we still have a lot of work to do, we need to find the best tuning for the car. Now we are not very far from the ice city, which is undoubtedly a good thing , we can continue to narrow the gap by working hard, and we will know the answer tomorrow."

Tesrock of the Leisen team hopes that tomorrow's qualifying will be a rainy race: "Although the current situation, I think Ice City is still the biggest favorite to win the championship. After all, they have won four consecutive championships. I think we still have a lot to improve, but I'm optimistic. If it rains in qualifying, it will definitely be in our best interest, because in wet conditions, their upgrade effect will not be so obvious."

Gloria said in an interview today that he believes that Altaïr has no chance in the F1 competition. If he wants to regain the glory of the championship, he can only look to other events: "I completely understand why Altaïr has been struggling in recent times. Participate in other motor sports. Obviously, because he has no hope in F1, he must participate in other races to satisfy his desire to win. Winning the F1 championship is not actually the only option. His next big challenge is to become The driver with the most crossover titles in the world!"

Citroën has put a lot of effort into upgrading its racing cars this season, and they have high expectations for the next races this season. Altaïr said in an interview that he will strive to enter the top five in the Australian Grand Prix: "In We were not able to show our strongest strength in the Australian Grand Prix. I think we will improve a lot as the season progresses. Compared with other teams, we should be the team with the greatest potential for improvement. I look forward to a very strong second half of the season. Citroen. Our goal in this race will be to finish in the top five, of course, it would be a pleasant surprise if we can get on the podium."

In the third free practice on the second day, Dongsheng Racing Team showed good speed in the third practice. Daniel took the fastest lap in 1 minute, 26 seconds and 067 seconds, followed closely by his teammate Santak, two The drivers of Ice City obviously kept their strength under the interference of the rain, and their fastest lap was more than 8 seconds slower than Daniel.

In the first two free practice sessions held yesterday, Bingcheng showed strong competitiveness. Stewart won the fastest lap twice, leading Dongsheng and Leisen behind him by about 0.5 seconds.

The third practice session held today was affected by some rainy weather, and some parts of the track seemed slippery. Dongsheng and the two drivers conducted a simulation of the race. Daniel's speed seemed very good, and he finally finished with a time of 1 minute and 26 seconds. 067 took the fastest lap, leading his teammates by more than 2 seconds.Ranking third is Diagoo of Ruijin Racing Team, while Teslok of Leysin Racing Team ranks fourth.

The two Ice City drivers have been testing on dry tires, so their results have been somewhat affected. Seaver and Stewart ranked seventh and eighth respectively in terms of fastest lap, more than 8 seconds behind the leader.

Judging from the results of the three practice sessions, Bingcheng is still at least half a position ahead of the other teams. They will be the favorites for pole position in the afternoon qualifying session.However, considering the weather in Melbourne today, both Dongsheng and Laisen are expected to join the competition for pole position.In addition, Leyssen Racing Team's Virgil will be punished by being three places back on the grid for speeding under the red flag in the second practice session. This is undoubtedly bad news for Leyssen.The two Odermet drivers only appeared for one lap in the third practice.

When the qualifying session started, the weather in Melbourne had started to clear and the track had dried up.The air temperature is 24 degrees Celsius and the track temperature is 32 degrees Celsius.

At 14:1 BJ time, the qualifying race officially kicked off. The first driver to drive onto the track was Alex of the Pride Racing Team, followed by Diego, Wesley and Bepena.Alex made the first lap time of 25:348.Stewart, who is the biggest favorite to win the championship, also appeared on the stage afterwards. Two Dongsheng drivers also drove on the track one after another. Most of the drivers used super soft tires. Daniel then rose to the top of the list with 1:23, but his teammates Santak immediately surpassed Daniel with a time of 921:1.Stewart then set a time of 23:616, temporarily ranking in front of Daniel, while Santak then further improved his result, continuing to occupy the top spot with 1:23.

Halfway through qualifying in this section, Stewart started to exert his strength. He set a time of 1:22 to reach the top position, followed by Santak and Daniel, and Altaïr only ranked 824th for the time being.The competition in the last lap was mainly concentrated among several drivers near the relegation zone. Delacro of the Citroen team made a breakthrough in the last lap. In the end, Stewart won the fastest lap in this section, and Santak and Daniel Ranked second and third respectively, the five drivers who were eliminated were Catildan, Diego, Kendrick, Adonis and Alfredo.

After the start of Q2, none of the drivers came out at the first time. About 2 minutes later, Tesrock took the lead, followed by the two Dongsheng drivers. Everyone put on supersoft tires.At this time, the temperature of the track has dropped. Stewart temporarily ranked first with 1:22, followed by Santak with 051:1. Daniel has not felt very smooth today, and he has been Falling behind his team-mate, Alex missed the braking point at Turn 22 and the car went straight off the track with badly damaged tyres.A Aifan of the El Salvador team has not reached the top ten for a long time, and his mentality seems to be more anxious, and he almost made a mistake.

Entering the last 3 minutes of this section, Stewart is still firmly at the top of the list, and Altaïr is temporarily ranked 7th, and then Easter and Wesley of Porter Motorsport surpassed his results, and Altaïr was squeezed to the 10th, on the brink of relegation.Daniel still tried his best to score at the last moment. He set a time of 1:21, surpassing Stewart and came to the top position. Altaïr was unable to hold his position and was finally squeezed to the 944th place.In the end, Daniel won the fastest lap in this section, followed by Stewart, Silver and Tesrock. The five drivers eliminated in this section were Altaïr, Delacro, Bepena, Aaifan and Gu Gaoyuan.

Entering the last 3 minutes of Q12, Stewart became the first driver to start, followed by Seaver and Daniel.Just as Stewart was starting to score, Seaver had an accident at Turn 2.

Seaver played relatively stable in the previous practice match and the first two quarters of qualifying. Although his performance was not as good as that of his teammate Stewart, he did not make any obvious mistakes. Turn 2 is not a great test for the driver, but Seaver unexpectedly lost control here. His car first overwhelmed the grass next to him, and then lost control. The right side of the car slammed into the protective wall and was seriously damaged. , The game will immediately show a red flag.

Fortunately, Seaver himself was not injured. He walked out of the car quickly, but the debris of the car was scattered all over the ground, and the game took some time to recover.This mistake by Xi Weier also made the team leader in the maintenance station very disappointed, he couldn't help lowering his head and sighing.Seaver's current position in Ice City is rather embarrassing, such a mistake is definitely not good news for his contract renewal negotiations.

After the race resumed soon, Stewart made the first lap of this section with a time of 1:22. Neither the two Leysin drivers nor Santak could surpass Stewart. Daniel was the first two timed in this lap The point is the fastest in the game, but it fell at the last moment, and temporarily ranked second behind Stewart by 051 seconds.

After a short rest, the drivers prepared for the final sprint. Stewart's lap was amazing. He wiped out nearly 1 second and temporarily ranked first in 1 minute 21 seconds 164. Neither Santak nor Daniel followed. Surpassed Stewart's results, but kept Leyson's Tesrock behind.In the end, Stewart won the 73rd pole position of his career. Santak was ranked second 0.664 seconds behind, followed by Daniel, Teslock, Virgil and Zhang Yue.

(End of this chapter)