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Round 15 of Formula AG
Saturday 7th October, 2094
Qualifying
Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagos, São Paulo, Brazil
São Paulo AGP
1500 BRT
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[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Torrencial[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]

[img]https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/11/02/19/GettyImages-2182511664.jpg[/img]

It started raining right at the end of the Junior AG race, in which Elise took first, and then, it felt like it didn't stop. 

In rain like this, someone would have expected MMR, NOVA, or even SuperCat to make a stab at points. Astrid was the only one that actually had a competitive time.

Yet the rest of the top ten so far, were all from top teams. Harrison had a bad setup, yet again, and Paul hadn't done as well, given the handling debuff. Bea seemed to be the marker of pace, just clear of Cassie Neves, who was barely thousands of a second behind. 

Nobody was letting up. Nobody was blinking. And in the rain, it left Amy Stirling, third from last to go. The last upset in the top ten.

[b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-6717oo_OA] Noisia & Amon Tobin- Sunhammer (VIP)[/url]
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Steadied on the end of the outlap, the spray from the outgoing Beatrix Ward had began to dissipate, but the rain hadn't died down.

"Okay, Amy, let's crank up the power. All sensors good. You like this track, don't you?"

Amy's lips turned to smirk.

"Yeah, I enjoy this one."

And out of Juncao, the ship agreed.

On board with Amy, the ship twitched through the first Senna "S" chicane, flickering left then right, the Curva do Sol replaced with a hard right turn with a MAG-tracked element that was all straight, and climbed steep, above the relatively upmarket suburb of Interlagos, the circuit flanked by a strong array of field generators given the infrastructure was at least six storeys above ground, over traditional clay roofs and brick and polymer buildings, the beam of Sao Paolo's skyline behind, illuminated in spite of the pouring, black-cloud monsoon rain. The track went all the way down Avenue Rubens Montano south-east as a long, straight-line ripe for ELS, turning left at the rail intersection with a long sweeping bend (a corner nicknamed "Borba"), following the Maglev trainline's former path as another long straight, before snaking left again at "Station" corner into another elevated section over the favela, an Esses-like section called "Dialma" putting the track at camber, left, right and back down, flying straight into the old Turn 4, Descida de Lago, turning it into a chicane rather than a long left-hand turn. The new addition had garnered controversy, but done right, it felt perfect for AG ships- the meeting of old circuit, with cutting edge, new, forcing a mid-track change in style to make the most out of the glue-like magnetism, especially given the rest of the circuit, unlike Argentina, was completely devoid of any MAG strips, not even banking to reduce corner speeds. It was still used as a conventional car-racing circuit, so the tarmac remained, and track limits were enforced, despite how tight the circuit was by modern standards.

As the windscreen pulsed, Amy kept it locked, purple flickering as the ELS whined, the LIDAR and sensor suite feeling honed in, tuned, perfect. In monsoon conditions, she felt at one, the ship still as glued, close in to her. Qualy was one half of the fight. She was very good at this. But the race was another.

Best way to do that was to set a gauntlet. And she barely seemed phased by the sheer volume of water and blindness, Ferradura creating a beautiful right hander uphill, before the chicane at Pinheirinho, Bico de Pato's sharp hairpin that required her to get turn in and almost drift the ship in this configuration, the lack of MAG tracking, banks or anything meaning that ships were actually forced to get slow. Not before Mergulho, which was basically a flat corner for ships with good enough stability, and fnially, Juncao, which made, or broke a lap. Amy kept it as far as she could on the outside, millimetres from being offtrack, before, as early as she could, peeling the ship tight in and slapping on throttle, nearly screaming as the ship came around out of the left hander and up the hill, pointed straight, the rain clattering the canopy hard directly into the LED floodlighting.

Delta was healthy to Bea. And she smashed her time, by two-hundredths of a second. As if to make a statement, to remind, she still had control here. It would be down to thousandths now for the top runners, but Amy, well, she still had that trick up her sleeve. And in the rain, her experience, and outright talent shone to trust a ship that was half her now.

"Incredible lap, that is P1, Amy, P1, bring it on home, it is chucking cats and dogs out there but you made that look effortless!" Amy heard from Keira, as she exhaled hard, the oxygen cycling through her lungs hard, as she smirked, keeping a relatively hot outlap going, thinking to herself about it all.

Was the risk worth it still? It felt like everyone was charging, were they on what she had? Or was the machine breaking down? She couldn't tell. Amy didn't want to rely on it. She just wanted to stomp, and let others talk. Bea was no doubt going to find that time intimidating, but you didn't win two championships without playing the psychology game. Pushing harder than she should have through Juncao maybe wasn't the smartest move, but tomorrow, she had a feeling she'd need to get a reset if she wanted to make sure Nora couldn't catch her in the points, and Southern Cross could be chased in the constructors.

[hider=Qualifying Results for São Paulo:]

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

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[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Aut%C3%B3dromo_Jos%C3%A9_Carlos_Pace_%28AKA_Interlagos%29_track_map.svg/2560px-Aut%C3%B3dromo_Jos%C3%A9_Carlos_Pace_%28AKA_Interlagos%29_track_map.svg.png[/img]

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

Under a hexagonal, field-generator like parasol that let rain drip off the surface, the rainy, floodlit afternoon in Brazil had the teams all getting interviewed once more, everyone wearing high-tech raincoats.

[b]"Bea, 2nd place. How are you feeling, sandwiched between a Cassie Neves that is hunting Valkyrie in the points, and an Amy Stirling, who is going to fight hard to keep first? It seems like she set that lap as a marker, how do you think you'll respond tomorrow?"

"Kais, an impressive qualifying from you, absolutely fearless! The points gap to Valkyrie still remains narrow, so do you think you'll be able to make the most of it tomorrow, in what look like mixed conditions?"

"Paul, we know you had issues in transit and some are saying your handling setups were affected by the riots in Buenos Aires. What is your plan for this weekend, it seems like you're positioned well to fight with the other big teams tomorrow, and grab some valuable points against Al-Saqr?" [/b]

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The platinum blonde haired, pole sitter had a shit-eating grin on her face, the question coming through about her obvious competition tomorrow.

"Yeah, well Bea is impressive, so I had to put a gauntlet down. I felt comfortable pushing the ship, and yeah, I know she's capable, she'll want to bounce back from her nasty crash last week. But same time, I've got plenty to keep me focussed. The fight at the top is picking up, but I back myself, like with Harrison last year!" Amy replied, the raincoat day-glo silver, as another reporter tried to get her, but she made her way out, clacking on racing legs rather than her usual given the pace of the interviews..

"Well, there's lots of rumours, but my goal is to keep scoring as many points for Zygon this year and next, as that's where my contract is. 3rd is super great for us, and we're putting on the pressure onto Valkyrie. We want to get them this year." Cassie put matter-of-factly, cutting seamlessly to her old rival, Dorian.

"Not amazing, poor run in Sector 2, the handling setup we thought we would have just isn't there after damage to our fabricators. We'll have to make do with what we have, and I was well below what I expected today. Just couldn't make it work, but Paul has set up well for tomorrow." His comments were dry, less than he would expect of himself, but then again, a bad setup, was a bad setup.

"Lots in it, we're right behind Paul and Kais, and they're both going to give me a good fight. Gotta keep the pressure on Amy, so I will be giving it everything tomorrow." Nora smiled, the smirk from the Aussie in her usual black (faux) leather jacket hiding a certain element of fear in chasing down the indomitable Stirling at the top of the timeboard.

"Well, the top teams are so far away, it feels impossible in this close of the season! But, we'll do what we can. We're pulling through, me and Ben are learning lots more about the ship, and setting the groundwork for next year. But yeah, let's see, a cheeky point would be great!" Florence replied, a usual grin, as she was ushered away, under the arm of a green and yellow jacketed engineer, the teal blue and orange suited pilot of Max Wedgewood coming in next.

"Yeah, kinda what Florence said! The top teams are there for a reason, and at Sao Paolo, a bit like Auckland, the absolute best ships are getting shown. It's a shame to be leaving MMR but I'll put all on the line tomorrow, and we'll do what we can." Max added, chirpy as ever, even if he got a massive load of rain as he walked out of the bubbled up area.

"It feels good, very good! The ship is connecting, yalla, I hate rain but it felt so nice to put the speed we have down. This circuit is amazing!" Hamid excitedly chirped, Aurora replying with a grin of her own behind the camera, cutting to an actually not frowning Astrid.

"9th is good. We want points. Try and keep up with MMR. But uhhh.....we shall see. I like rain and mixed conditions. And the ship is good, soo.....yes." Astrid made more than just a handful of words, and well, it showed in her actually breaking out....a grin at the end. Fuck. 

Kofi was less happy.
"Not that great. Bad setup, the ship was so slippery in Sector 1, just couldn't make it work. C'est la vie." He shrugged, moving out of frame, as quickly as he had come in.