“Focus on the rest of the lap. Lay down a time—any competitive time.”
Julien overcompensates by punching through the straight, but it forces him to swing wide through the hairpin again.
“Mind track limits.”
“Copy.”
Julien finally finds a good grip through the high-speed trio and flings himself down the straight.Thisfeels more controlled. He just has to lean into?—
Another frustrating oversteer in nine and Julien curses as he man-handles the beast back onto the road before turn ten.
He’ll get it. He’s so close to cracking it.
This car races much more like the sim’s Red Boar than the Ferraro. Julien doesn’t choose the navy option often, but he’s wrangled the thing before. He’s won with it, even. He can do so again.
Julien finally exhales when he crosses the finish line. Checking his mirrors, he pulls off of the race line before slowing for a cool-down lap.
After he collects himself, he hits the mic button. “Should I head to the pits? Or try for another hot lap first?”
Hopefully another hot lap. He has to get three and nine under control. It would also help, generally, if he could run the circuit as many times as possible.
“Box, please.”
Julien pulls into the pits, and there are extra broadcast cameras posted outside of his garage. Super. He definitely needs to be distracted by the media while he’s still learning the car.
The mechanics wheel Julien back into position and place the screens over his halo. They’re set up to what Thomas has requested, so there’s a lot of useless information to sift through for the entire field.
It’s only the first lap, so Julien shouldn’t look at the timing tower, but he can’t stop his gaze from wandering over. Just a quick peek and then he can get back to the useful information.
Another quick peek.
A much longer look.
“At the risk of sounding stupid over the radio,” Julien calls in. “I don’t see myself on the timing tower.”
“Check P8.”
He does and laughs. “That’s Thomas’s tag.”
“What do you mean?”
“They still have the car down as DUB. I’m DUO.” Maybe someone forgot to change it? Still, how embarrassing.
“Julien.”Hector sighs loud enough for his mic to pick up.“You are the only Dubois in this race.”
“I—? Oh.”
The reason Julien was DUO in the first place was because Thomas had already claimed the DUB tag. Without him?—
“There’s no DUO today. You’re in this one alone.”
After a track limits lap deletion, Julien barely squeezes into Q2. He tries to process all of his data as quickly as possible, but a familiar face on the broadcast catches his eye.
“Thomas is here? Is he okay?”
“He’s okay. Please stay focused.”
But Julien unbuckles himself and leans forward to try and spot his brother. The footage looked like he was watching the mechanics’ monitor.
