Car Racing without Money-Chapter 310 - 140: Standing at the Summit of Formula 3 (9K)
Chen Xiangbei decelerated precisely at the racing point, then smoothly took the inside line into the turn. Chavez thought he had seized an opportunity and made a late braking maneuver to grab the inside line, his front wheels instantly overtaking Chen Xiangbei’s rear wheel position, preventing any lane blocking by his opponent.
However, his plan fell through, as Chen Xiangbei had no intention of blocking at all. Instead, he kept decelerating and braking from behind, then used a faster exit speed to take the crossover line, beautifully completing a position reversal!
[Does the new Chinese rookie have such good tire grip?]
Staring at the 13th car taking the crossover line smoothly, Chavez’s eyes were filled with shock.
He knew Chen Xiangbei’s neutral tires were definitely more durable than his own, but he never expected the tire wear to be so low, still maintaining peak grip levels.
How is Chen Xiangbei’s car calibrated anyway, that it’s so easy on the tires?
Seeing that his overtaking plan was about to fail, Chavez knew this was his last chance.
With a do-or-die mentality, Chavez, who was supposed to brake heavily, stepped on the accelerator again, hoping to overtake Chen Xiangbei once more.
But unfortunately, race car tires have physical limits. When speed and torque far exceed the grip, the result of stepping on the accelerator is spinning in place.
Chavez’s No. 9 car spun like a top, then crashed into the guardrail after two spins, with the entire front basically destroyed.
"Motana, yellow flag, pit for tires!" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
Almost as soon as the yellow flag was deployed on the track, the ST Team engineer instructed Motana to pit.
The track incident came as expected, perfectly executing ST Team’s pre-race strategy.
"How many seconds ahead am I of Bei?"
Motana immediately asked the key question, which would determine his position relative to Chen Xiangbei after exiting the pit.
"13 seconds."
"13 seconds?"
Receiving this answer, Motana felt a bit unsatisfied.
Leading at the front, he had the best clean air, and his speed was theoretically supposed to be faster than the big group teams behind.
Additionally, TOM’S Team’s Chavez, to some extent, assisted Motana by heavily obstructing Chen Xiangbei’s pursuit.
Yet after all this, he was only 13 seconds ahead?
Feeling Motana’s uneasy tone, the team knew what he was worried about.
So the engineer reassured him, "The crew is ready, they will complete the tire change at the fastest speed, and you’ll be ahead of driver Bei when you exit."
"Thank you."
Motana responded, knowing there was nothing to hurry about the situation.
As Motana drove into the pit lane, the large screen broadcasting the race showed the time for his pit stop.
The numbers jumped wildly, pulling on the heartstrings of tens of thousands of spectators who knew that ST Team’s tire-changing speed could very well determine the Grand Prix champion.
"Motana pitted for a tire change during the safety car period, this timing should be the moment ST Team has been hoping for. If everything goes according to plan, he’ll exit in front of Chen Xiangbei."
"At that point, with new soft tires against old neutral tires, Chen Xiangbei won’t have much hope of overtaking."
"But will the plan really go so smoothly?"
Li Bing posed a rhetorical question in the final moments.
Although commentary should be neutral, it’s hard for anyone to avoid a bit of bias.
Especially since Chen Xiangbei is the first Chinese driver with a chance to challenge for the Grand Prix F3 championship, Li Bing fervently hoped to witness history today!
"Motana was slower, otherwise there would be no suspense."
Beside him, Luo Feng added that Chavez’s frantic attack on Chen Xiangbei objectively helped Motana gain much more time.
But this driver, last year’s runner-up, didn’t create a large enough pit window; he should introspect more on himself.
It’s no wonder the ST Team is a seasoned participant at the East Bay Circuit; the team’s technicians worked with precise coordination during the pit stop. If it weren’t for the obvious differences in numbers and equipment, it was almost like an F1 team’s pit operation.
The release light lit up, and Motana drove out of the pit lane at the speed limit.
Meanwhile, on the main track, Chen Xiangbei followed behind the safety car, presenting an odd "parallel" with Motana’s number 2 car, with both soon to converge at the pit lane exit.
Nearly fifty thousand spectators in the stands collectively held their breath, intensely watching the broadcast screen, eager to see who would emerge in front.
As the two cars converged, the entire audience erupted in thunderous applause and cheers.
Chen Xiangbei, with less than a car length’s advantage, outpaced Motana who emerged from the pit lane, reclaiming his rightful first position!
"Brilliant, the one-stop tactic didn’t suppress Chen Xiangbei!"
"That was insanely exciting, my heart’s up in my throat."
"Motana, giving you the opportunity was in vain, even with Chavez’s assist and the safety car, you still couldn’t push the God of Racing Bei out of a pit window."
"In this situation, Chen Xiangbei’s championship is secured, right?"
Faced with that ultimate question from the spectator, the surrounding jubilant voices suddenly quieted down quite a bit.
Chen Xiangbei can only be said to have survived the biggest crisis, far from being secure yet.
Motana now has a brand-new set of soft tires, with a gripping advantage overwhelming Chen Xiangbei’s current old neutral tires, making it easy to envision an external overtake in the corner scenes.
The upcoming time will test Chen Xiangbei’s defensive skills.
