Run That Race

20TH APRIL 2024

------SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT------

It was now almost 10:00am in Shanghai, the biggest city in China, which meant it was almost 10:00pm back home in Canterlot City. Qualifying for the China race wouldn't start for a few hours, so all of the drivers were currently in their hotel rooms, mentally preparing themselves for the race. Sunset was busy trying to talk with her friends, but the problem was that due to China's strict censorship laws, the app she usually used, MyStable, could not be used. However, Comet Flash had purchased VPN subscriptions for the whole crew before they had left the US, so Sunset was using that to access MyStable in China.

Sunset began a video chat with her friends, who were online, and would probably chat with her until they went to sleep. "Hey Sunset! How are you able to talk to us? I thought MyStable was banned in China." said Rainbow Dash.

"I'm using a VPN." replied Sunset, simply.

"Oh, alright then! When are they going to race in the US? So far, no one from the school has been able to watch you race in person, since all of the races so far have been in Asia. Europe may be possible, but Asia isn't possible for most of us."

"Well, after the Shanghai race, we'll be racing in Europe for a couple of months, so you can see that, but we may also have a race in the US, so you might just be able to see that one in person."

"Sweet, we're definitely gonna try and see that! Also, I heard that a large Chinese car company owns the track you're racing at?" said Twilight.

"Yep, SAIC Motors, one of the biggest car companies in China, sponsors the track, so its also known as the SAIC International Circuit. SAIC doesn't make any cars under their own brand, but makes and sells cars all over, under the names of other brands. Fun fact, half of the cars here in China seem to be copies of American or European brands. I'll send you some pictures of a few that SAIC is exhibiting at the track. They look very similar to American and European cars."

"Not surprised. Their electronics are pretty much carbon-copies of the big-name brands. Anyways, qualifying is at 3:00pm over there, right?" said Twilight.

"Yeah, but it'll be 3:00am over in Canterlot for you guys, so you probably won't be able to watch the qualifying live. You'll probably have to watch just the highlights."

"It's fine, we can't do much about that. Also, how's your studying for our final exams next month? How did you take all those tests, despite the fact that you weren't here for quite a few?"

"Perks of getting to travel on a private jet. It has in-flight Wi-Fi, which means I can take a test from the plane. I usually study onboard and take them from my hotel room, but sometimes I have to take them on the plane. Anti-cheat software has been installed on my laptop so I can take the tests. I should be able to take the final exams physically, though."

"Well, it's a shame we can't do our group study sessions in person for some time, but I hope you'll be able to do one when you're back in the US. Also, how's your boyfriend doing? And Sonata?"

"Well, Powerslide's currently in Croatia, as he also happens to be a WRC3 race there this weekend. Also, Sonata doesn't have another race until next month, when they race in Miami, so she was thinking of coming down to Shanghai to watch me race, but the Chinese embassy wouldn't grant her a passport. Shame, truly. She was quite bummed about it."

"Oh, well. Anyways, you talked about your relationship heating up yet? When is that going to happen?"

"Look, I turn 18 only in August, and we aren't taking the next step yet. For now, it's going to be a casual, friendly, romance. Also, I have to get ready for qualifying now, it starts in 5 hours, and apparently, Soaring Surfer, the team owner, has an important announcement for us, so I have to go now. Talk later."

"See you the next time you're back in the US, Sunset! We miss you over here!"

"Don't worry, girls, I'll be back soon." said Sunset, ending the video call, and leaving her room to hear the announcement, which was in the hotel's conference room. It was now 10:30am. Soaring Surfer and Comet Flash were already here. Soon, Hot Rocket, and the other people from the Thunderbolt Motorsports team showed up, and the announcement.

"Well, team, you're probably wondering why I called you down here, even though qualifying doesn't begin for another four hours. Well, you know how we originally had no slots for reserve drivers at the beginning of the season?"

Everyone nodded at that. Since all the reserve driver slots were full, they couldn't even get a single reserve driver on their team, so if any one of the two Thunderbolt drivers was out of the season for a few races due to an injury or something like that, they would have to race with only one driver, and get only half of the points they normally would.

"Well, we don't need to worry about that. One of the reserve drivers from E-Power Motorsports, the team that's running the NSXs, has quit, and the FIA guys gave us that spot, so we can assign a single reserve driver to our team. It will be either Powerslide or Sonata Dusk. Most likely Sonata, as she has been doing more track racing than Powerslide, but it will be either of them. Also, the team has been asked to participate in the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, so we'll be showing off our car there. Plus, we have been invited to a large drift event in Ireland that will be happening next month, so that's gonna be insane!" said Surfer.

"That seems like fun, but our cars aren't meant for drifting. How are we gonna compete in that Ireland event?" asked Hot Rocket.

"Well, for that one, the cars will be provided by one of our sponsors, which happens to be a Porsche tuner. We'll be using those in the drift event. Now, let's get to qualifying, we have a lot of work to do." said Surfer, dismissing the whole team, who began heading to the track, and towards their pits. The second they reached, they got some insider information from Comet Flash.

"Watch out for that other team, the one that's running the BMW M8s. Their main sponsor happens to be a large Chinese firm, and this is their home track, so they will be gunning for a win at this race. They'll be more aggressive than normal, so I'll keep an eye on their drivers."

The team continued preparing for qualifying over the next few hours, running the engines of the cars so they wouldn't be cold, and would be properly run in when qualifying started. At 2:00pm, the drivers suited up, and got ready to hit the track. Exactly an hour later, Q1 began, and all of the cars hit the track. The session would have been relatively calm, had it not been for the fact that the Chinese-backed team, known as German Motorsports, was driving extremely aggressively and recklessly. In fact, during Q1, Sunset and Silverstreak almost get sent off the track by their BMW M8 GTEs, who were gunning for that top 5.

Q1 ended well, with Sunset finishing it in 7th place, and Silverstreak in 5th. The two Rich Racing drivers finished it in 2nd and 3rd, while Solar Wind finished it in 4th. The German Motorsports drivers had finished Q1 in 6th and 12th respectively, just behind Hot Rocket, who had finished Q1 in 11th. Q2 began 15 minutes later, and it was just as intense as Q1, but this time, Hot Rocket was disqualified, finishing it in 12th place. Silverstreak narrowly missed getting disqualified, finishing Q2 in 10th place, just 0.001 seconds above the person in 11th. Sunset was able to finish in 8th, followed by one of the German Motorsports drivers, while the Rich Racing drivers, followed by Solar Wind, finished in the top 3.

Finally, Q3 began 15 minutes later, and the German Motorsports drivers were more aggressive than ever. They really wanted to qualify in the top 5, and they would not let anything take that away from them. They wanted to do something good at their home track. However, that effort would go in vain, as they ended up qualifying in 9th and 10th, behind Sunset, who qualified in 8th. Silverstreak qualified in 5th, and the Rich Racing drivers qualified in 3rd and 4th, while Solar Wind qualified in 6th.

After that, qualifying was over, and all of the teams and drivers headed back to their hotel, to get ready for race day the next day, as the Sun set on the city of Shanghai.

21ST APRIL 2024

------SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT------

It was now almost 4:00pm in Shanghai, which meant it was almost 4:00am back in Canterlot City. At the Shanghai International Circuit, all of the cars were lined up on the grid for today's race, which would last a total of 88 laps. This race was going to be especially intense, and a majority of the fans were gamers, which was not surprising, as China's gaming industry was one of the biggest on Earth, and majority of these gamers were Sunset's fans, so Sunset knew she had to put up a show today.

She was already in her Porsche, getting ready for the race. She was hoping to get a win this time, after her 2nd place finish in their race in India last week, so she was feeling that she was on a roll, considering how her performance in their last few races had been. This was hopefully, going to be the first win for Sunset Shimmer.

As Sunset got ready for the race, she wondered who would the new Thunderbolt Motorsports reserve driver. She was hoping it would be Powerslide, but she was also hoping it would be Sonata Dusk. Soon, her pit crew backed off, as the formation lap was about to begin. The formation lap began at around 3:56pm, and the cars set off. The formation lap was extremely uneventful, and at 3:59pm, all of the cars lined back up on the grid.

At exactly 4:00pm, it was lights out, and the race started. The competition was extremely aggressive right off the start. Sunset instantly was roped into a battle with the two German Motorsports drivers, but they had one big disadvantage. Their BMW M8s, originally being grand touring cars, were much heavier and bigger than the light sports cars that were competing in this series, so they were slower by a second or two. However, the heavy weight meant that they could easily cause quite a bit of damage to the other cars in an accident.

The battle continued for the first 10 laps, after which Sunset was able to overtake from 8th and go into 7th, leaving the German Motorsport drivers battling the driver who had been overtaken by Sunset. However, he was soon overtaken, due to their reckless driving, and they were now in a four-way battle for 6th, between Sunset, Solar Wind, and the two German Motorsports drivers. The battle got more fierce, as stretched out over the next 12 laps. Finally, on the 22nd lap, on Turn 2, Sunset attempted to overtake Solar Wind. However, the overtake didn't work, and Wind blocked Sunset quite well, preventing her from taking 6th place.

The battle continued, and the German Motorsports driver who was in 8th was now almost on Sunset's rear bumper by the 24th lap. On Turn 6, he was extremely close to Sunset's car, and just as Sunset braked for the rather tight turn, he didn't anticipate how Sunset would brake much harder than normal. Despite his attempts to brake hard, he ended up rear-ending Sunset's car at a rather high speed. Both cars went off the track into the gravel, at quite high speed. While the German Motorsports BMW stopped in time, Sunset's car, which had taken a heavy hit in the collision, continued on and hit a barrier.

Sunset, despite having taken quite a hard whack during the hard impacts, was unhurt, and able to get out of her car, unhappy that she had suffered her first ever racing DNF, since the car was heavily damaged. She was quite mad at the German Motorsports driver, who was also unhurt, but Sunset saw emergency marshals rushing to his car, as the door seemed to have jammed, and he had to be cut out of the car. Medical teams were already rushing to her as well, and Sunset let them know that she was okay. However, they did insist on a checkup for safety purposes.

Once the checkup was done and she got the green light, a bike came up to take her back to her pits, where her team was waiting for her. An unhappy Sunset was taken to the pits, where Comet Flash and Soaring Surfer were waiting for her. "Look, kid. You've suffered your first DNF. I know, it's hard to take in, but hey, it happens. Every racer goes through at least two DNFs in their entire career. You'll never find a racer without at least two in their whole career, even some of the all-time champions. Plus, racing, it isn't all about winning. It's about fun, adrenaline, it's about competing. It's not always about winning. Now come on, let's go watch the rest of the race. Your teammate's still in it for us. Look, that crash wasn't your fault." said Flash.

The rest of the race was uneventful after that double crash. Hot Rocket ended up finishing the race in 3rd place, making it her first podium in this series. Solar Wind finished in 2nd, Rash Rider in 1st, Silverstreak in 4th, and High Roller in 7th. After the race, despite their second DNF of the season, they had also gotten their second podium, so that was extremely good. After the awards ceremony, all of the drivers headed back to the hotel. It would be two weeks before the next race, so they had sometime to plan a grand comeback.