Danny was now feeling about his chances about the Nocturnus GP after his excellent win in Tempestus GP which he thinks wasn’t based on pure luck. But with the SFN2 being powerhouse of Equestrian-Italian horses, the young speedfreak was certain that he would win his second race in a row.
1st. Viral Velocity, AVK Motorsports-Ferrari, 1:42.128
2nd. Lightning Dust, Scuderia Lamborghini-Danger Motorsport, 1:42.442
3rd. Iris Dayspark, Mercedes AMG-Petronas, 1:42.446
4th. Danger Dean, Scuderia Ferrari-Danger Motorsport, 1:42.469
5th. Rusalka Swordlight, Scuderia Ferrari-Danger Motorsport, 1:42.522
6th. Akula, AVK Motorsports-Ferrari, 1:42.557
7th. Aria Blaze, Scuderia Ferrari-Danger Motorsport, 1:42.639
8th. Jasmine Spark, Mercedes AMG-Petronas, 1:42.778
9th. Oscura Galaxia, Red Bull Racing Team Galaxia, 1:42.889
10th. Danny Dean, Scuderia Forza Nova-Ferrari, 1:43.037
11th. Rainbow Dash, Aston Martin-Mercedes, 1:43.126
12th. Sonic Flash, Sonic GP, 1:43.157
13th. Astral Dash, Aston Martin-Mercedes, 1:43.179
14th. Twilight Sparkle, Scuderia Tempesta-Ferrari, 1:43.228
15th. Chandra Dawnsword. McLaren, 1:43.486
16th. Kai Solarguard, Prada Pagani, 1:43.579
17th. Azusa Nightblade, Maserati, 1:43.778
18th. Blazing Lionfire, Chappral-Lionfire, 1:43.883
19th. Sayori Blitz, Renault, 1:44:026
20th. Sparkling Lionfire, Chappral-Lionfire, 1:44.382
21st. Diana Swordlight, BMW M GP, 1:44.678
22nd. Amy Firepetal, Sonic GP, 1:45.036
23rd. Riley Radiantshard, Prada Pagani, 1:45.226
24th. Kristina Swordlight, NIO, 1:45.663
25th. Lemon Zest, Renault, 1:46.089
26th. Chandra Dawnsword, McLaren, 1:46.273
27th. Natasha Blitz, McLaren, 1:46.446
28th. Dahlia Nightblaze, Mirage, 1:46.558
Before the race, Iris, Jasmine, Rainbow and Astral realised there were now the remaining guardians of German power after the Crimson Arrows became AVK Motorsports. Danny wasn’t aware of this sudden event cause he was having flashbacks to his win at Tempestus.
The lights went out and Viral, who started on pole, slightly messed up the start with a rubbish getaway, this caused her to lose places to Lightning, Iris before the approach to turn 1. Akula passed Rusalka on the straight and was had Danger in his sights at turn 1, The AVK01 slightly fishtailed and Rusalka retook 5th place. Aria went passed Akula at the first hairpin (turn 4) which wasn’t part of his plan to win the race, but realised there were 103 laps in this race and pitstops could play their part.
On lap 2, Oscura had overtaken Jasmine Spark and was on the tail of Akula but was being hounded by the Mercedes behind her. By turns 5 to 7, Oscura’s gap to Akula was 0.3 seconds and she knew that Akula was trying to get to grips with the new Ferrari power unit, having being used to Mercedes power units before.
Lightning was still holding slim lead with Iris behind. Having outqualified Iris by 4 thousandths of a second, she was enjoying the race so far. However at turn 12 on lap 3, a slight error caused her to hand the lead to Iris on a silver platter (to Lightning’s head at least). Then on lap 4, she had a mechanical failure before the final corner, ending her race.
By lap 6, everything was relative relaxing with multiple overtakes for the bottom end of the field. Until at turn 12 when the Maserati of Azusa Nightblade had a tangle with Chandra Dawnsword’s Mclaren, sending both into a spin. But both of them kept on going even if they were at back of the pack.
On lap 8, Iris was still in the lead with Viral and Danger in hot pursuit. Iris thinks that with the new race format, 75 points was on line and if she won all three stages, she would be 1 point ahead of Viral, only if for some reason the Ferrari power unit in Viral’s AVK01 takes a cyanide capsule midway through of, but the gallant crew of both Viral and Akula will never let that happen. If Danger won all three stages, he would be in the lead on the
By lap 11, the top 10 was Iris, Viral, Danger, Aria, Akula, Rusalka, Danny, Oscura, Sonic and Jasmine. But Jasmine was on the offensive and she now had Sonic Flash in her sights. The power unit in Sonic’s SGP001 wasn’t ready for the charge of Jasmine’s W13. She wanted to use the straight between turns 7 to 8 to out-drive Sonic by getting in his draft and passing him on the inside which was what exactly. Both Sonic and Jasmine know how easy it is to make a mistake. Heading into turn 9, Sonic had the speed advantage and maintain 9th place.
But Jasmine didn’t gave up.
She peformed a divebomb on Sonic at turn 12 and took 9th from him. Sonic was amazed by what he had witnessed.
“Jasmine is a legend.” Sonic said on the radio.
Lap 15 comes around and Danger was in attack mode, he wanted to sweep by Viral quickly but Danger knew that Viral wasn’t easiest drivers to overtake. Also because Iris was building a bigger gap to Viral and that gap was now 9.6 seconds. The two drivers battled at turn 4 with Viral having the slight advantage. But then it went a bit pear-shaped for the Crimson Lion, Danger locked up before turn 5 and Viral sped into the distance.
With 11 laps in the first stage to go, Oscura was trying to avenge herself by trying to overtake Danny. But Oscura didn’t use much brain at turn 11 by trying to divebomb Danny and forced herself into a spin. When the dust settled, Oscura was out of the top 10 by only one driver, Astral Dash. Luckily for Oscura, she was ahead of Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle but she had 10 laps to get back into the top ten.
6 laps to go and Akula was still getting getting to grips with the Ferrari powered AVK01, but Viral would help him all the way. Despite having a 15 second gap to Rusalka Swordlight, Akula’s hatred of street circuit was something that Viral and Danger had acclimatise to. But there still 77 laps in the race to go and plenty to learn the track, get familiar with it and having a good pace relative to Viral and the Prancing Speedfreaks.
The end of lap 31 signaled the end of the first stage of the Nocturnus Grand Prix with Iris taking the stage win from Viral, Danger, Aria and Akula with Rusalka, Danny Dean, Sonic Flash, Jasmine Spark and Astral Dash finishing the top ten.
1st. Iris Dayspark, Mercedes-AMG Petronas
2nd. Viral Velocity, AVK Motorsports-Ferrari
3rd. Danger Dean, Scuderia Ferrari-Danger Motorsport
4th. Aria Blaze, Scuderia Ferrari-Danger Motorsport
5th. Akula, AVK Motorsports-Ferrari
6th. Rusalka Swordlight, Scuderia Ferrari-Danger Motorsport
7th. Danny Dean, Scuderia Forza Nova-Ferrari
8th. Sonic Flash, Sonic GP
9th. Jasmine Spark, Mercedes-AMG Petronas
10th. Astral Dash, Aston Martin-Mercedes
The green flag dropped for the second stage and Viral jumped Iris off the line with Danger following suit. The 27 remaining cars worked their way to turn 3 where Danger used the inside of the hairpin to overtake both Iris and Viral. Aria also went passed Iris was good news for the Prancing Speedfreaks.
Lap 33 comes around and Akula was still struggling with the Ferrari power in his AVK01, even though Viral said to him that it will be fine and that he still leading in the points. Getting passed by Rusalka at turn 13 didn’t really help. Then his engine decided to screw him over at turn 3, his perfect run of points ended with an MGU-K failure. He reported on the first lap of the stage that he had no power which was a bit odd, considering that Danny and Sonic nearly screwed up their starts.
On lap 36 and Aria was now challenging Viral as Danger was running away. Aria really help her job of overtaking Viral by nearly overshooting turn 8. But with Iris closing in, it made Aria’s life more difficult. After being passed by Iris on lap 39 at the first corner, Aria was wondering about the tyres. Had they degraded more than usual? Or had the tyres were under-inflated? She would get her answer on lap 41 when Danger of all people, discovered something a little bit problematic.
“Crim, is it just me or does the car feel like it’s losing power.” Danger asked on the radio.
“Not sure, Danger. But we’re a managing an issue with the tyres on both yours and Aria’s car.” Crimsonia replied.
“So it’s not just me then?” Danger said.
After about 3 laps, Crimsonia came on the radio.
“The issue appears to be that there is a blister on your right-rear tyre. Aria’s the same but Rusalka hasn’t got the problem.” Crimsonia said.
“Have you notified Aria about this?” Danger asked.
“You might have read my mind slightly there, Danger.” Crimsonia said, slightly shocked.
Having received word about abnormal tyre degradation. All Prancing Speedfreaks pitted between lap 42 to 44. After a new set of medium was put on the Ferraris, Iris inherited the lead with Viral in second. Danger was third, Aria fourth with Rusalka fifth. Jasmine Spark moved herself up to sixth after passing Danny on lap 45, Sonic was eighth, Twilight ninth and Astral Dash tenth.
On lap 49, Viral had a thought about Akula being not used to a car with a Ferrari power unit compared to beating the Crimson Lion black and blue with Mercedes power. Even though Neon told her not to get herself lost as Iris was leaving her in the softs as Viral was about to pit on lap 51 for softs as she was on mediums.
Rusalka wasn’t having a good time during laps 52 to 55 as Jasmine was hounding her every corner. She made a small mistake on the exit of turn 7 on lap 58 causing her lose 5th place to Jasmine.
Danger was trying to catch Viral on lap 60 but Viral’s skill with Ferrari power was rivalling Danger using Danger Motorsport power units since 2021. As Iris crossed the line to win the second stage, Viral managed to hold off Danger, with Aria finishing fourth and Jasmine finishing fifth. Danny Dean finished sixth, Rusalka finished seventh and Twilight finished eighth. Oscura finished ninth and Astral Dash completed the top 10.
1st. Iris Dayspark, Mercedes-AMG Petronas
2nd. Viral Velocity, AVK Motorsports-Ferrari
3rd. Danger Dean, Scuderia Ferrari-Danger Motorsport
4th. Aria Blaze, Scuderia Ferrari-Danger Motorsport
5th. Jasmine Spark, Mercedes-AMG Petronas
6th. Danny Dean, Scuderia Forza Nova
7th. Rusalka Swordlight, Scuderia Ferrari-Danger Motorsport
8th. Twilight Sparkle, Scuderia Temepsta-Ferrari
9th. Oscura Galaxia, Red Bull Racing Team Galaxia
10th. Astral Dash, Aston Martin-Mercedes
Danger realised that if he could overtake both Viral and Iris again, like he did on lap 32, he would be within the chance for title number six. The final stage starts and Iris and Viral get decent starts. Jasmine gets a better start and passes Aria and Danger before turn 1. Rusalka passed Danny at turn 2 and Astral Dash passed Oscura and while this was going on, Sonic Flash, who started in 12th place, passed Rainbow Dash.
Oscura didn’t get the best of starts compared to the Mercedes duo. Getting passed by Sonic Flash didn’t help and something occurred to her. Despite her win at Sunset Valley, she was receiving questions about her future at Red Bull, even though she had won a championship with them back 2013 and had been with the team for 10 years. There was also questions as to when Team Galaxia, the power-unit provider for the team, would end their partnership with Red Bull. She thinks that podium would be on the cards but with Sonic extending his gap to her. The pressure was mounting on her.
What also didn’t help that when her teammate Zephyr Galaxia replaced Starlight Glimmer, she was drowning on dry land. Also Starlight had been spending the next couple of months on the simulators and was also competing… and dominating in Equestrian GT Championship was AF Corse.
By lap 67, Iris was in the lead from Jasmine and was set for a Mercedes 1-2, the first one since Akula and Viral were at Mercedes for two seasons. Danger meanwhile was in a battle for 3rd with Viral and Aria coming from behind. Danger also heard the rumours about the Red Bull-Team Galaxia split before the race but since Danger was worlds ahead of Oscura, the rumours didn’t hinder his confidence in taking the podium away from his Triumvirate friend. He overtook Viral on the inside of turn 9 and sped off into the distance.
By lap 71, Iris was stil leading was due for her pitstop and with 19 second lead over Jasmine and a 24 second gap to the Crimson Lion. She came in at the end of the lap and rejoined in the lead. With new medium tyres and with good pace on hand. She feels relaxed and set to take the win.
Then on lap 73, Oscura crashed into the wall at the straight between turn 7 and 8 and came to a halt facing the wall but didn’t make contact. For many, this signaled the beginning of the end of the partnership between Red Bull and Team Galaxia. As Oscura was already off the track there was no need for a Safety Car but a local yellow at the straight
With Oscura out of the race, Danger was more relaxed but with Viral wanting to turn his luxury trip to the podium was turning into a dog-fight. From laps 74 to 79, Viral and Danger swapped places and the crowd was roaring at the support of both drivers.
On lap 82, Rusalka was still in a dog-fight with Danny Dean and both Rusalka’s F1-75 and Danny’s SFN2 were titans on the track, even though Rusalka had more experience than Danny, it didn’t count the young speed freak out. But before the Danny could challenge Rusalka, the red flag was waved after Chandra Dawnsword, Amy Firepetal and Riley Radiantshard were involved in a pile-up at the straight before turns 1 and 2.
The race restarted on lap 83 as both Mercedes’ get away well but Danger was right on the tail of Jasmine and Danger but Viral was worn out, she had driven 400 miles of the race and was hoping to take it easy for the next 20 laps. At turn 8, Danger caused Jasmine Spark napping and snatched 2nd place away from her and that was left for Danger to win the race was Iris and 19 more laps.
With 14 laps to go, Rusalka made a successful lunge on Viral at turn 12 taking fifth place. But with Danny defending from Twilight Sparkle’s Scuderia Tempesta for 7th.
Danger realised that he had just 7 laps to overtake Iris but the W13 was too quick for the F1-75 and within 5 laps, the gap was 10 seconds. Danger thinks that a Mercedes will be a champion and he thinks it could be Iris.
As Iris, Danger and Jasmine crossed the line to set the podium, Aria finished 4th and Rusalka finished 5th, Viral was sixth, Danny seventh. Twilight Sparkle 8th, Astral was 9th and Sonic Flash 10th.