[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]As Crows Fly- Fin[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] The roar of trophy trucks through desert had been one easily followed by the drone swarms that filmed for Formula AG, catching all extents of both trucks, and the chasing WRC truck, spewing red and yellow sand from tyres and at the same time, the gravity of the landscape. It was a close run thing, but the choice of a thin gap through a canyon got Bea and Trix ahead, and it was a close finish as they would pull ahead, and the Princess of Monaco was still a bit behind. As they chatted and joked at the conclusion of the race the camera panning out from the isolated rock where the three trucks sat, towards the sun, beaming back down into.... [hr] [center] [h1][b] Round 18 of Formula AG Saturday 18th of November Qualifying Day Wadi Rum AG Circuit, Wadi Rum, Jordan, Arabic Union 1500 Arabic Time [/b] [/h1] [/center] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Challenger[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] Wadi Rum was a spectacular circuit for vistas. Wide open, but with rocky climbs. The start straight powered down the big dune, following the yellow-navy Southern Cross ship, hurtling through the first left-right kink that set up something the teams hadn't seen in a while- a dead vertical climb. It wasn't quite as long as the straight at the Salt Flats, but it was getting close- and was a pure power test, right out of the gate. The qualifying took place towards sunset, not quite into dusk or the sun sitting on the horizon, but it was low towards the west. Sector One's MAG tracking on the hot desert sand, even in November, was wide and grippy enough to make anti-gravity ships simply slide over but was not just a simple straightaway, but something that felt like it followed contour, therefore rewarding ships high speed adhesion to keep it absolutely pinned. The long, long straight followed the side of the mesa, with a few turns to keep pilots momentarily yanking on air brakes to peel the ship before unloading all hell. That was, until a hard right, where the MAG tracking left sand and coiled up in a remarkably short 90 degree bend, a cool hairpin that did a full 270 degree turn to achieve it, a negative camber turn that marked the start of.... Sector 2, where the MAG-tracking climbed up a mesa, vertically, before coiling 90 degrees to the right and then back to level earth again in a 3D plane to follow the side of the rocky outcrop, but remained generally fast through a long left turn that would look back on where the pilots came from, before, finding a neck through the canyon and diving deep, before branching out right into a vein between two massive rock formations and coming back around from a suspended position, into... Sector 3, sinewing under a large arch, with a final left and right turn, and one last huge straight that headed towards a long, non-MAG tracked hairpin that was extremely wide to let ships sail up a massive dune's side and back down it, finishing the circuit. It was short for what it was, but ultimately was a test of speed and energy deployment, that making the difference on overtakes and being slingshoted out of low-radius corners. The Southern Cross ship roared over the line, as Nora clenched her fist in the cockpit, grinning ear to ear, knowing that was precisely as good as it felt when the time kicked back. "P1 Nora, P1, what a result. Absolutely perfect, with a delta like that for the race, we're still in it to take P1 in pilots championship.." "Woo! That's what we're talking about." The circuit gave thrills, in a way that the Salt Lake quite couldn't. It felt like truly being sunk into a desert landscape, and clambering high, you could see just quite how empty it was. The others would get to experience that thrill too, and the results would make it clear that Southern Cross had nailed their setup here, even if other teams may have had a slight edge. [hider=Qualifying Results for Jordan] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qF6cn-eA0G0sumgf79TvEnPjOHyQP-vZSFV6LNrn_OY/edit?usp=sharing [/hider] [hr] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Delta Hyper Interviews[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] The interviews after qualifying were back at the "camp" that was based out in the desert, spectators highly limited due to the infrastructure in still being relatively poor, with each team having their own patch of geodesic polymer "domes", with refractive nanites and heat-deadening as well as good old fashioned AC to keep the heat down. In one of those, was Delta Hyper, framing a sunset landscape behind, dunes, mesas, and the circuit's vertical ascent in all its glory. First up, Beatrix Ward. "Bea, sandwiched between two Southern Cross ships. How are you feeling about the circuit, given your rally roots? Do the visuals feel similar to some of the WRC events you've been at before, and do you think you can use that to your advantage tomorrow?" "Bellatrix, not quite as great a result as you were hoping for, but it seems like you've turned around impressive results in that Nordic Call ship. How are you finding the rumours about your rapid success in the ship, something we weren't at all expecting from a relatively unknown rookie?" "Paul, we knew going into Wadi Rum it would be challenging, but do you think tomorrow you'll be able to jump on opportunities ahead of you, with all the stakes of the title race?"