Daynight Racer (Completed)

Chapter 15

The practice session at Magny Cours was over, and it was quite an uneventful session for Lyst. The track itself was a bit of a tough nut to crack, due to the nature of its layout. But Lyst didn't have too much of an issue with it, since she already had the track memorised from the simulator prior to the weekend.

As the timer ticked to zero, Lyst saw herself in ninth place, and her teammate in sixth. Not too shabby for the Powers team, but they could do better. But now, it was time for qualifying.

As per usual, the mechanic in front of Lyst beckoned her out of the garage when the coast was clear. She rolled out into the pitlane and exited downhill towards Estoril. For the first few laps, Lyst did whatever was necessary to warm her car up. After everything was locked and loaded, it was time for her first lap.

Lyst crossed the start line at lightning speed, before flicking her steering wheel to catapult her down the hill and round the first two corners at full throttle. The third corner, Estoril, was a little tricky, since it was quite a wide hairpin. Lyst chose her racing line carefully, making sure she didn't stress her brakes and tyres too much as she slingshotted out of the corner onto the longest straight of the track.

What came after that was a narrow hairpin. Lyst braked hard, turned in, and sped off onto the straight that followed. It was a fairly straightforward corner to tackle, although by that time, Lyst felt as if her neck was made of jelly.

Nonetheless, she persevered. As the straight came to an end, Lyst gently let go of the throttle and used the car's momentum to zip through the chicane. She floored the car again, only to be met by the next corner a mere few seconds later. She braked and turned the car into the 180-degree hairpin, flinging herself onto yet another straight.

This is such a weird track, Lyst thought to herself.

The Imola chicane was quickly followed by a tight right hander of Chateaux d'Eau. This sequence of corners needed a little work from the steering wheel, but Lyst got the job done with ease. She sped down the straight, leading to the final few corners of the track.

The first one was Lycee Pin, a simple right hander, which Lyst already knew how to tackle. Then, the last two corners were positioned to form a tight chicane. Lyst braked and cranked the steering wheel, feeling the bumps as the car rode over the kerbs. During the moment that everything stabilised, Lyst floored the car once more and darted across the start-finish line to complete her flying lap of Magny Cours.

L: That one felt good.

R: Indeed it is. It was a 1:39.849, bringing you up into third place. Not too shabby for a first run.

L: Thanks, Rick. Now, I'll give the car and myself a little time to cool down, and I'll go for it again.

R: Okay.

After two laps of crawling around the track, probably annoying other drivers who were attempting flying laps, Lyst found herself back at the final few corners, ready to take on Magny Cours again. A minute and a half later, she's back at the same place, with a slightly better lap than what she once had. But with the fuel in her car almost empty, Lyst had no choice but to return to the pits.

In the garage, Lyst watched as her name inexorably tumbled down the order as other drivers set faster and faster lap times. She was no doubt a little anxious, wanting to go out on track again to improve once more. But her team signalled her to wait a little longer as they inspected the car for any possible damage that Lyst had unintentionally caused.

When her team gave her the green light, she rolled out onto the track once more to set some more qualifying laps. Her first lap was a 1:39.534, which was an improvement of around three tenths of a second. That shot her up from ninth to fifth. Her subsequent lap was another three tenths of a second faster, and Lyst found herself up in fourth. As the timer ticked and the track conditions improved, so did Lyst's lap times.