LMGT1)

Many Le Mans Hypercars and even the LM-GT1 cars were being prepped for a hypercar-grand touring clash on the streets of Velocity City. The location was the Northwest Highway Loop, a 3.69 mile track that runs on the V-46 interstat with the cars are running northwards, some fans were on the otherside of the highway cheering on the driver. There were new faces on the grid and every fan on the circuit knew how to respect the new recruits.

1. #66 Callie Mayer, Alpine A424 LMH, 1:43.189
2. #4 Lara Carvalho, Mercedes-AMG ONE LM-GT1, 1:43.259
3. #15 Danger Dean, Ferrari 499P, 1:43.280
4. #24 Viral Velocity, Ferrari 499P, 1:43.379
5. #7 Adriana Novalight, McLaren Senna GTR LM-GT1, 1:43.417
6. #97 Rusalka Swordlight, Porsche 920 LMH, 1:43.479
7. #48 Rayfa Dawnlight, Audi R20 e-tron hybrid, 1:43.532
8. #21 Yume Tanaka, Mercedes AMG ONE LM-GT1, 1:43.579
9. #13 Oscura Galaxia, Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR PRO Hybrid, 1:43.742
10. #14 Aria Blaze, Lamborghini SC63, 1:43.810
11. #1 Nathan McKane, Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR PRO Hybrid, 1:43.828
12. #18 Valentin Manzi, Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR PRO Hybrid, 1:43.851
13. #89 Aiden Jackson, Alpine A424 LMH, 1:43.879
14. #23 Iris Dayspark, Mercedes-AMG ONE LM-GT1, 1:43.916
15. #85 Hailey Banefire, Lamborghini SC63, 1:43.994
16. #25 Starlight Glimmer, Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR PRO Hybrid, 1:44.041
17. #5 Sonic Flash, Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR PRO Hybrid, 1:44.137
18. #71 Devon Butler, Alpine A424 LMH, 1:44.249
19. #106 Michiko Arasaka-Soulflame, Lamborghini Terzo Millenio LMH, 1:44.481
20. #191 Maria Thunderlight, Porsche 963 LMdH, 1:44.593
21. #78 Jasmine Spark, Mercedes-AMG ONE, 1:44.628
22. #91 Beatrice Radiance, Porsche 920 LMH, 1:44.793

Nobody was expecting a rookie to on the front row and even outqualify the 6-time Formula Equestria champion. Many people doubted Callie Mayer to be severly outqualified by Aiden Jackson or even her brother that many people loved to hate, Devon Butler. But she proved them wrong by slotting her Alpine into pole position from Brazilian speed goddess of Lara Carvalho and Danger ‘the British Speedfreak’ Dean.

As the green lights go on, Callie retained her lead but Carvalho wasn’t not gonna give up on challenging for the lead easily as they headed to turn 1, Danger lost a positon to Viral and Oscura Galaxia overtook both Yume Tanaka and her Formula Equestria teammate of Rayfa Dawnlight. Despite being a bit stiff from the crash she had a Blaze City, she still hung with both Adriana and Rusalka who were in 5^th and 6^threspectively. Oscura tried to get them both at the V-46 Highway section, The Porsche of Rusalka Swordlight defended like it was 5 lap sprint, even though the race was 54 laps long. Oscura knew she would have plenty of time to catch Rusalka.

2 laps later at turn 8, Carvalho passed Mayer for the lead and with the Liberty University liveried-Ferrari of Viral Velocity under pressure from the other Liberty University liveried-Ferrari of Danger Dean. The fans did have an exciting race on their hands. But the Northwest Highway Loop was sometimes tough on cars and on lap 5, it claimed it’s first victim. The #106 Terzo Millenio of Michiko Arasaka-Soulflame scrapped the wall on the straight between turns 6 and 7 after trying to pass the Aston Martin of Sonic Flash. But the android got going again as the damage was only cosmetic. Then one lap later, the real victim was claimed.

The #85 Lamborghini of Hailey Banefire blew the rear right tyre which sent Hailey backwards into the wall at turn 15. This was the first Safety Car period of the race. But Hailey was still going despite the wing now off the car from the crash. The debris was cleared by lap 9, the race was underway again with Lara leading from Callie, Viral, Danger and Rusalka. But then at the highway section, Callie passed Lara, flat out at turn 11 and took a little bit of paint away from Carvalho’s Mercedes. With Hailey Banefire needing a miracle as she was a lap down after her pit stop, the race was still nerve-racking for the fans as they all didn’t know to support. Do they support Callie Mayer? Lara Carvalho, Danger Dean or Viral Velocity?

Then on lap 13 disaster struck for Aiden Jackson as he had no power down the straights and losing a lot of time. Butler went past him which was basically salt on a wound and in a stroke of luck, he reached the pit lane before retiring from the race. It was revealed later that a piece of rogue debris was caught inside the A424’s engine with resulted in a strange sound and a decrease of speed. Devon was pleased to pass his former teammate but then the ghost of Aiden’s car jinxed him and his left front tyre blew and like Hailey Banefire 10 laps earlier, he had to go to the pits.

“OK, Danger, Jackson has retired from the race and Devon is in the pits from a puncture.” Danger’s race engineer reported

“Copy.” Danger confirmed as knew that it wasn’t Crimsonia’s voice this time.

With 17 laps in the books, the Alpine of Callie Mayer had created a 10 second gap of Viral as Lara pulled into the pits for fresh tyres and dropped behind Rusalka Swordlight but ahead of Oscura Galaxia. Lara realised that Oscura doesn’t take any opportunity to run Danger off the track anymore as the crash in Blaze City made her end her 13 year long rivalry with Danger. Even Callie knew as Danger told her before the practice sessions.

As the laps counted down it became clear that #66 Alpine had already won at this point and as the gap reached the 20 second mark because of Callie’s smooth driving whenever she leads a race. Danger and Viral were keeping a steady pace and Carvalho overtook Rusalka at turn 11. By lap 24, Lara realised that she was the only Seneca driver to challenge Callie as Yume’s gearbox was stuck in 4^th gear for about 3 corners. Lara put the realisation behind as she had one job to do, overtake both Liberty University liveried Ferraris and Callie Mayer.

Then on lap 26, Danger’s race enginner discovered something untoward with Danger’s Ferrari.

“OK, Danger, there is a issue with the left rear tyre, we may need to pit for fresh tyres.”

“What do you mean?” Danger replied, confused.

“We think the degradation is too high.” His race engineer replied.

“Oh!” Danger said in realisation “I was coming in anyway so I saved you some energy telling me to go to the pits.”

As he came into the pit line, he wondered if at some point his true race engineer, Crimsonia Dragonsfire would speak on the radio as it was too formal for him and Crimsonia and Danger’s radio message was akin to NASCAR. On lap 31, Oscura wasn’t as fast as she was expecting to be as she was passed by Rayfa Dawnlight and Aria Blaze and dropped to 10^th as Nathan McKane and Starlight Glimmer passed her.

“Oh, sweet Tartarus on a pogo stick! I was gaining on the #25! It’s usually half way when I fall apart! I had a good result in qualifying and a good few laps then I go to junk!” Oscura complained over the radio.

Danger was now in 4^th after pitting on lap 27 and he soon realised that Callie was just untouchable. He wondered if he could get her to join Danger Motorsport as he did with Viral. Callie had been friends with the British Speedfreak since last year and she won 7 exhibition races in the GRID Universal Series as well as the Universal F2 Championship in 2022 and the Universal F3 Championship in 2021 with Trident.

By lap 30, the Trident liveried Alpine still led the way from Viral, Lara and Danger. The Porsche 920 of Ruslaka Swordlight was still cruising despite some pressure from the Senna LM-GT1 of Adriana Novalight. After Callie pitted on lap 26 and was consistently in the 1:43.4 to 1:44.0 range in lap times, Adriana knew she had to overtake Rusalka at some point because she thinks she may be lapped by Callie by lap 39 if she didn’t hurry up.

2 laps later, Danger finally caught up with Carvalho and it was on. Danger tried to go in the inside of turn 14 but it didn’t work. He tried again at turn 16 and this time, it worked, Danger overtook Carvalho and was now in sight of Viral. Danger had closed the gap ever since his pit stop on the 26^th lap. Despite his tyre being the same age as Callie’s were, it didn’t deter Danger from challenging for 2^nd place as Callie was too far ahead of him.

Luckily for Danger, the Safety Car came out again on lap 35 as Nathan McKane’s driveshaft on the Valkyrie AMR PRO broke due to severe porpoising on the highway section. Before the Safety Car came out, Callie’s lead was over half a minute from Viral but that lead was in pieces. And it didn’t help since from lap 31 to 34, Danger set a two new lap records, a 1:42.967 on lap 32 and 1:42.961 on lap 34, both of them were under Callie’s pole position time.

It was Callie leading from Viral, Danger, Lara and Rusalka with Aria Blaze slingshot herself in 6^th place and Yume, Starlight, Oscura and Maria Thunderlight in the top 10 on lap 39 with 16 laps to go and heading into turn 1, Danger went down in the inside and overtook both Viral and Mayer to take the lead of the but Callie didn’t give up and performed the switchback heading to turn 2. Rusalka was up to third after copying Danger’s move to pass both Viral and Carvalho, she realised she did make a little contact with Carvalho’s Mercedes and she coincidently pulled off a ‘Dartstrike’ of her own.

For the next 3 laps, Danger and Callie were in a tight for the lead, with both the Alpine and the Ferrari occasionally swapping places and at the highway section on lap 43, Callie passed Danger and blasted into the distance. Danger exhaled and tried to conserve fuel for the remaining laps. Aria Blaze was now up in to 5^th place after passing Lara Carvalho. The SC63 was on another level and it seemed that a podium was on the cards as Mayer’s Alpine was getting faster and faster, so much in fact that on lap 46, she broke Danger’s lap record by setting 1:42.951, a full hundredth of a second. In her first race full-time race in the Grid Universal Series, she had basically schooled the field by demonstrating her consistency, speed and determination By lap 49, it was basically over for either Danger or Viral to climb to the lead.

Or was it?

Heading towards turn 11, the #85 Lamborghini of Hailey Banefire crashed into the Armco barriers with 4 laps to go and that meant the Safety Car was out again. By the time the track was clear, this was it, the final 2 laps of the race. It was now either Danger or Viral’s chance to pass Mayer.

Both tried to make a move on Callie at turn 5 but Danger’s idea to go out the outside didn’t work. They both tried to make a move into turn 14 and it really didn’t work for Danger as he brushed the wall and then on the last corners of the lap, to add insult to injury, one of the spark plugs in the 3 liter twin turbo V6 hybrid engine in Danger’s car decided to give up in protest and when Callie won the race, Danger crossed the line… in P3, he managed to hold of the charging Aria Blaze.

But it was all Callie Mayer, she basically had dominated the race and with Carvalho in 5^th, Rusalka 6^th, Starlight 7^th, Yume 8^th, Oscura 9^th and with Sonic Flash 10^th, she was immediately on the radio.

“Awesome job, Callie, awesome drive. You definitely deserved this win.” Her race engineer commended.

“Ahhh, that was a good choice, Danger gave me a good battle, but in the end… I held him off.” Callie replied.

“You deserve that trophy, Callie.”

Danger was kicking himself about that brush on the wall on lap 53 and he couldn’t blame the mechanics for his engine issue. Those things happen to him and he had numerous experiences when his machinery failed him, even in GRID. He knew that there are plenty of races for him to redeem himself.

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