Roar Of The V8s

3 months later...

3 long months passed since Akula and Viral met once again and began to plan their start in the Supercars Championship. They had the cars, they had the drivers and they had the money. All they needed was everything else. First off, a team. Now, while no teams had any open seats for them, that wasn't going to be a problem.

The pair had already decided they were going to do this with their own team. And so, on the eve of Christmas... Akula and Viral Velocity, 2019 and 2021 Formula One Equestria Series Champions respectively, established AKV Motorsports, their own personal team. A team they would run and drive for. The two top Equestrian drivers were now Owner-Drivers.

Next, was team personnel. That wasn't a problem either. Akula and Chrysalis' own spawn of changelings would man the team for now, until more personnel could be found. But for now, it was good enough and the bugs seemed to be very good at their jobs.

However, then there was a bit of a bigger problem. Sponsorships. You see, Akula and Viral's personal sponsors were not very happy about them suddenly cutting ties with Formula One and abandoning their championship fights and they had all pretty much cut ties with them and now, AKV Motorsports were unsponsored and running completely out of pocket. They needed some way to get some new sponsors to sign and fast before their plans were sunk before they even began.

So, in order to attract some attention back to them and their little Supercars venture, Akula and Viral began to participate in a few one-off races around the world to catch some attention, sign some sponsors and make some money. Thankfully, the start of the Supercars season wasn't until March, so they had plenty of time to get into some events. AKV Motorsports hit the ground running with appearances in the Dakar Rally, the 24 Hours of Daytona and much later... the Daytona 500.

And for a pair of washed up F1 rejects... they did shockingly well. The Dakar Rally went well enough, having to run the event unsponsored, with an old Toyota Hilux DKR and not the best equipment. But even still, their talent and skill showed, as out of 73 finishers... they managed to place 15th overall in the Cars category. Not bad for a pair of "privateers". Then, in the 24 Hours of Daytona, they began to find their form again. Racing for themselves, but being backed up money and personnel-wise by Team Penske, the pair were able to finish 1st in the GTD class. By now, sponsors were rolling in and even still, they were not done.

As they chilled a bit in Florida after the 24 hour race, they were contacted by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, the owners of 23XI Racing, a relatively new team in the NASCAR Cup Series. They were impressed by their performance at the 24 Hour race and they wanted to sign them up to a one-race deal for them to race at the Daytona 500. The two friends jumped at the chance and accepted. This would be their last race before heading to Australia to begin their Supercars season.

And driving for 23XI Racing, driving the #98 and #33 Toyota Camrys respectively, alongside Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace, they did very well. They rode in the Top 10 all day, putting in some consistent laps and Viral and Akula managed to finish 3rd and 4th respectively, and managed to help Bubba to a 2nd place finish, behind race winner, Austin Cindric. But still, that was very impressive. Now, the sponsor issue was solved.

When they got back to Australia, they had received multiple sponsorship contracts. Viral had chosen to stick with Axalta as her title sponsor, happy to have her favourite personal sponsor back. However, with Akula and his personal sponsor, Monster Energy... there was an issue. You see, Monster Energy was already signed with another driver to be their title sponsor, so Akula had to look somewhere else. Thankfully, he found another he liked and signed title sponsorship to the flagship Australian airline, Qantas Airways.

Now, all that was left was some promotional material before the season kicked off. And that was easily handled. Just some nice photos of their car liveries and themselves to look good for the newspapers, Youtube videos and social media posts. Those three months they had since they started this plan had flown by... and it was time for the first round of the season.

Sydney Motorsports Park, Sydney, New South Wales
Repco Supercars Championship Round 1, Sydney SuperNight

This was it. Akula and Viral walked through the paddock of the Sydney track, readying themselves for the first practice sessions of the series. They had a lot to learn about their cars and they needed some mileage to learn as much about the cars in the short twin practice sessions they had.

Akula and Viral were walking through the paddock of the race track. The sight was overwhelming. There were people everywhere, drivers, pit crew, engineers, even eager fans. The sight was eerily reminiscent of their time in F1... but then again, pretty much all other motorsports were like this, so that wasn't too much of a worry.

"Holy hell..." Viral exclaimed, noticing the sheer number of people, "This place is lively!"

"Goes to show how popular this sport is with us locals, V." Akula explained. "The Supercars are the top flight of motorsport here in Australia. Those who don't waste their lives trying to make something of themselves in Europe in open-wheelers are here, watching the best Australasia has to offer."

Soon enough, they began encountering some of their fellow drivers. Most of them fellow Australians, with a select few New Zealanders, or Kiwis, as Akula and some of the others called them. However, there was one driver who caught their attention. It was another Kiwi. And he was dressed in Red Bull Ampol attire. He also had a bit of a bushy beard and wore a cap to hide his somewhat balding hair.

Viral was a bit concerned. She immediately thought Akula was going to snap and attack, because of the Red Bull branding. However, that concern became confusion when Akula was actually smiling at this gentleman. "Ay! Yo, Shane!" He called out, getting the man's attention. And her fear settled as the man smiled back and the two embraced like a pair of best friends.

"You two... know each other?" Viral questioned.

Akula took a second from hugging the Kiwi driver, and began introductions. "Heh, we sure do. Viral Velocity, may I introduce you to two-time and current defending Supercars champion and one-time Bathurst 1000 winner, Shane van Gisburgen. Shane, this is Viral Velocity. My best friend from America."

"Nice to meet you, Shane." Viral greeted, extending a hoof to shake his hand.

"Likewise," Shane replied, taking her hoof and shaking it.

"Me and Shane have known each other for a while now. Ever since I met him during my time in Aussie F4 in 2015. We kicked off, became good friends. I've stayed in contact with him for a while now. Hell, he's the reason we were able to get those two Commodores we're racing in right now."

Viral was amazed. She did wonder where Akula did get those cars from. Akula smiled and took her aside, having done all the introductions needed. "Alright, now that you've met him. There's something I need to explain. You've got a lot to learn about this sport and the teams. This isn't an easy field to go against, every single person on this field is from here or New Zealand, they know the tracks we are going to drive like the back of their hands. Being the only non-Oceanic driver here, you have a lot of ground to cover. But I wanna go over who will be the main people to keep our eyes on for this season, okay?"

Viral nodded, as Akula took her on a walk of the paddock.