"Looks like that was quite effortless," Martina said.
"Yeah." Wu Shi nodded. It would be bizarre if it wasn't easy. Either these kids were insanely talented, or his skills as a former F1 driver from his past life were utterly pathetic. He had anticipated this; competing domestically was virtually pressure-free.
It was exactly like this in his past life. Even the domestic champion drivers, upon arriving in Europe, could at best finish in the top ten or twenty during the heats—a completely absurd disparity. On one hand, this was due to the difference in resources dedicated to driver development between domestic and foreign environments. On the other hand, the higher tiers of those championships were populated by professional karting drivers. To some extent, these people were absolute local heavyweights. Over the years, they had completely dominated quite a few future F1 drivers in their childhood stages.
Even the current Wu Shi couldn't guarantee a stellar result if he were to compete there now. "But as long as I practice enough, I have absolutely no reason to fear them," he thought. Whether in his past life or the present, he never considered himself weak!
"Race well in the next rounds. Your event schedule is quite tedious," Martina said.
"Yes, it's not very well refined yet, after all." Wu Shi took another sip of water. Just as he was about to put his cup on the ground, Louise caught it.
"I'll hold it for you!" Louise said happily.
Wu Shi tilted his head, utterly baffled. "Wait, little girl, I remember you 'hated' me before! Why do you have stars in your eyes now?" he wondered.
"My, my. Just get some good rest, Wu Shi," Martina said, smiling and patting him on the shoulder.
The second round of heats began, featuring Groups Two and Three. Since he had some free time, Wu Shi went to the sidelines to watch the race. After the warm-up and formation laps, the green flag waved.
VROOM! The pack of karts swiftly sprinted forward, immediately rushing toward Turn One. At this moment, kart No. 322 in third place attempted to cut into the apex from the outside line, trying to aggressively shut the door on kart No. 331 in second place.
CRASH! As expected, No. 331 refused to yield. The two karts collided and deflected off each other. Their sudden halt left the drivers in fourth and fifth place with no time to react, causing a pileup. However, the driver in sixth place further back managed to steer clear and dodge the chaos. The scene was momentarily engulfed in total chaos.
"Uh-oh, a crash!" a parent said, covering their mouth.
Following race control's command, the track marshals waved the yellow flags. Wu Shi glanced over. The incident at Turn One wasn't serious and hadn't produced any debris that required cleaning. Sure enough, the marshals soon followed orders to wave the green flags, and everyone's karts accelerated forward once again.
After seven or eight laps, a parent compared the data of Ling Kang, who was currently in first place, with Wu Shi's earlier times, and couldn't help but say, "It seems Wu Shi's long-run pace is about the same as Ling Kang's, right?"
"Yeah, judging from their recent speeds, that seems to be the case."
"Looks like we're in for a good show then."
The parents chattered amongst themselves. They initially thought Wu Shi was in a league of his own, but to their surprise, his long-run pace was comparable to that of Ling Kang and Zeng Tianyi. The coaches, however, shook their heads. This was purely an amateur's perspective. It wasn't that Wu Shi was slow in the long runs, but rather that there was no need to push to the limit when he wasn't under threat. Operating at the absolute limit would consume more tire rubber, burn more fuel, and cause greater wear and tear on the engine. With such a long tournament still ahead, conserving resources was paramount!
The second round concluded, and the third round quickly followed, pitting Groups One and Three against each other. Wu Shi walked over to his kart and noticed a small flat spot on his right rear tire. Race officials had scraped the tire to collect feedback data for the manufacturer and to inspect for cheating.
"Wu Shi! I'm going to bite onto your tail tightly!" Ling Kang suddenly walked over and declared.
"Oh? Bring it on." Wu Shi liked seeing this competitive spirit in young boys. At the very least, it was far better than Lin Cong's petty tricks.
This time, Wu Shi weaved the nose of his kart several times during the warm-up lap to heat up the tires faster. During the formation lap, he suppressed his speed. After glancing back twice to confirm the formation was set, he instantly accelerated. The moment he saw the green flag on the racing line, he unleashed his full power.
Behind him, Ling Kang stayed true to his word, clinging tightly to Wu Shi's tail and trailing right behind. Unfortunately, Group A karts were relatively slow. Drafting provided no real advantage other than saving a bit of fuel.
Soon, both karts arrived at Turn One simultaneously. Wu Shi lightly tapped the brakes once more, effortlessly gliding through the corner. Ling Kang perfectly replicated the trajectory of the kart ahead, lightly tapped the brakes, and prepared to fling his vehicle into the turn.
SCREECH! His kart instantly slipped out of control. Fortunately, Ling Kang's technique was decent; by rapidly steering, he managed to recover tire grip after spinning twice on the track.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH! However, by this time, a succession of karts had already zoomed past him.
"I can't do it! I completely can't do it! That entry speed! How did he keep his kart stable?!" Ling Kang thought. As he rejoined the race, Ling Kang was filled with anxiety. He completely failed to understand how Turn One could be taken at near full throttle! Steering at that speed should instantly cause the rear tires to lose grip and trigger a slide!
"Whoa! Ling Kang made a mistake!" Lin Cong watched excitedly.
The heats awarded points based on rankings: 0 points for first place, 2 points for second, and so on. The final standings for the pre-final starting grid would be ranked from lowest to highest total points.
"Keep it up, honey. If you can maintain second place later, you'll have a chance to start from the second row," Mrs. Lin said happily.
"Yeah! I'll do my best! By the way, Mom, have you contacted that person yet?" Lin Cong asked.
"Don't worry. Two kids have already agreed," Mrs. Lin smiled.
Back on the track, having decided the race at the very first corner, Wu Shi resumed his dull, undisputed lead. The twelve-lap race concluded swiftly. Aside from a few people discussing the reason behind Ling Kang's error, most were chatting about another collision that had just occurred.
"I just don't get it," Ling Kang said to Zeng Tianyi upon returning to the pit lane.
"I saw it. You were too reckless." Wu Shi's maneuver through Turn One kept replaying in Zeng Tianyi's mind. He couldn't figure it out either.
"Hmph, he's probably just practiced a lot on this track. We'll only see his true skills in the later stops!" Ling Kang said.
"I heard he usually practices at this venue, so it's perfectly normal for him to have a specialized driving method here," Zeng Tianyi noted.
"So what? You'll be racing in the same group as him next. What's your plan?"
"I plan to follow him and see exactly how he drives. Just that maneuver at Turn One alone shouldn't make his lap time nearly a full second faster than ours."
"Damn it! It's such a pity I spun out at Turn One!" Ling Kang regretted it. Knowing it was impossible, he should have just obediently followed behind to steal a few tricks.
"Grow a brain sometime, why don't you."
"Hey!" Ling Kang really wanted to punch the guy.
"My name isn't 'Hey'." Zeng Tianyi remembered watching a TV show that had a line just like that.
The fourth round, a heat between Groups One and Four, arrived quickly. Wu Shi climbed into his kart once again.
"He's practically locked in the pole position for the pre-final," a coach remarked.
With two 0-point scores, as long as he performed normally this round—even if he didn't secure first or second place—it would still be enough to clinch the lowest score overall and start from pole. The race played out exactly as the coaches predicted. Wu Shi led steadily, without any hiccups.
"He's got the pre-final pole!"
"I never expected this. A dark horse really emerged this year!"
As he pulled into the pit lane, many marveled at Wu Shi's consistent performance. Wu Shi himself, however, wasn't overly excited. If he couldn't even grab a pole position in a junior karting division, he might as well go sell fish; perhaps he could even build some corporate empire out of it.
"Congratulations on getting the pre-final pole! Looks like the championship for this stop is in the bag too!" Boss Chen appeared, offering early congratulations.
"The race isn't over yet." Wu Shi wasn't just being modest. On the racetrack, unpredictable variables were a constant. For instance, in 2021 of his past life, Verstappen was leading in Azerbaijan until a sudden tire blowout in the final laps cost him the win. If he had secured those points in Azerbaijan, he wouldn't have had to fight Hamilton so fiercely later on. Of course, for the audience, the 2021 season was incredibly thrilling, with the drivers' championship only decided in the final race—much like his own championship year in his past life.
"Hey, what are you thinking about, our little genius?" Martina's voice drifted over.
Louise, naturally, had run over long ago and handed him a cup. "Water, water."
"Thanks!" Although he didn't know what was up with this little girl, he gracefully accepted her kindness.
"Get a good rest tonight. After the race ends tomorrow, I'll take you out for a big feast!" Boss Chen said.
"Yeah, I'll give it my all." Wu Shi nodded.
"Indeed. As your Huaxia proverb goes: A lion uses all its strength even when hunting a rabbit. Come on, let's head back first!" Martina said.