to the finish line || ollie bearman

part 20

"it's lights out and away we go."

my reaction time was on point, it was perfection. before we even get to turn 1,i had already gained two positions and was now into p16

"good start angel, keep this up." jules says down the team radio.

ahead of me in p15 was kush maini, but it wasn't long until i overtake him in turn 4 the same lap. i was already up three positions.

"okay angel, virtual safety car. slow down, slow down."

"is he okay?"

"yes, they are okay."

"ok"

i slow down immediately, but the longer the virtual safety car lasted, the less amount of laps i had to overtake the people ahead.

if  i wanted to finish in points, i would need to gain another 8. which surely shouldn't be hard after my previous three overtakes, but it was jeddah. it was an incredibly hard circuit.

i was about to ask why only the virtual safety car, but then i pass the incident. there was one car in the barrier to the right of me. thankfully, they were getting out as i drive past. it was the trident of richard verschoor.       

it was only a virtual safety car because he was right beside an area the car could be taken off.

1 lap later, we were back to full time racing. the virtual safety car allowed me to close the gap to the phm racing car ahead of me. it wasn't long until i drove past them.  already p13 before the first 5 laps had even ended.

"rain reported to start in 4 laps."

"shit."

i would be shocked if you didn't know by now, but i really don't like rain.

gabriel bortoleto was ahead on me in p12, only 1.248 seconds ahead so it won't be long until i catch up. 1 lap later, i was driving past him, waving to my friend as i go.

in p11 was franco, the gap between us was just over 3 seconds so i needed these laps to be the fastest i could. my problem was that the car still wasn't the best.

yes, it was now drive-able but it still wasn't good enough to have good results.

2 laps later, i was still 1.538 behind.

"we need to close the gap as soon as possible." jules says.

"i'll close it when i close it okay? you have given me a shit car and i'm trying to not get a shit result."

i turn off the team radio and i start to feel droplets hit my hands. the rain was starting.

"box this lap angel for wets." jules says.

"copy that." i reply, as the rain starts to rain even heavier. shit shit shit

even though it was raining, i was still trying to close the gap to franco. but the grip was very little and i was accomplishing much.

i drive into the pit lane to get the new tyres. half the other driver also pitted, franco included. i know zac pitted the lap earlier as jules had told me.

i drive out of the pit lane, ahead of franco. by now, the rain was very heavy. the danger of the race had massively increased.

it was already a dangerous circuit, but now if i made any mistakes i would be in the wall. the grip was extremely low.

"what position?"

"p14 angel, but there's five people in front scheduled to pit. just focus on overtaking as though everyone has pit."