//------------------------------// // The Mystic Falls GP (Formula Equestria) // Story: DangerVerse Motorsport Events // by DangerDean //------------------------------// Rusalka looked on the layout on the Mystic Falls Raceway on a tablet before taking her Ferrari onto the track, picking out the possible points of gaining positions and more crucially, overtaking Oscura and any point of the 75 laps of the Mystic Falls Grand Prix. As Rusalka went out for a qualifying lap she was hoping to be within a few tenths of the either the Crimson Arrows, the Red Bulls or the Lamborghinis. She went thorough turns 1 to 4 with ease, she hit the kerb on turn 5 but didn’t do any damage to the car or the suspension. Turns 6 to 9 the start of the double chicane was OK for Rusalka, she noticed a sudden surge of speed at the entrance to turn 12. She used the speed to her advantage and having crossed the line, she hoped that her time was enough. 1st. Danger Dean, Scuderia Ferrari-Danger Motorsport, 1:20.395 2nd. Rusalka Swordlight, Scuderia Ferrari-Danger Motorsport. 1:20.417 3rd. Akula, Crimson Arrows-Mercedes, 1:20.429 4th. Viral Velocity, Crimson Arrows-Mercedes, 1:20.456 5th. Rainbow Dash, Aston Martin Racing, 1:20.636 6th. Oscura Galaxia, Red Bull Racing, 1:20.775 7th. Sunset Shimmer, Mercedes AMG-Petronas, 1:20.886 8th. Applejack, McLaren, 1:20.992 9th. Cadenza Spark, Squarda Corse Lamborghini, 1:20.994 10th. Fluttershy, M-Sport Bentley, 1:21.087 11th. Pinkie Pie, McLaren, 1:21.221 12th. Lightning Dust, Aston Martin Racing, 1:21.238 13th. Lucia Swordlight, Red Bull Racing, 1:21.509 14th. Vivid Galaxy, Squarda Corse Lamborghini, 1:21.747 15th. Azura Dragonsfire, Lotus-Dragonsfire, 1:21.997 16th. Sapphiria Daybreaker, Lotus-Dragonsfire, 1:22.059 17th. Kalliope Thunder, Mercedes-AMG Petronas, 1:22.482 18th. Sunset Skies, Bentley M-Sport, 1:22.750 19th. Kristina Swordlight, NIO Grand Prix, 1:23.004 20th. Inferno Tempest, Nemesis,1:23.157 21st. Vivian Radiance, NIO Grand Prix, 1:23.205 22nd. Estrella Dragonheart, Nemesis Grand Prix, 1:23.456 It was. Rusalka was happy with the position that she was in, but she wasn’t the only driver though, Rainbow shocked everyone by putting her Aston Martin on the third row of the grid and was hoping that she could bring a win for Aston Martin. However, Kalliope Thunder wasn’t having a good time with her Mercedes W12. She was struggling with the corners and sometimes held her breath when she approached turn 5. As the Ferraris, Crimson Arrows and Rainbow were In top 5, Oscura was 6th, Sunset 7th, Applejack 8th, Cadenza Spark 9th for Lamborghini and Bentley’s Fluttershy in 10th. The formation lap began and all cars decided to get a glimpse of the track. Oscura knew that she would have a really time at turn 5 as it is a 180° right hander. The cars lined up for the start and… the Mystic Falls GP was underway. Danger and Akula got a clean start but Oscura was using a brilliant start to her and passed Rainbow and Viral on the approach to turn 1. Rusalka managed to inherit 1st as Danger slightly locked up. Then, the first lap drama kicked when Sunset Skies, who was up to 14th, went into the back of Lucia Swordlight’s Red Bull and forced her off the track. This resulted in Sunset Skies pitting for a new order of front wings. The race was relatively quiet till lap 6 when Oscura made a pass on Akula for 3rd and was now ready to challenge the Ferrari of Rusalka, which Danger passed on lap 4. Fluttershy was now in 8th place after overtaking the Lamborghini of Cadenza Spark and her friend Applejack. What people don’t know about Fluttershy is that even though she is timid off the track, but on it, she is fearless and may challenge for the top 5 at any point. In order get 5th, she has to get passed Rainbow and Sunset Shimmer. Viral was only down a position from her qualifying position as she got swarmed by Oscura at turn 1 on the opening lap. On lap 10, Oscura caught up with the Ferrari of Rusalka and was now in heated battle heading to turn 7. The duel sparked up slightly as at turn 8, Oscura and Rusalka banged wheels with Oscura getting better exit speed. The big question on Oscura’s mind was that can she get the 2.5 second cushion pullback before her scheduled pit stop on lap 31. Danger knew for a split second that Oscura had overtaken Rusalka and that his SF21’s tyres were degrading slightly more than Oscura’s. Mostly due to his driving style, which was something that his race enginner, Crimsonia Dragonsfire, became suddenly aware of. “I think I should pit about few laps before my first scheduled stop.” Danger said on the radio. “Why’s that, Danger?” Crimsonia asked. “My tyres are degrading slightly more than the car behind me.” Danger replied. “OK, copy.” Crimsonia said. 2 laps later, Rusalka heard from her race engineer about Danger’s tyre. She had to re-evaluate her pit stop strategy. But before she could do that, Akula was coming from behind to probably make life difficult for her. Then on lap 14, the Lamborghini of Vivid Galaxy lost the will to live and stopped on the approach to turn 5. Because of the location of where Vivid Galaxy came to a halt, a Virutal Safety Car was needed. It took until lap 16 but as Danger crossed the line, The race was back on. Oscura was still in second with Rusalka behind her. The Crimson Arrows were 4th and 5th respectively. Sunset was now 6th after passing Rainbow milliseconds before the VSC started. Fluttershy was 8th, Cadenza Spark 9th and Applejack finishing off the top 10. Because of the VSC, Danger’s lead from Oscura diminished. Before Vivid Galaxy retired from the race, the gap between him Danger and Oscura was 2.6 seconds. It was now 7 tenths. He still had 60 laps to go and with his tyes degrading slightly more than previously, it was clear a 3-stop strategy would be necessary. Meanwhile, the Lotus-Dragonsfire of Azura Dragonsfire was now challenging Pinkie for 11th place and with Lightning Dust suffering from power loss, the Element of Laughter was slightly under pressure from the red and gold Lotus E29-DRG1. Azura was nearly caught out by Pinkie’s sudden late-braking tactic at turn 7. She knew that Pinkie was trying. Meanwhile, Akula was trying to overtake Rusalka but it wasn’t easy, the Danger Motorsport power unit in Rusalka’s SF21 was becoming a bit of a problem for the CA01. But nonetheless, Akula uses his experience to overtake Rusalka on the straight between turns 8 and 9. But at the bus-stop chicane, everything changed. Rusalka used the ‘right-shift, go faster’ routine to get within 0.1 seconds of Akula on the apporach to the final turn. Danger wasn’t doing much of a good job of hold onto the lead from Oscura, and his tyres weren’t giving any help either as on lap 18, Oscura passed Danger on the exit of turn 2. Danger didn’t like that, but had to conceed the fact that his tyres were degrading faster than the Ural Sea. On lap 24, the VSC would be needed again as Lucia Swordlight went left-side-first into the tyre-barrier at turn 4. She climbed out of her wrecked Red Bull meaning she was OK. This was perfect timing for Danger to do a pit stop. When the VSC period ended on lap 28, the leaderboard changed dramatically, Fluttershy in her Bentley EXP-21 was now leading from Akula in second, the Lamborghini of Cadenza Spark was third, Viral was fourth and Danger dropped to 10th, with Rainbow 5th, Applejack 6th, Rusalka 7th, Oscura 8th and Lightning Dust 9th. Further down the pack, the consist backmarkers of the Nemesis were 16th and 20th. Everyone knew how garbage the NGP007s were, even DangerDean knew that from the start. But the Nemesis team were hoping for better results. But with the likes on Crimson Arrows, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Red Bull in the race, it could result in a pipe dream. Danger’s pit stop was kind of a miracle for him. The fresh set of mediums was making any overtaking attempt on Lightning Dust’s Aston Martin would be easy. On lap 30, Oscura was beginning to overtake cars left-right and centre. First passing the Ferrari of Rusalka at turn 6, then Applejack at 8 on lap 31 and on lap 33, Rainbow was overtaken by the Red Bull at turn 9 and Oscura held her speed coming out of turn 11. “Go get ‘em, Oscura!” Anastasia Galaxia said on the radio. With Oscura now in 5th, Rusalka decided to the same think. Taking on Applejack at turn 2 on lap 36, then passing Rainbow at turn 7 on the same lap. But then, on lap 38, yellow flags were waved at turn 6 was needed as the McLaren of Pinkie Pie tangled with the Lotus-Dragonsfire of Sapphira Daybreaker and the McLaren was sent for a spin. As Pinkie was picking up speed, more carnage insued as at turn 3 further down, the NIO of Vivian Radiance clipped the grass on entry and then, an unsighted Sunset Skies in the other Bentley collided in the left-front of Vivian’s car. This resulted another Virtual Safety Car. After the wreckage settled and cleared, the action spiced up on lap 43 when after strong defending strong defending by Fluttershy, Akula finally passed Fluttershy before entering turn 12. The rest of the top 5 hadn’t changed until Danger overtook Rainbow on lap 46. Oscura was aware that Danger was now in the top 5 and trying to take it away from her. Then as the two headed for turn 3 on the next lap, Oscura had flashbakcs to Austria in 2019 when Danger battled with her which ended with the Red Bull going to the gravel. Danger looked for an opportunity to pass and then… It happened again! And Danger’s sidepod was bashed by Oscura who went to the wall. Oscura reversed out and re-joined the track as Rainbow overtook her. This made Oscura beyond pissed. “Come on, Oscura, box this lap for new wing.” Anastasia asked. “I'm will, shut up! It's just difficult to race when there's a complete and utter muppet ahead of me! Don't fuck me up with this, Anastasia! I beg you.” Oscura snapped while promising that race would be over. After Danger encounter with his nemesis, his SF21 was now slightly compromised, but Danger kept it out on track. When Danger got hit by Oscura. Crimsonia noticed that Oscura didn’t leave Danger any room. Meanwhile on lap 50, Akula was leading from Fluttershy and Viral who passed Cadenza’s Lamborghini before Danger and Oscura collided. Viral was hoping that she could make it a one-two for the Crimson Arrows, but with Fluttershy in front and with 25 laps to run, Viral has to force Fluttershy at any point. The thing that Viral didn’t realise is that Fluttershy’s Bentley was showing a good pace that is comparable to the Ferraris. With Akula a full 3 seconds ahead of the Bentley, Akula was set to win and kept his cool. Not so much Oscura though. When she pitted on lap 47, she noticed that her excursion with Danger not only broke her front wing, it also damaged the floor when she went into the gravel and the impact with the wall also damaged the left-front suspension. It wasn’t fixable for the remainder of the race. Oscura’s race was over. The Prancing Speedfreaks were now 5th and 6th and with Cadenza’s Lamborghini gaining more ground. Both Ferraris were trying get to the top. But something happened. The Bentley of Fluttershy had passed the Crimson Arrow of Akula on lap 54 at turn 5. Akula couldn’t believe what he was seeing, a former Red Bull driver who replaced Cheese Sandwich mid-season two years ago, now in the lead of Mystic Falls Grand Prix. On lap 56, more drama ensued as Cadenza’s Lamborghini lost 7th and 8th gear and had to make a pit stop. Further down the field, the Mercedes of Kalliope Thunder, who was struggling with the car in the first half of the race, spun out off of turn 12 and went into the gravel. Crimsonia Dragonsfire and Beatrice Firefury were quick to respond. “OK, Rusalka what tyres do you want on your next pit stop.” Beatrice asked. “I want the opposite to Danger, Beatrice.” Rusalka said. “OK, copy.” As most of the cars pitted, the other cars were able to claw back some of the time they lost in the first part of the race. Danger exited the pit lane first, followed by Fluttershy, Rusalka, Akula and Viral. He knew that if he could hold of Fluttershy and the Crimson Arrows, the win will be in his hands. On lap 57, Fluttershy was trying to overtake the British Speedfreak at turn 7, but Danger held and kept it off the kerb. Danger has to be vigilant on where Fluttershy would overtake him. Meanwhile, Rusalka and Akula were battle for third at turn 7, with Viral occasionally seeing what her teammate is doing. Heading down the straight, Rusalka held off Akula but at turns 9 to 11, the Ferrari slipped ever so slightly, causing the Crimson Arrow to take 3rd place. Akula now set his sights on the Bentley and the other Ferrari. Sunset meanwhile was in 7th and is having a good, she understood that her teammate crashed in a previous lap, and said that she would talk to her because noticed that she had no other experience in a Formula 1 car. While the McLaren were now behind Sunset. The Lamborghini of Cadenza Spark was beginning to suffer from a power loss down the straights. She hoped that race would be over that she could discuss what went wrong with her team what went wrong with the power unit. Danger meanwhile, wasn’t experiencing any after effects of when he had his excursion with Oscura and that he was building a bigger gap to Fluttershy, who was still holding off Akula’s Crimson Arrow. Then on lap 65, the Aston Martins of Rainbow and Lightning, who were 9th and 10th, banged wheels at the straight before the double-chicane. Both drivers were instructioned to bring their cars home. On lap 70, the gap between Danger and Fluttershy was now 18.7 seconds, at Fluttershy opened a two second advantage over Akula. But Akula wouldn’t give up and charged down the straight between turns 7 and 8 to hunt down Fluttershy. With 5 laps to go, Rusalka was still defending from Viral and the battle had been going on since lap 68. But she knows that she got to force Rusalka into an error at anypoint. Then, drama occurred on the final lap when Danger, who now built a 22 second lead over Fluttershy, experienced a tyre failure, with only 5 turns to go! “Got tyre puncture, Crim!” Danger announced to Crimsonia. “OK, I keep you posted on the gap.” But Danger, with expert car control and determination, he crossed the line to win the Mystic Falls Grand Prix. 15 seconds later, Fluttershy gets 2nd and Akula 3rd, Viral 4th and Rusalka completed the top 5. Danger sighed in relief as he knew that his tyres were nearly done.