Ryan smirked, looking over, aware she was glaring and a little cynical now, he thought to himself. "Sure. They'll keep us here. It's whether I want to be here, that's the question. And right now, we have eyes on us. You aren't just eye candy, remember." He said, looking over, as he saw Lucas walk back in, back from inspecting Regina's R8, headed over to the laptop, as he turned his head back. "And besides, I want you to enjoy this too, so damn right you're going to get ahead of Muller. Smug bastard." Ryan said, as he threw his bottle of Lucozade in the bin, then looking outside. "It's a good night for a race. It's going to be a good one." Ryan added, a smirk on his face, as he slowly got back into the zone. They were going soon. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q4zz6HvdiM]OST[/url] (There's a bit where it all goes badass at the start and end) ---- Two and a Half Hours Later 9.02PM The cars rumbled back onto the grid, as the warm-up lap came to an end. The floodlights, the halogen lamps of Yas Marina were turned on, the track in full view and the hot tarmac only slightly cooling. It was going to stay warm all night. Through his visor, Ryan looked in his mirror. his left one, at where Regina sat on the grid. Forge had a One-Three. And that was good. The noise of the V10 roared, as Muller's Z4, fitted with a V8, sat just a little behind on his right. The Audi had a lot of power, more than the Z4- but was heavier. And that gave him a good advantage on the straights, Ryan thought to himself. With a setup like this, the car would bite, hard. Muller would try to be ice-cold and exploit mistakes, but Ryan knew precisely how to make this car fly round the track. The combination of simply gunning through the circuit, and making sure that his lines were tight, was something the car excelled at. The lights came on, the red flashing up. "Okay Ryan, Regina, you know the drill. First three laps are to be hammered, put distance, and then switch back to a moderate pacing. We're having a one stop strategy, one tyre change is all we want, and those Hard compounds will not do you any good if you shred them fast. Be careful- and good luck out there." Lucas said, as Ryan nodded to himself, thinking it over. "Understood. Let's make some noise." Ryan responded, revving the engine harder, as he brought it back to revs, the full bank of lights slowly dropping. One, two, then third gone. It was barely a few split seconds, but in Ryan's head, it was too long. Then it happened. The green flashed up, and the noise of rubber screaming, yelling like it'd been shot, filled the air, the R8's V10 roaring with a potency that just suggested a force of hell was making the action happen. Of course, every other car joined in, and it sounded like a petrolhead's wet dream, as the grid erupted into movement, the R8 surging forwards to 60 in almost under three seconds, Ryan holding ahead of Muller as the first corner came up. It was taken fairly neatly, as Muller tucked in, following. The whole grid was going, and on the first corner, in the midpack, from about fifth and seventh, a collision had occured, the tight first turn sending an Aston Martin DBR9 off track in a broken composite of carbon fibre and metal, with a Mercedes-AMG SLS GT3 joining it, the cars written off, and out of the race within the first twenty seconds. But that wasn't Ryan's concern. Turns two and the turn left onto the different layout came fast, the gap slowly widening, as Ryan kept his cool. He didn't sweat considerably, the perspiration under his Alpinestars gloves light, and almost insignificant. Lucas wasn't talking with good reason- this was a critical point, the point leads were formed, that moment when it all began. Turning through the chicane that led onto the straight, back on the regular layout, the R8 roared, a backblast of an intentional misfire occurring as he shifted up, hitting 100, 120, then 140, before ceramic collided on the R8 LMS GT3's brake pads, the G-Forces physically pressuring Ryan's internal organs and eyeballs. He was more than used to it- and it was why racing drivers, even sitting behind a wheel, had to be remarkably well in shape, mentally and physically. Because forces like this were when you had to turn. And Turn 8 and 9 was a complex, which Ryan carried out moderately well, pulling through as the lap continued. The darkness was off-putting to some, but not to Ryan. The headlights of the R8 on, and the halogen floodlights illuminating practically all of the track, as well as the funky lighting of the building located right by the Marina itself was of interest, as Ryan steered through Turn 12 and 13, the roar of cars behind visible. He couldn't see Regina, but he knew she was up there, holding. And now, they had to consolidate. A few more hours now, and this would be it. The finale would be his. "Half a second lead on Muller, keep up the good work."