[center][h1][b]
Race Day
Sunday July 31st
Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium
1400 EST
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[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]The Battle of Stavelot[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]

[img]https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/racefansdotnet-21-08-29-14-04-42-1.jpg[/img]

[center][h2][i][b]Amy Stirling[/b][/i][/h2][/center]

[b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3z7nJ9U0gk]Hans Zimmer- Three Laps Is A Lifetime[/url]
[/b]

With a dried surface after the heavy rain, but more forecast, it was impossible to tell what the strategy would be. All 20 ships on the grid, heat glowing, all minds focussed. This was Formula AG, back. 

"Check, check." Keira's voice came through, as Amy pulled down the canopy, looking through her lens at Bea, who was no doubt, was staggered to be here.

"Affirm." Amy's voice stayed on point, thinking. Deeply.

"Just remember, nice and calm strategy. Beatrix overdrove that ship yesterday. Let's let her dictate the pace, and harvest ELS, and then snatch it back when ready. Nice and smooth, Amy. Let's sow up yesterday's pole."

"Yeah, well.....it's about to start raining hard in five minutes. We'll see what happens then." Amy replied, exhaling hard, oxygen flowing, feeling her mind meld with the ship, feeling the bits of water on the chassis, feeling herself bond. Meld, connect. It felt stranger every time. Weirder, but the ship was pulling her under and that was where she could only go now. Find a golden lap, play the strategy against the upstart Carrera, and then bring on home.

"Yeah, understood Amy, sequence is about to begin. Standby. All you. Let's do this." Keira's last comms came through, as Amy readied up, looking once again in her virtual mirror, before back to the lights.

[b]Four.

Three.

Two.

One.[/b]

It was clean. And immediately, Amy shut that door on Bea, making it clear. No moves into Turn One. Not even a chance.

And lap one was tidy. Clean. A chance to build up ELS. Play it out, let Bea figure out if she wanted this or not.

And the sunshine, right on forecast, turned into that monsoon. The dark, massive clouds that loomed on the horizon found their target. Spa Francochamps was a direct hit. 

And so was Bea, able to make the best out of a run up out of La Source, and after Radillon, Amy realised that Bea had followed right on her tail. All of the way. Brave, Amy had to note, but she was burning her ELS to get the move done. She'd get her back.

Except she didn't. Bea held firm in Sector 2, and for a moment, Amy had no way in. No way through, despite poking, it didn't happen. Even with no mistakes, she just couldn't match her.

And it got worse than just rain, Amy switching to LIDAR and the radar to help her out as it intensified, but what was a risky send and waiting for Bea to slip up, turned into Amy losing track that a certain Belgian was currently fuelled by pure frittes, local fans and a legacy to live up to. Which, Amy had nothing left for, using her ELS to try and tag Bea, but to no avail. Paul sent it down the inside on her at Blanchimont, through an inspired ELS move that Amy had left herself vulnerable to. He'd run through Ava and Jenny already, swinging from pilot to pilot despite his ship's obvious deficiencies on the straight with something else.

But what then happened, was nothing short of majestic.

It was like Auldrick was in the car with Paul, some said it was like that because Paul didn't stop at Amy, he was swinging for Bea. Running at her. The Carrera ship was skating around on the rain like it was a Rally1 car in the Welsh forests, glued at the front yet drifting wide with the aero unable to just keep the new engine and setup at bay in this kind of torrential weather, lightening fast on outputs, yet just so terrifyingly on edge, while Paul's had found superglue to the surface even in the driving wet that seemed to reward his risky choice of setup, for a rainy race, but just couldn't make it pay in straights. 

[b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_ZMcSaRkVI]Hans Zimmer- Into the Red[/url]
[/b]

It couldn't have been more different, and yet, there was this moment that despite the spectators on site no doubt hating their lives in sodden wet Wellington boots, they were still on their feet. And the audience at home. The entire country of Belgium, for a moment, stopped. Realising that Paul wasn't an outside chance. He had every opportunity, and whatever was inside him in that very moment, every fiber was locked in that fight. No doubt Bea was feeling that too. 

Normally, that would mean Amy could make advantage. But the way Paul and Bea were going at it, they were pushing each other harder. Like even ELS couldn't unstick them.

Both Valkyrie and Carrera team principals and strategists were no doubt screaming at the state of the data flows they were getting from their pilots. It wasn't like watching normal ship-on-ship racing, it was like watching two people with something to prove, both with their deeply personal motivations. Like they'd both kill each other than concede, like for a moment, the championship, results, anything just melted. It was pure, unadulterated stuff to watch. 

On the ragged edge, barely a meter away from contact through their repulsor fields gently nudging, there was a moment of beauty in what was a duel, and two pilots, hearts at full pelt, brains in overdrive, bodies at their limit, finding out what they could do. Beatrix with a result that would never come again this season, if the setup of the ship was to be believed in this specification, while Paul had a home crowd to please, and that meant any team orders went out of the window. The moment a neurologist would have looked in horror beyond just strategists, both vitals pushed beyond whatever a normal race would do. Given they were spending half the lap trading positions, Bea mostly keeping the lead but constantly having to fend off Paul, everyone wondered if this was going to end in horror, or produce some of one of the greatest highlights of the season, if not recent AG history for a while. Bea was no stranger to it from Silverstone, while Paul had just done the unthinkable in claiming 2nd in a ship that truly didn't have the speed where it needed it. 

Where adrenaline faded, whatever else was in their systems filled the void, heart rates easily pushing towards 200 beats per minute, even for an augmented body, the equivalent of perhaps being stimulated to an nth degree. A near miss here, a late brake, a lunge, or a switchback, it didn't stop. It couldn't. It was like they couldn't be pulled. An immovable force meeting an unstoppable object.

In the pouring, beating rain, people worried if a virtual safety ship would bring everyone in. If this would be stopped. Because this was poetry.

But it didn't. It kept going. Lap after lap, minute tick follow tock. A VSS for a crash between Kofi and Hamid only stalled it for half a lap, but restored the pace, and instead of stopping the race entirely, it continued. 

Something some would have questioned, given just how heavy the rain was getting, without LIDAR and near-interface tech, they'd be blind when the rain was at its worst, and at best, in glaring sunshine between the intense showers on wet track with drizzle still coming down, filling the circuit with beams of floodlighting in the dark, deep forest of the Ardennes, from the chicane at Les Combes to the incredible pinch that Paul continued to try making at Neuville, always braver than Bea to make a move in MAG tracking, despite his history of MAG-based overtakes never being the best. Positions were traded in the midfield, as Kais Zenix charged through the grid, so did Florence Mason, Cassie Neves making a few moves as well as Harrison retired with a dodgy ship, yet the attention was all front. 

It was relentless. Every corner, Paul shoved his ship in, and every corner, Bea fought back, and outdid him on exit, or switched back. It was breathtaking, and all the way to the end, impossible to call. Would Bea bin it, her volatile approach coming to bite her? Or would Paul find something beyond to make the move stick, already at his limit? A winner once, did he have the ability to strike twice?

The answer came as the rain stopped, and the two ships roared across the line, Beatrix Ward taking her first win in Formula AG.

[hr]

[b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80IryzBgoyE]M83- Oceans Niagara[/url]
[/b]

The Delta Hyper booth were on their feet as the crowd went wild. This was David versus Goliath stuff. Another weekend of Amy bottling it, underdelivering in a moment she could have made it count, yet nobody was complaining. This was as good as anything could get, as Rosie burst out yelling.

"Oh my, what a result that is! Beatrix Ward, Formula AG race winner, wow! What an incredible race between her and Paul Mulder, who on his first AG race at his home circuit, came agonisingly close to taking first!" 

"Unreal scenes, Rosie, and my heart has to go out to Paul, he tried so hard, you can tell how much this meant to him, but in the end, what a spectacular show they have put on. I think this is among some of the best duels we've seen in Formula AG, the underdog Carrera finding something here that I think many rumoured may have come from Felix Burkhart's addition to the team, but there clearly was more at play here. A stunning race, and well, Beatrix Ward has officially taken off!" Rory replied, 

"But let's remember, Paul Mulder came from 5th to 2nd, and through a grid like that? Incredible, you could tell his setup was always a risk, but he made that ship work through Section 2 and 3, he posted consistent purple sectors, it was like he was going faster and faster! Absolutely driving like he was possessed today, and I think he couldn't have done any more, and no doubt he'll be feeling that one!" 

"And well, what about that. Amy Stirling rounds it out on the podium, and she will be gutted she couldn't hold onto a dominant pole position, but with a performance like that in front of her, not much she could do, and she will kick herself that she got played in ELS there, by two pilots who today were just a different class. Jenny Lowry takes a respectable 4th place, with a super conservative drive, proving she can hold her own against Amy in that second seat on her first outing with the Apex, while Ava Villarosa holds onto 5th for a season best result for Carrera, followed by Nora Kelly, Cassie Neves, Zenix, Hornfleur and for her debut race back, Florence Mason takes 10th."

"Yes, and I think we won't talk about that much, but wow, what work from Kais Zenix and Florence Mason. The former just making up for bad qualifying through sheer grit, punching through on the straights and using that ship like a bullet, while Mason certainly turned it on even for her first time back."

"Indeed, and while it wasn't to be for their team-mates, Hamid Atlassi clashing with Kofi Mensah, and Ben Hale failing to improve, there's certainly some new faces on the grid. All eyes on Beatrix Ward and Paul Mulder though, as we return to the podium...."

[hider=Race Results at Spa]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qF6cn-eA0G0sumgf79TvEnPjOHyQP-vZSFV6LNrn_OY/edit?usp=sharing

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[hr]

[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Belgium: Cooldown[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]

It had been quite the occasion. All three ships parked in 1st, 2nd and 3rd in their positions, Amy watched as the Carrera crew mobbed Bea, the two lead pilots at this point dehydrated, exhausted in every single way, and no doubt feeling that fight completely. Amy pushed through the crowd, and dapped her hand into Bea's, visor up, a grin on as she congratulated her but couldn't get through the yelling crowd, no words getting heard before the same with Paul, her suit completely soaked from sweat let alone rain, letting Paul enjoy this moment of a podium at home, and even in spite of a lack of a win, knowing nothing needed to be said. The occasion spoke for itself, as bit by bit, the podium group were ushed into the coolroom, or in Bea and Paul's case, almost carried.

Sitting inside, Amy looked to Beatrix, who must have had her heart about to explode out of her mouth. The race replayed back.
"You alright? Every butterfly has its day, right?" Amy smiled, wondering when the other Brit would stop screaming. Watching back the overtake, Amy shrugged, accepting that for what it was. Fair and simple, Bea had the faster ship, and Amy should have known better. An ELS fight against a rally driver with clean air in front of her was a terrible call in hindsight, but instead of the fluke, it ended up being what let Paul in, who himself had steamed through Ava and Jenny through masterful ELS and overtakes in techical sections, before using ELS to light up Amy. Well fucking played, Amy realised. A mistake she could have not made. But the margins were thinner. And she'd done plenty before to the others. Now they'd come this far, they were beginning to understand what it took.

Amy didn't say, or do anything that would seem menacing. But smiling, letting this moment breathe before turning to Paul.
"Man....he'd be proud. Hell of a fight you two had in front. Not often I say it....but you got me good on that one. I don't know how you're both breathing after that, that was a hard fight!" Amy smiled, knowing there were cameras, and with it, leading the way out, standing up, revitalised after a mountain of electrolytes and water.

"This one isn't a fever dream, Bea. Go out and enjoy every second of it. This is your moment." Amy spoke to the pilot she'd recently started mentoring, and with it, led the way out through the tight booth, out into the shower-filled, yet glancing sunlight of the podium, hand raised, taking her plaudits for 3rd, but a footnote compared to the two following her out.

This was not a day to forget for anyone. And while perhaps Carrera had scored an anomaly here, many reputing that Southern Cross, Zygon, and Al-Saqr would be back to claim their fight at the top in what was just luck for the Iberio-South American team, yet it was Carrera's day. It was Beatrix Ward's day, the third rookie to grab a win this season, and the one nobody saw coming, as the field generator gently repelled the rain from the podium itself, the champagne was popped, and spray went everywhere.

Formula AG was back after a summer break, and back with the world tipped upside down and rummaged around for change. 

[hr]

[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Delta Hyper: Pilot Interviews[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]

After what was an intense race, the classic Delta Hyper interviews were back, once the rain had finally died off. The euphoria, the sheer insanity of what was a weekend in Spa, in the wet, had gotten their reward.

[b]Beatrix Ward, race winner! How does that sound, how does that feel? What a move on Amy, and well, what a duel with Paul, you two looked so determined to get it over the line. Tell us what it was like, because that looked like one for the ages! I think I speak for everyone that we wish we could see duels like that in Formula AG every week![/b]

[b]Paul, absolutely gutting for you to just miss out on 1st, nearly going back to back on the top spot of the podium. How did it feel racing against Beatrix, both of you rookies making it look like you were seasoned professionals out there, absolutely on the edge, giving the fans and us in the commentary booth a spectacle? You seem to be in a purple patch of form, and I think you didn't just give your fans, but everyone else a show!"[/b]

[b]Kais, an impressive recovery, coming up from 10th to 8th today. While Spa might not have been your preferred circuit, what's your feeling on the momentum that Al-Saqr have this season, and would you say you're trading the handling focussed circuits for the ones where your ship will perform better?"[/b]