Run That Race

13TH APRIL 2024

------BUDDH INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, DELHI------

It was now almost 2:30pm here in Delhi, the capital of India, which meant it was almost midnight back home in Canterlot City. Sunset Shimmer and the Thunderbolt Motorsports team were getting ready for Q1. After close to a month of racing in the Middle East, it was nice to be in a country like India for a change. This was their last race in Asia for a while, though, as they would be going to Europe from next race onwards.

The Buddh International Circuit was a track that had only now found its way back on the calendars of motorsport events. In fact, the country of India had only recently gotten its first major motorsports events in 10 years, since the last F1 Indian Grand Prix in 2013. The country, despite being the world's most populous, and despite a lot of motorsport fans, had not gotten any major motorsports events until the previous year, with both Formula E and MotoGP racing in India for their first times. In fact, now rumours were abuzz that Formula 1 would also start racing in India again from 2025 onwards.

Today, this would be the only major motorsports event happening in India in 2024, as MotoGP's India race for 2024 had been cancelled due to weather reasons, as the India race was planned for September, when it would be extremely hot in Delhi, so it had been cancelled for this year, but it would return in 2025 as the season opener.

As Sunset got ready for qualifying, Flash told her, "Sunset, this race, we have to get a podium finish. I know that you're keeping your license, but don't become lazy. You don't want to ruin your performance just four races into the season. Remember, if you get lazy, you get sloppy. You get sloppy, you lose races. Also, the crowd is getting wild. Majority of the fans here in India are mainly divided between you and Rash Rider, so there's already been a fight or two. Let's give your Indian fans what they want, since most of them won't get to see you race again until next year, if we're even around then."

"I sure am going to give them a show." said Sunset, as she got into her car, and started it up, so to get some quick data, before they headed out for Q1. Practice the previous day had gone well, and Sunset really liked this track. It wasn't her favorite, but it was up there, considering she had never even heard of the Buddh International Circuit before. She didn't think that India would be a place to host a Formula 1 race, until she had seen this track.

At exactly 3:00pm, Q1 began, and everyone headed out. Most of the cars were handling in the heat, since it was summer in India now, and the temperatures were quite high right now, at least to the drivers who were from America and Europe. Sunset thought about that Indian trainee from RaceWorld Academy, Cumin Masala. Sunset hadn't really kept in touch with her since their graduation, and wondered what she was up to.

Sunset and Hot Rocket absolutely crushed Q1, and Sunset finished Q1 in 5th place, while Hot Rocket finished in 7th place. Both of the two Rich Racing drivers finished Q1 in the top two spots, Silverstreak finished in 12th, and Solar Wind, who was now back, finished in 8th. Q2 began 15 minutes later, and this time, there was an incident around 4 minutes in, as one of the 720S GT3 Evos from the McLaren Racing team pulled over on the side of the track on Turn 4, after his team told him that smoke was coming from the engine bay, and he said that smoke was also coming into the cabin. Once he pulled over, just as he opened the door to get out of his car, flames began pouring out of the engine bay.

Thankfully, the driver was able to get out and away from the car quickly, and track marshals were able to extinguish the fire before it consumed the whole car. However, the session was temporarily red-flagged, while the fire was extinguished, and the car, now with its engine badly burned, had to be loaded on a truck and towed off, and some of the engine parts shed during the fire had to be removed from the track.

During the red flag period, when all of the cars were in the pits, Sunset took the chance to stretch her legs, and get out of her car, and also get a bit of hydration. Due to the red flag period, the times were a little disrupted, but, it went pretty well. Both of the Thunderbolt drivers finished Q2 in the top 10, Sunset in 6th and Hot Rocket in 7th. The Rich Racing drivers again finished in the top two spots, and Silverstreak was disqualified after he finished Q2 in 11th. Solar Wind finished Q2 in 5th.

Q3 was relatively quiet after the McLaren fire, but there was still a lot of intense competition. After quite some struggle, Q3 ended, with some amazing results. Sunset qualified in 4th, followed by Solar Wind in 5th, and Hot Rocket in 9th. Rash Rider had managed to qualify in pole position, but his teammate, High Roller, had made a few mistakes during his hot lap, that had caused him to end up qualifying in 6th place.

After that, qualifying was over, and all the teams could go back to their hotels for the night before the race. Thunderbolt did just that, and went off to the hotel nearby for a delicious and spicy meal of Indian food, and for some final extra planning before the race.

14TH APRIL 2024

------BUDDH INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, DELHI------

It was now almost 4:00pm here in Delhi, which meant it was almost 1:30am in the morning back home in Canterlot City. Sunset Shimmer, Hot Rocket, and the Thunderbolt Motorsports pit crew were all out on the grid at the Buddh International Circuit, and this was going to be a long race, lasting a total of 87 laps. As Thunderbolt got prepared, Sunset was hoping she would do extremely good in this race. She had checked her social media profile, and majority of her fans were from the USA, but India was a close second, and she didn't want to disappoint all of her fans.

As she got ready, she saw someone walking up to them, not dressed in any pit crew wear. That was odd. Fans weren't allowed on the track at all. But was no one was stopping this person, whom Sunset recognized. It was Cumin Masala, from her RaceWorld Academy days. "How you doing, Shimmer?" asked Cumin.

"I wasn't expecting to see you at my race, Cumin! But how'd you get onto the actual track?" asked Sunset.

"Well, Comet Flash called me. I live in Delhi, so the second he called me, I came over here, and he got me in."

"Well, what are you doing in the racing world?"

"Not much, really. My ma and pa wanted me to study for IIT, that's an engineering college here, but now, after RaceWorld Academy, I've been doing work as a reserve driver in WRC, and I've got an active spot in WRC3, the same series as Powerslide, so I'm racing there. That's all."

"So you're gonna stay and watch the race, I suppose?"

"Yup, I'm going to watch the race, and I'll be watching it from your pits, so I have the good seats for this."

"Enjoy it, then. This is going to be my first podium, I guarantee it."

"Don't get too overconfident. You do realise Comet Sir thought us that. We call teachers here as 'Sir' or 'Ma'am', by the way, that's way I called him Comet Sir."

"Oh, alright. See you after the race."

"See you too." said Cumin, as she headed back to the pits, and Sunset began final preparations for the race. A couple of minutes before the race, the formation lap began, and it was basically uneventful. The cars pulled up to the starting line, and got in their grid places. At exactly 4:00pm, it was lights out, and the 87-lap race began. The first lap was quite eventful, with a three-way battle beginning on Turn 1 for 3rd place, between Sunset, Solar Wind, and the Motosuki Motorsports Lexus RC F GT3 in 3rd place.

This was a battle where no one was willing to give up, especially the Japanese driver, as his team had suffered quite a rough start to the season, and they were already lacking in points in the standings. He was quite good, but his two-door sedan was relatively heavy compared to the sleek sports cars, and it was a drawback for him, which led to Sunset and Solar Wind overtaking him by the 4th lap. However, he was still on Solar Wind's tail, and soon, it was a battle between the two Japanese cars, Nissan versus Lexus, sports car versus GT car.

As the battle continued behind her, Sunset, who was now in 3rd, continued pushing towards 2nd place, which was occupied by one of the Lamborghinis from Lazante Racing. This guy was again, not willing to give up his place, so it was going to be nonstop battles for this entire race, realised Sunset, as she continued to battle the Lazante driver. This battle continued all the way until the 28th lap, with Sunset and the Lazante driver occassionally passing each other. Hot Rocket also gained positions, going from 9th all the way to 6th. Silverstreak went from 11th to 8th, and High Roller dropped to 7th.

Finally, on the 28th lap, Sunset and most of the other drivers came in to pit, as usual, switching from soft tires to medium tires. This caused her position to drop from 3rd to 5th, but she would easily regain those positions, thought Sunset, as she left the pits. Within the next 10 laps, Sunset was able to regain her 3rd place spot, and soon, she was back behind the Lazante driver for Round 2 of their battle, as the two European sports cars began duking it out for 2nd place.

However, on the 43rd lap, Thunderbolt Motorsports suffered a huge setback, when High Roller's Ferrari rear ended Hot Rocket's Porsche 911 on Turn 16, damaging both cars beyond repair, and taking them both out of the race. That was an extremely hard one for Thunderbolt, now having only one driver left in this race, and being their first DNF, just four races into the season.

"Okay, Sunset, it's all on you now. Remember, you have to get that podium finish." said Flash, encouraging Sunset to push even harder against the Lazante driver, to try and overtake him.

Soon, that overtake finally came. On the 50th lap, Sunset finally overtook the Lazante driver, and began trying to put some pace between him, and trying to gain on Rash Rider, who was 10 seconds ahead of her, and maybe even take home a win. However, just on the 61st lap, when Sunset was still 5 seconds behind Rash Rider, she had to pit again, having run more than 30 laps on her old tires.

Her tires were swapped for a set of hards, so that Sunset wouldn't have to pit again near the end of the race, and she was sent out again, and somehow was able to retain her 2nd place spot for this pit stop. Silverstreak had also gained a little more, going from 8th to 6th, and Solar Wind was now in 3rd, and was gaining on Sunset. On the 70th lap, the battle between the two women drivers reignited, and it was fiercer than ever. They did not give up their spots, and it continued until the end of the race, even when both of their cars' tires were heavily worn down. It got even more fiercer on the final lap.

Rash Rider was now out of Sunset's sights, as she had to focus on Solar Wind first. The battle got fiercer, and the two drivers were duking each other out. It was Germany versus Japan all over again, this time, in a more peaceful way on a racetrack. Sunset was still in 2nd, and as they entered the final turn before the main straight, she pressed her gas pedal to the metal, and her car shot forward, with Solar Wind still chasing her. Solar Wind began an overtake, but wasn't able to get into 2nd before they crossed the finish line in a photo finish, at exactly 6:49pm. Silverstreak ended up finishing the race in 5th place.

As Sunset came into the pits after the end of the race, her whole team came out to hug her to celebrate her first podium, including Hot Rocket, Flash, Surfer, and Cumin Masala. Since Sunset was underage, the podium celebrations wouldn't be conducted with alcohol, but using club soda instead. Even Silverstreak, the Motosuki drivers, and a couple of others stopped by to congratulate her first podium.

As Sunset climbed onto the podium, she got slight dirty looks from Rash Rider and Solar Wind, but they quickly went away as the celebrations began, and once that was over, and all of the three podium standers were soaking with club soda, they ended, and the media and fan interviews began. Sunset normally wasn't willing, but today was an exception, and she was over the moon about her first podium. At long last, it had finally come.