Run That Race

6TH APRIL 2024

------BAHRAIN INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT------

It was now almost 5:00pm in Bahrain, which meant it was almost midnight back in Canterlot City. In the Thunderbolt Motorsports pits, Sunset and her pit crew were getting ready for qualifying of the third race of the season. It had been two weeks since their last race in Jeddah. During this time, Sunset had caught up on her schoolwork, and had also stopped by the Thunderbolt Motorsports headquarters, to look at the new strategies that Comet Flash had created.

Comet Flash had also been hard at work over the last two weeks, making new racing strategies to try and get around the dirty tricks being used by drivers such as Rash Rider and Comet Flash. He had also been Sunset practice more of these strategies on the simulator whenever she was not doing her schoolwork. It was hard, but Sunset was enjoying the challenge of this. Despite the fact that she had a test on the day they had left for Bahrain, she had been able to study and take it on Soaring Surfer's private jet, through it's inflight Wi-Fi system.

The team was getting ready to head out, and by now, Sunset was pretty much accustomed to the high temperatures of the Middle East, this having been her third time here now. As the team got ready for Q1, Sunset listened to her music as usual, to cool down before a race. It had become a tradition now, as Hot Rocket was also doing it, so it was a driver tradition now. The team was hoping to get a top 5 finish this race, as they needed it so that Sunset could continue racing, and it had to be before or on the fifth race of the season.

They had half an hour till the start of Q1, so the drivers went inside to suit up, and get in the cars for qualifying. Comet Flash had made their new strategy with the help of a friend, who was another former racer from Comet Flash's glory days. Comet Flash and him had collaborated to create their new racing strategy, and it had been well done. Unlike their old strategy, which was basically be aggressive the whole race, this new strategy was to be passive and defensive for most of the race, and become more aggressive near the end, to conserve fuel and tires for one big push near the end. However, this would only work if they got a good spot in qualifying, which was what they were aiming for today.

Soon, at exactly 3:00pm, Q1 started, and the drivers headed out once more, as they hit the track. Sunset and Hot Rocket were out with a renewed vigour, as Sunset's performance kept improving every race, and Flash had calculated that the team would get a podium finish, or even a win, by the sixth or seventh race in the season. However, the main obstacles in their way were Rash Rider, High Roller, and Solar Wind. These two drivers were the ones who were trying to make sure Sunset did not get that top 5 finish. He had already told Sunset to keep a close eye on those three drivers, but he was also keeping an eye on the pit crews from Nissan and Rich Racing, just in case.

Q1 went extremely well, and Sunset and Hot Rocket were both able to continue to Q2, finishing Q1 in 6th and 4th respectively, and so did the Rich Racing and Ford drivers. However, Solar Wind was unable to finish Q1, after her 400Z GT500 somehow managed to send a piston to the Moon, leaving a circular-shaped hole in its bonnet, which Sunset saw as she passed the disabled 400Z, since the failure had occurred in front of her. She also saw how unhappy Solar Wind was on the big screen, punching her car in anger for quitting on her like that.

Q2 started 15 minutes after Q1, and in Q2, both of the drivers of Thunderbolt Motorsports made it to Q3, both finishing in the top 10, along with the drivers of Rich Racing. Q3 was relatively uneventful, and Sunset managed to qualify in 6th place, followed by Hot Rocket in 7th. Rash Rider and High Roller managed to qualify in 1st and 2nd respectively. Sunset was eagerly hoping to finally get that top 5 finish in this race, and considering that she had qualified in 6th place, she was looking good for it.

7TH APRIL 2024

------BAHRAIN INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT------

As race day dawned on the country of Bahrain, the excitement among the motorsports fans and people who would be watching the race was growing. This was the closest Sunset Shimmer, gamer-turned-racer, had come to a top 5 finish. All of the simracing community, the gaming community, and a small part of the racing community, was rooting for her to get that finish, since it would prove that video gamers weren't actually useless after all, and to show that they could do something, and to break the stereotypes about gamers.

As the teams all got ready for the race day, everyone was also wondering how Solar Wind would come back to form after her engine blew out the previous day. Due to that, Solar Wind had qualified in last place, and while her usual car still hadn't been repaired, since a whole new engine had to be flown in for it, the Nissan team had a third car on standby, so she would be driving that today.

As the starting of 6:00pm local time in Bahrain came closer, the excitement kept growing. Sunset knew that despite the fact that it was late at night back home in Canterlot City, her friends would probably be trying everything to catch the race, even if it meant missing school the next day. The pre-start preparations were now routine for her. Around half an hour before the race, Sunset finishing suiting up and readying herself for the race. Then, she listened to music for a few minutes, and then, headed out to her car, which was already on the track. As usual, once pre-race preparation was completed, a couple of minutes before the formation lap was started, the cars were started up, and all of the pit crews began moving away from the main track. This was her first night race, so Sunset was definitely excited.

Soon, the formation lap began, and Sunset and the other cars were away, headlights glowing. This being her first night race, Sunset was a little slower than usual, just to get her eyes adjusted to driving at night, despite the track being lit up. Soon, the cars were all at the starting line once more, ready to race. At exactly 6:03pm local time, the race started, and all 20 cars were off the starting line, in the first night race of the season, which would last 75 laps.

The first laps were extremely exciting, as Sunset stayed in 6th place, but Hot Rocket directly got into 7th place off the bat. Silverstreak, who had qualified in 12th, moved up a position on the second lap, but High Roller dropped to 4th place, while Rash Rider stayed in 1st. Even Solar Wind had gained, going from 20th to 17th within the first five laps. However, as the race progressed, she continued to gain, going to 15th place by the 10th lap.

As the race progressed, Sunset stayed in 6th, but she and Hot Rocket were having a battle for that place, even as Sunset pushed ahead, trying to get into the top 5. Meanwhile, Solar Wind continued gaining, overtaking two people in one go on the 17th lap to get in 13th place. However, she was clearly aiming to at least get a top 10 finish, and was not willing to give that up. As the race continued on, the excitement was high, and it was clearly continuing to grow, as the battle between Sunset and Hot Rocket grew more intense. Both of the Thunderbolt drivers were tussling for that 6th place spot. Silverstreak had also gained some places, and was now in 9th. The only car separating him from the two Thunderbolt cars was one of the Lazante Racing Lamborghinis.

However, on the 21st lap, the race was temporarily yellow-flagged after Silverstreak's teammate suffered a crash, where on Turn 10, he was going a little too fast, and while trying to make the tight turn, he made a stupid mistake by failing to slow down enough in time, and in his attempt to make the turn, his Mustang GT3 ended up going into the gravel, and being a rear-wheel drive, the Mustang began spinning the second it hit the gravel, and slammed right into the barriers rear-first at almost 100 miles per hour. Thankfully, he was okay and could get out of the car, which was damaged beyond repair from the high-speed impact.

While the race was yellow-flagged for the next few laps, most drivers took the opportunity to pit, going in to change from softs to mediums. However, under their new strategy, the Thunderbolt drivers changed from softs to hards, which would last longer, and reduce the need to pit for a while. Despite the slower pace during the yellow flag, the sound of roaring engines reverberated through the night air of Bahrain, exciting the crowd even more.

Soon, around five minutes after the crash, on the 23rd lap, and after the gravel was cleared off the track, the yellow flag period ended, and the race resumed normally, with renewed vigour. Sunset found it a little difficult to drive with hard tires at first, as this was the first time she had raced on hard times since her training at RaceWorld Academy. However, after the tires were nicely warmed up, it was a little easier to do so. The battle for 6th place continued between the two Thunderbolt drivers continued, as they had not lost their positions when they pitted.

As the battle continued, Sunset began feeling more confident than ever, as the driver who was in 5th place was in her sights, the other Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 driven by Lazante Racing. As she closed in on the Huracan, Hot Rocket was also up her exhaust pipe, trying hard to overtake Sunset. Despite them being teammates, they were also quite competitive, so they were not giving up without a fight. However, this was now about to become a four-way battle, as on the 30th lap, Silverstreak had overtaken the other Lazante driver, and he was now on Hot Rocket's exhaust pipe, trying to overtake the two Thunderbolt drivers.

As the four-way battle continued, on the 34th lap, Sunset finally found a window on Turn 4 to overtake the Lamborghini in front of her, and as she swiftly overtook him, she was now in 5th place. Now all she had to do was maintain this position, or even get into the top 4, for the rest of the race. Easy-peasy, thought Sunset, as she now focused on holding the Lazante driver off, as he tried to take back his 5th place spot.

However, the battle between Sunset and the Lazante driver ended on the 40th lap, when one of his wheels started to wobble, and that started to affect his performance, and caused him to get even slower. Soon, Hot Rocket had also overtaken him, and by the 44th lap, he had fallen from 6th all the way to 10th place, as the tire wobbled even more, causing him to slow down even more, and go in for a pit stop to fix that, if it even was fixable. Soon, Sunset saw on the board that he was out of the race, due to some suspension damage to his car that had caused the wheel to start wobbling. Now, only 18 drivers were left in the race.

Sunset was doing quite well out there, and now, Rash Rider's teammate, High Roller, who was still in 4th place, was in her sights. She was looking quite good for a 4th place finish, and hopefully, that was what she would get. As the race continued, she began closing the distance between her and High Roller, and by the 52nd lap, she was just a second behind him. However, as she came closer to him and prepared for the overtake, High Roller began driving more defensively, to make sure Sunset did not pass him at all costs.

In fact, on Turn 13, just as Sunset was about to make a move to overtake him, he made an extremely dangerous maneuver, and cut Sunset off, preventing her from taking 4th place. That frustrated Sunset, but soon, she was in 2nd place, as everyone else had come in to pit. However, by the 58th lap, Sunset had fallen back to 5th, as she had also had to pit, swapping out her hard tires for a set of softs, to make that last push for 4th place. Soon, the final push began, as the end of the race neared. There were only 17 laps left, and Sunset had to make that count.

Soon, she was back behind High Roller, trying to overtake him once more. However, just like the previous time, he was being aggressive and extremely reckless, trying to prevent her from overtaking. However, finally, on the 66th lap, on Turn 13, Sunset finally overtook him, as he used Rash Rider's slamming the door move on her, which she had learned how to counter from the half-ton of times Rash had used it on her. Sunset was finally in 4th place. That made her extremely happy, as Sunset pushed even harder, trying to open up the gap between her and High Roller, and possibly even get into 3rd place and take a podium.

However, the top 3 drivers were still way ahead of Sunset, and tire wear was starting to slow Sunset down, so there was possibly no way she could catch up to them, with under 8 laps remaining. Plus, High Roller was also starting to catch back up to Sunset, so she had her hands full, to keep her 4th place position secure. As he continued to catch up, Sunset began driving defensively as well, and the battle recommenced on the 72nd lap. With just 3 laps to go, Sunset was not willing to let High Roller overtake her. The excitement in the spectator area was at an all-time high, as they watched this battle happen in front of their eyes.

However, on the very last lap, on Turn 14, High Roller won the battle. Sunset's tire wear caused her to lightly skid, which gave High Roller the window he needed to take back 4th, which he took. An annoyed Sunset instantly hit the gas, but it was too late, and the damage had already been done, as High Roller crossed the finish line just half a second ahead of Sunset. Sunset was especially unhappy about this, but Comet Flash calmed her down on the radio. "Hey, you did good, and, the FIA has just informed us that you'll get to keep your racing license, as you fulfilled your end of our deal with them. Plus, a top 5 finish, that's quite good for a newbie. I have a good feeling you'll end up on the podium next race." said Flash, which calmed Sunset down.

Hot Rocket had also finished well, finishing in 7th place, followed by Silverstreak in 8th. Solar Wind had made an amazing comeback throughout the race, but had ended up finishing in 11th place, and Sunset could see her fuming off into the Nissan pits after pulling in after the race had finished. The second Sunset got out of her car, her entire pit crew, Comet Flash, and Soaring Surfer, were all cheering for her, happy that they had finished in the top 5. In fact, some of the pit crew even hugged Sunset, since they were all so happy. This lifted Sunset's spirits, and she watched the podium celebrate.

Rash Rider was the winner this time, and wow, was he happy about it. The 23 year old British driver, with red skin that almost matched the shade of his Ferrari, and bleached blond hair, looked as if he had just won the World Championship, the way he was celebrating. However, Sunset didn't like him at all, there was just an aura about him that didn't seem right. Anyways, as the celebrations continued, Sunset and her team decided to head to their hotel, as it was almost 9:00pm in the night here in Bahrain. Their goal was to get a podium, by the next race.