Chapter 48: Race Weekend | Sunday | Through Goes Huzeyfa

"With the aggressive one right behind him, will he repeat what he did with Jackson, or will he focus on opening the gap?" Süleyman asked, his voice a mix of anticipation and intrigue. The karts from Group B and Group C had finished their formation lap and were now settled in their grid positions, waiting for the lights to signal the start of the final qualifying heat of the weekend. "There is no need to speculate, as we will have our answer shortly!" Zakir replied. "And it’s lights out and away we go! Fatih and Selçuk both get a great start! But Huzeyfa, on the front row, gets a bit of wheelspin off the line! He’s bogged down, losing his P2 position to Selçuk as they all barrel towards the first corner! What will Fatih do? With every meter they cover, the two of them are slowly opening a gap, reducing the number of options on his hand!" As Süleyman commentated, Selçuk, with his better initial launch, moved to the outside of Fatih. He wasn’t quite side-by-side yet, but he was close, forcing Huzeyfa, who was recovering from his poor start, to tuck in behind Fatih where Selçuk had been. Selçuk’s body language screamed his intent: he was either taking the lead at Turn 1 or taking everyone out with him. As they approached the corner, Fatih began to slowly drift towards the right side of the track, towards Selçuk, whose line was the optimal one for Turn 1. As he did, he kept his foot on the accelerator; their Bambino karts could take this corner flat-out. With half of his kart already ahead on the track, Fatih was slowly squeezing Selçuk more and more to the right. Just as they arrived at the apex of T1, Fatih lifted off the throttle for just a fraction of a second. This tiny deceleration forced Selçuk, who was slightly behind and now had half his kart alongside Fatih, into an impossible position. He couldn’t change his line; he had to either lift as well or send himself into the escape zone, tumbling down the order and losing his chance for a good starting position in tomorrow’s race. "And through goes Huzeyfa!" Süleyman shouted, completely surprised by the turn of events. "He takes the lead of the race at Turn 1! Fatih, by focusing on keeping Selçuk at bay from the very start, left an opening that was easy for Huzeyfa to exploit after recovering from his initial mistake! As the top two have a slower exit speed from Turn 1, Huzeyfa manages to open a one-second gap to them as they head towards Turn 2! His speed advantage will remain with him until at least Turn 4 as the other two continue to chase him!" The two most favored contenders, who were expected to be fighting for the lead, were now both down a position, with Selçuk back in his original P3 spot. "That is a very surprising outcome for Fatih," Zakir took over, reminding everyone of the context. "This is his first time ever being overtaken in any of the previous championship rounds, other than the shunt he received from Selçuk in the Final race of the first lap of round one. This makes Huzeyfa’s overtake, gaining two positions at once to recover from his mistake and take the lead, all the more monumental." "It looks like the position is something they don’t even care about, as Selçuk is still attempting to overtake Fatih, returning to his usual aggressive style!" Süleyman announced as the two battled fiercely. "And Fatih continues to shut every door that Selçuk attempts to enter, with his usual preternatural calm! It seems Selçuk has finally overcome his surprise from Fatih’s aggressive defense at Turn 1, but with their fighting, they are allowing Huzeyfa to extend his lead!" Fatih closed the door one last time while taking the final chicane on the track, entering the start-finish straight to complete the first lap. He tucked his head down, now chasing Huzeyfa, who had already opened a two-second gap. Taking the first corner like it was supposed to be taken, Fatih had finally opened a small gap to Selçuk, allowing him to now focus on chasing down Huzeyfa. Selçuk, however, tucked in right behind him, trying to use the slipstream to close the gap and go for another attempt at the earliest opportunity. As the two of them reached the highest possible speed on the track, preparing for the Turn 1 complex again, Fatih moved to the right side of the track, planning to take the turn on the optimal racing line. But just as he was in the middle of the corner... BAM! He received a heavy, jarring hit to his sidepod, sending his kart into a momentary, heart-stopping slide. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Süleyman shouted as the screen showed the hit Fatih received from Selçuk, the incident happening live and catching everyone completely off guard. "He manages to recover and continue racing, but it looks like Selçuk lost control for a moment! That was scary, oh my god!" Both Fatih and Selçuk, who had been sliding sideways for a moment, managed to wrestle their karts back under control and continue with their race, but they had lost a significant amount of time, and the group behind them had already caught up. "Oh, finally, the replay is here. Let’s see exactly what happened," Süleyman said as the replay logo appeared on the screen. The replay showed Fatih on his usual racing line, at full power, pushing as he took Turn 1. But Selçuk, who wanted to attempt an overtake, hadn’t gone to the outside line. He had taken the inside line, but in his haste, he had accidentally clipped the apex kerb too much. The impact unsettled his kart, and in his attempt to recover, he overcorrected, straightening his kart and plowing directly into Fatih, hitting him head-on in the sidepod. The impact sent both of them sliding before they miraculously recovered. "That looks aggressive, but not deliberate," Zakir analyzed. "It was a mistake born from aggression. But Fatih’s sidepod took a heavy brunt from that hit. I’m surprised it’s still attached." ....... ’That’s not good,’ Fatih thought, his eyebrows furrowed. He had to lift off the throttle for a moment to adjust his steering input before getting back on the power almost immediately, trying to stabilize the now-unsteady kart. He lowered his head, glancing at the point of impact. Having been on the receiving end of it, he knew better than anyone else how heavy the hit was. Unsurprisingly, he saw that the chassis frame had deformed where it was hit, despite the plastic sidepod designed to prevent exactly that from happening. As he took the wide Turn 4 left-hander, he had to constantly apply micro-corrections to his steering. The kart’s frame was now slightly bent, meaning the four tires were no longer perfectly aligned. But just as he completed the turn and connected it to the next corner, the T5 hairpin, he heard it. TACK! Followed by a loud, grating KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! It was the sound of something dragging heavily on the asphalt. He didn’t need to look to know what it was. His sidepod, its mounting bolt likely sheared off from the impact, had detached and was now dragging on the ground. The sudden instability of the kart’s aerodynamics had already told him enough; he’d had to change his line mid-corner due to the sudden change in aero grip, the dragging sidepod creating a shower of sparks behind him. Thanks to his highly sensitive body, a gift from his [Invictus] ability, he managed to react fast enough to keep the kart on the track as he took the widest turn on the circuit. He knew Selçuk would soon be breathing down his neck now that his speed and handling were severely compromised, but that was the least of his worries. As he exited Turn 7, still in the lead but with Selçuk and the rest of the pack closing in rapidly, he saw it. All around the track, at every marshal station, double yellow flags were being waved. A full course yellow had been issued, neutralizing the race immediately. The moment he saw the yellow flags, a pit formed in his stomach. He knew it was most likely because of him. And without surprise, he saw his number, 213, displayed on the board at the marshal station ahead. A second flag was waved after that: a black flag with an orange circle at its center. The mechanical failure flag. "Fuck," he said, feeling no relief at all from the situation. He was now required to oblige the flag that was being waved specifically at him. Not wasting any time, he raised his hand to show that he had seen the flag and acknowledged it. He took Turn 8 and 9, lowered his hand, and caught up to the slowing Huzeyfa as the whole field bunched up behind the virtual safety car. As they approached Turn 10, Fatih detached himself from the train, entering the pitlane, while all the rest continued, taking Turn 11 and 12 before entering the final straight. The moment Fatih was clear, the green flag was waved again, resuming the race now that the dangerous kart with its dangling sidepod was off the track, no longer causing a hazard.