…And brand new to the V8 Supercars grid in 2022 is the freshly created AKV Motorsports, fielding two full time entries this season with two of the hottest motorsport talents in the world. American hot shot Viral Velocity piloting the #24, and Queensland resident Akula in the #98.

“Here’s the new AKV Motorsports cars, back in January at Queensland raceway. Blank, nothing but a vibrant shade of red. Viral and Akula worked very hard over the winter to find some sponsorships, and boy did they find them. Let’s start with the #24, Axalta, works on automotive finishes and they helped design these liveries. From what I’ve been told, this look is inspired by Viral’s motorsport background in America, I think it looks great. Very unique, easy to spot in the field. The #98, Qantas, I like this, look at how they incorporate the spades from the fuselage into this livery. Fantastic, Two months ago these cars were a red shell, now they have their own unique and stylish designs. I tip my hat to Axalta and AKV Motorsports for putting together such great designs.”

Viral took a deep breath to get her nerves together, 8 years of racing did little to calm them. Every year there was a new opportunity, the first race of the season always put her on edge. Whether it was her time in NASCAR at Daytona, or when she drove open wheel, she always cherished the excitement of a new season.

She had her music with her as always, it soothed her, and got her into the motions. She could always count on it to straighten her up and get her motivated. Everyone on the team knew that when she was listening to music she was preparing to do work. Akula and Neon especially, having known her for years, were aware of this. No one questioned when she had her ears plugged as she prepared to head to the grid.

Akula was paying extra close attention to his own car, whispering to it as he would say. His own little ritual before the race. The weekend had been going well, Top five pace all weekend was a promising start, but he wanted to be one with the #98 behind the wheel today. It was going to be an endurance race at Sydney, and he wanted to make an impression on the series early. Both of them elected to start the race on standard hard tires for strategy reasons. Weather was always a possibility, but if it didn’t come then they would be better off.

Both cars rolled out of pit lane and around towards their grid slots with the rest of the field, Akula passing many cars on his way to the third row. Engineers from the team helped both him and Viral with final preparations. There was a lot of pre-race theatrics to attend to, including driver introductions. They and the rest of the drivers met at a truck at the front of the grid, with a large group of spectators waiting for pictures.

Akula gave Viral a friendly nudge as Tim Slade was the first to be introduced as a single driver team.

“Was that really necessary?” Viral asked with fake annoyance.

“Nervous?” Akula played with her.

“About seeing fans? Do you even know me?”

There were some faint chuckles from the drivers behind them, namely Will Brown who was no stranger to mucking about. He reminded Viral of Ricciardo.

“The youngest team on the grid, AKV Motorsports joins the Supercars lineup with two of the biggest talents in worldwide motorsport. Young, hungry, and with plenty of experience across multiple series and disciplines. In the Axalta Coating Systems #24 is an American driver with a vast array of Stock Car and Touring Car experience, and her teammate in the #98 Qantas entry is a local prodigy from Queensland, please give a warm welcome to Viral Velocity and Akula.”

The reception they received was incredible, the Australian crowd welcoming them with wide open arms. Viral wanted to take it all in, but there was only so much she could do before they had to step off the stage to make way for those behind them. They joined Tim Slade at the stand, awaiting the rest of the drivers for the group photo. Both of them kneeling down on either side of James Courtney and Thomas Randle on the bottom step.

Finally, they were released back to their vehicles, Viral once again began listening to music to collect herself. Akula took his final moments to whisper to the Qantas Commodore. Eventually, he proceeded to his vehicle and was strapped in, while Viral had her music taken away by one of her engineers and her radio connected.

“Is your playlist finally finished?” Neon began to play with her.

“Loud and clear Neon.” Viral responded to what was Neon’s intended question.

“Got you here V. Ready to do business?”

“Coming out of retirement.”

“You never really planned on retiring.”

“Never in a million years.”

Akula also got hooked in with Chrysalis.

“Loud and clear here.”

“Sounds good.”

“You know, it just hit me that this is the first time we’ve done this. I mean, 2019 you were driving for HAAS, 2020 was Kurt Busch and Cliff Daniels, and in 2021 you were hanging around at home taking care of everyone else. Yet, this just seems right. Your voice in my ear.”

“Oh I’m flattered, maybe later…”

“Uh, let’s keep the radio clear of... you know. Race Control can hear us.”

“Right.”

The warmup lap was on, and the tension began to rise. They had done this many times, but never as Owner Drivers, for a moment Viral had the worry about how they would deal with wrecked cars, but she snapped back to reality. Her job was to drive, if anything happened, that would be dealt with after the race. They began to form back up on the grid.

“3…2…1…stop.” Akula lined up on row three, position five.

“Keep coming, 2…1…stop. Little bit forward, good.” Viral in row seven position fourteen.

“Green flag.”

“Green green.”

They patiently awaited the start. The noise of Ford and GM V8s lit up the setting sun in Sydney as the red lights came on... then off as Commodores and Mustangs alike launched into action. Akula immediately got the jump on Andre Heimgartner and Tim Slade as they bogged down from row two. He swung inside as Will Brown swung around and they went side by side through turn 1 with Will Davison ready to pounce on the two cars they had just passed. Viral from her spot swung around to look for a way around Broc Feeney but got hung around the outside of turn 1 and had to slot back into line.

As the Axalta Commodore began to get attacked by Scott Pye, Akula went side by side with Will Brown through turn two and claimed third as he chased down Shane and De Pasquale. Will Brown gave him a bump into Shane, but everyone stayed strong on lap one. Viral found herself in a Team 18 sandwich with Pye and Winterbottom as Pye began to tussle with Nick Percat of Walkinshaw Andretti United. Just ahead of them, the Grove Racing Penrite Mustang of David Reynolds went wide into the wet grass but rejoined safely.

Then Feeney backed out of a move from Pye, which caught Percat by surprise as he had to catch his car, and Viral picked his pocket for the spot. She began to settle in behind the #88 and get out of the scrum happening behind her. Finally they began to run laps without issue. Akula began hunting down Shane and Anton, and Viral caught up behind Feeney.

Not too long after, Andre Heimgartner began to pick up spots. He picked off Will Davison and Brown before taking a look at Akula.

“Heimgartner behind, on Super Softs. Recommend we don’t fight him, we’ll only lose time.”

Akula picked turn eight to let Heimgartner through, and immediately blocked any attempt from Will Brown to follow off as he continued to charge. Heimgartner picked off Shane ahead, and began to go after Anton. Viral began to get conservative, holding a spot between Feeney and Percat.

On lap six, Neon came through with a weather update.

“Just a heads up V, we have a storm front holding on the hill over the west side of the track. It’s standing firm at the moment, but keep an eye on the horizon.”

“Thank you.”

In the meantime she was picked off by Nick Percat, who then grabbed a spot from her fellow rookie Broc Feeney. She was playing a slow game, conserving tires, just like she used to do in open wheel and IMSA. However a few laps later she saw a puff of smoke up the road coming from a battle between James Courtney and Scott Pye. She snuck around the inside of Courtney as he was re-entering the track, and Scott Pye continued to puff a cloud of smoke ahead of her, losing power steering and falling off like a rock. Broc Feeney got around him in turn 8, and Viral snuck a nose up in turn 11 and made her merry way, having side stepped a bullet, and grabbing two spots.

Finally, the race began to settle down for Viral as she began to chase Broc Feeney, with Akula holding strong in 4th place keeping touch with Broc’s teammate, Shane. Behind him was David Reynolds, also on Super Softs, who made a move on Will Brown. It would be a bit before he closed up.

A few laps later, Viral watched as the car she was closing down on made its first pit stop, promoting her up a position. From that point on it was a lonely race for the next few laps. On lap 21, Akula was promoted up a spot from Shane pitting from 3rd place, as was Viral. She also grabbed a spot from Brodie Kostecki when he pit, followed by his teammate Will Brown a lap later. It wasn’t long before David Reynolds and Will Davison took their stops behind Akula themselves as well as Fullwood and Thomas Randle. It was then that the team played their hand.

“In this lap, push and pit confirm.”

“Pit confirm.”

“Akula is pitting this lap, push on.”

“Copy.”

It just so happened that Akula timed his stop so that he was alone in the lane when they did it, the stop was clean, they put on a second set of hard tires, and he was away with no trouble. By sheer coincidence he just so happened to slot back onto the track behind Viral, who gave him an easy time to find his rhythm again as he began to charge after Feeney, who was a lap down, and Jack Le Brocq.

Viral then came into the pits behind Nick Percat and Tim Slade, having a similarly smooth stop and gaining a spot from Slade in the process. From here it was a simple job, run clean until the end of the race. Both cars would put Super Softs on for their final stop to sprint to the finish. As such, Akula held position behind Heimgartner and De Pasquale while Viral kept her eyes on Nick Percat. However as this was happening Mark Winterbottom and Tim Slade began to creep up behind them, conversely Cameron Waters and Todd Hazelwood began to fade back into them.

Viral made way for Frosty, who then started after Nick Percat and company. Hazelwood and Waters began to scuffle ahead. Percat, Winterbottom, Viral, and Slade tucked in behind them. Percat made his way through Hazelwood, then began to move inside Waters. Waters covered, and pinched Percat into the weeds. Percat then pinched Hazelwood inside to cover that move. Winterbottom benefitted and grabbed the spot from Hazelwood. Viral and Slade followed him through. After a couple more corners, Slade also found his way through on Viral.

She was still conserving tires, hoping to push at the very end. Akula was doing well himself, having picked off Andre Heimgartner and David Reynolds to move into 4th. Now he settled down, with cars ahead of him having already used their Super Softs.

Even with all this happening, the weather over the hill was still a looming threat inching closer and closer with every lap. So with the threat looming, Race Control declared the race wet on lap 41, allowing the teams to bring out wet tires should they need them.

A few laps later, Shane surrendered the lead with another pitstop, promoting Akula to 3rd. But after about a dozen laps, Shane rocketed his way up the order. Davison pitted, putting on Soft tires, and instead of trying to fight Shane with older harder tires, Akula wisely just put himself out of Shane’s way. It wasn’t his fight, and he was on a much different strategy. After a very long stint, Akula took his final stop and finally put on a set of blue wall Super Soft tires. The team put in the remaining amount of fuel they needed, and he was off joining in behind Chaz Mostert, also running the Super Soft tires.

Viral then took her stop, exiting in behind the #3 of Tim Slade. 20 laps to go, and a sprint to the finish. Akula began to shadow Mostert, who began to hunt down the cars ahead of him. He started with Heimgartner who was on worn out tires much older than both the cars behind him. Mostert made his move, and Akula took advantage of Heimgartner getting boxed out by Chaz to take that spot.

As this was happening, Viral started to show pace. She was shown as one of the fastest cars on the track.

“Personal best lap that time, that’s what I like to see. Keep going, see if you can close up to Slade.”

Further ahead, a few laps later, Courtney and Feeney came into the lane promoting Akula and Viral to 6th and 12th. Finally on lap 64, Shane activated his final stop, dropping into 3rd behind Brown and De Pasquale. Mostert was proving to be a tough nut for Akula to crack with his own set of Super Softs, but the pair was catching Will Davison.

Viral watched on as Tim Slade passed a fading Bryce Fullwood. She took her time, picked him up at turn eleven, and went on her way. She was one spot away from grabbing a top ten, but there were only ten laps to go. Meanwhile Chaz and Akula were nose to tail with Will Davison. Mostert made his move, sticking it up the inside at the top of the hill, and Akula followed suit in turn eight not wanting to be left behind.

Even better for both of them, Will Brown was beginning to drop like a rock. His soft tires were very old and didn’t have nearly as much grip as the two behind him. Lap 72, they closed to within a second. A few laps later, Mostert picked him up at turn 11. Akula tucked in behind Brown’s draft on the straight, and dived in on him in turn 2 with his much stronger grip.

“Awesome, that’s P4. You’re fighting Chaz for a podium, see if you can take him.”

That would be a tall order, but not a challenge he wouldn't put up. He did try running him down, but as the laps ticked down it seemed like there wasn’t anything the tires had left to give him. He would have to settle for 4th place. Viral was preparing to finish 11th herself, but a sudden and inexplicable pitstop from Andre Heimgartner promoted her up to 10th just as they started the final lap. Luck struck for her, and she went around one more time to finish up, as Shane van Gisburgen went on to win the first race of the season ahead of Anton De Pasquale and Chaz Mostert.

“Checkered Flag, P4. You gave it a good crack.”

“Yeah, that’s a good way to start off the year. Where’s Viral?”

“Coming across the line now, P10.”

“And, checkered flag. P10, top ten. Very smooth, that’s how we do it.”

“Starting off strong, Akula?”

“P4, just missed out on the podium. We’ll meet you both in the garage.”

Author's Note

Sydney Supernight Race 1 Results

1. #97 Shane van Gisburgen
   
2. #11 Anton De Pasquale (Pole Position)
   
3. #25 Chaz Mostert
   
4. #98 Akula
   
5. #17 Will Davison
   
6. #99 Brodie Kostecki
   
7. #2 Nick Percat
   
8. #9 Will Brown
   
9. #3 Tim Slade
   
10. #24 Viral Velocity
    
11. #88 Broc Feeney
    
12. #5 James Courtney
    
13. #6 Cameron Waters
    
14. #14 Bryce Fullwood
    
15. #34 Jack Le Brocq
    
16. #35 Todd Hazelwood
    
17. #8 Andre Hiemgartner (Fastest Lap)
    
18. #18 Mark Winterbottom
    
19. #4 Jack Smith
    
20. #76 Garry Jacobson
    
21. #56 Jake Kostecki
    
22. #55 Thomas Randle
    
23. #10 Lee Holdsworth
    
24. #96 Macaulay Jones
    
25. #22 Chris Pither
    
26. #26 David Reynolds
    
27. #20 Scott Pye-Retired