Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 102: Renault's first race pole position (5K)

【WOW~~~！】

Exclamations and shouts of surprise rang out one after another. The audience was originally listening to the jokes and banter of the track commentator, thinking that it would be great for the Chinese newcomer to make it into the top ten in qualifying. But who would have thought that he would directly land at the top of the list!

"MY GOD, is this the lap time set by a Chinese? It's incredible!"

"When will China have newcomers of this level? Don't they even have a competition system?"

"The Chinaman is a Honda-trained rider."

"The problem is that the Japanese drivers Honda trains aren't very good either."

As the audience finished speaking, Takatoshi Kobayashi's single lap speed appeared on the lap time list.

1 minutes 58 seconds 278.

Takatoshi Kobayashi is the only one among the participating drivers who knows Chen Xiangbei's practice lap times.

He did not underestimate or underestimate the car at all, and pushed hard in the qualifying round, achieving his best result in the entry-level formula at Silverstone.

Even so, he was still 0.4 slower than Chen Xiangbei!

Sometimes the gap in strength is like a mountain with no end in sight. No matter how hard you try, you can't get over it.

Kobayashi Takatoshi never thought that the Chinese opponents, who were put together as a temporary team, would be so strong that he could not defeat them.

It is obvious that after Kamui Kobayashi, the next rising star in Asia should be me!
Kobayashi Takatoshi's lap time seemed to verify the conversation in the audience. Honda did train Chen Xiangbei, but Chen Xiangbei's current strength and speed were not entirely related to Honda.

"Oh crazy! Chinese driver Bei is currently at the top of the qualifying lap time list. He is only 0.4 seconds away from the track record set by Schumacher. This performance far exceeded pre-race expectations!"

James, the commentator of the match, said this in an amazed tone.

Then he turned to his partner and asked, "Mike, you said before that the upper limit for Chinese drivers can only be in the top ten, but now Bei has achieved the fastest lap. Do you have any explanation for this?"

Faced with his partner's playful teasing, Mike looked a little embarrassed.

He thought that he might be slapped in the face, but he never thought that Chen Xiangbei would be at the top of the list.

What does it mean to be at the top of the list in the first race? Even though there have been nearly 1 F drivers in Japanese history, no one has been able to achieve this!

Besides, this year's Renault European Cup is not weak. Magnus, Vergne, Costa and others are all crushing everyone in their respective karting careers.

Especially Magnussen and Vergne, one is the son of former F1 driver Jan Magnussen, who was exposed to karting at the age of two and can be said to be from a racing family.

The son of another automobile tycoon directly bought a piece of land to build his own karting track. When others were still at the starting line, Vergne was almost at the finish line.

With this foundation, how could a Chinese newcomer take the top spot?

Mike felt incredible and unconvinced at the same time.

In the past, he might have just joked with his partner and let it go. European and American hosting styles are humorous and exaggerated, and failed predictions are extremely common.

When Yao Ming entered the NBA, commentator Charles Barkley was extremely pessimistic about him, believing him to be a "fake No. 19 pick." He even made a bet that if Yao Ming could score points in a single game, he would kiss a donkey's ass.

Afterwards, most people just treated it as a joke and no one took it seriously.

But this time, Mike was clearly a bit carried away by Chen Xiangbei's performance. He insisted on his own judgment and said stubbornly, "Qualifying isn't over yet. The top spot isn't the final pole position. I firmly believe there will be a faster lap."

"But there won't be five in a single lap like this."

James replied playfully that he also thought it was very likely that a lap faster than Chen Xiangbei would occur.

But Mike's initial conclusion was that Chen Xiangbei could not possibly make it into the top five in qualifying!
Chen Xiangbei's lap time of 1 minute 57 seconds is already quite impressive. If five more drivers were faster than him, even Michael Schumacher's pole position record wouldn't hold up.

Faced with this statement, Mike was speechless.

Even if the qualifying round has not ended, the Chinese newcomer can still advance into the top five based on the results of this lap.

Is it true that there will be an Asian genius who will shine on the European track?
After Chen Xiangbei finished this flying lap on the track, he did not ask the P room about his lap time. He directly crossed the finish line at full throttle and started the second flying lap.

He may not be very familiar with other drivers competing in the same field, but he is very familiar with Magnussen's style. This guy is an extremely typical super single-lap player. In his peak period, his qualifying lap time can be on par with the world champion.

The reason why Magnussen has long been in the middle and lower ranks of the F1 paddock is that his weaknesses lie in long distances and wheel-to-wheel recklessness, not that he is slow.

Magnussen will definitely not swallow the V-shaped overtaking at the T7 corner just now. After the warm-up, he will definitely push forward with all his strength to regain the ground!

"Xiangbei-kun, do you want to push twice in a row?"

Hiroki Sawano's inquiry came from the TR. The team has observed through the racing data monitoring that Chen Xiangbei has no signs of slowing down and is still pushing at full power.

"Well, I want to use the Ultralight fuel and drive a faster lap."

"Bei, you locked up earlier and caused a lot of wear on your tires. Pushing it for another lap would be very risky."

"The last lap was very good and we are already on the fastest lap position in qualifying. The team's advice is to pit and repair."

Hiroki Sawano gave his advice as a race engineer based on rationality.

Although there is no limit on car damage in Renault Formula Racing, as long as you have money to spend, you can do whatever you want until all the dozens of spare cars in the garage are crashed!

However, after qualifying, repairs and part replacements are also subject to time penalties similar to those in F1. This is to prevent European drivers from spending too much money and running new engines for special tuning at every race, thus using their money to beat the less powerful drivers.

If Chen Xiangbei explodes and causes an accident on the track, he may be investigated by the race organizers or penalized, which would be more trouble than gain.

The amount of fuel Odeto gave Chen Xiangbei for two laps didn't mean he had to use it all up. The reserve was to allow him to run one more lap in case the track blocked the car or the lap failed unexpectedly.

Now Chen Xiangbei's speed in this lap is very fast, far exceeding the expected standard!

"Two laps is no problem. I know what I'm doing."

"COPY."

Faced with Chen Xiangbei's insistence, Hiroki Sawano didn't say another word.

Team voice conversations are also a distraction; make sure they don't interfere with the driver's focus once the decision has been made.

As for the gains and losses, those are issues that need to be considered after the game.

Chen Xiangbei's No. 13 car began to advance frantically on the track. After receiving instructions from the team, Vergne of the ART team and Costa of the Manor team also pushed the throttle to full throttle on the track.

These team engineers are all veterans with many years of experience. They can easily judge what kind of pressure and promotion will be put on other drivers on the track when a Chinese newcomer runs at such an amazing speed.

No one would think that they are worse than the Chinese rookies, and the pole position in the first race attracts a lot of attention, so we must try our best to compete no matter what!
"OH~~~! Ladies and gentlemen at Silverstone, and everyone watching on TV, we can already feel the impact that Chinese driver Bei has had on this race."

"He was like a depth charge, shattering the caution and balance of the paddock. Almost all the drivers started to increase their speed on this lap, launching their own offensive towards pole position, wanting to prove that they were the true genius!"

Just as James explained, in just less than a minute, Costa of the Manor team ran a lap time of 1 minute 57 seconds, surpassing Chen Xiangbei to take the top spot.

"Costa is worthy of being the main driver of the wealthy Manor team. He is really strong."

"This is the strength that European drivers should show."

"Come on, Costa, Spain's future star!"

Many spectators on the track cheered enthusiastically. Although this is the Silverstone Circuit in the UK, there are actually quite a few Spanish fans here.

In 05 and 06, "Big Brother" Alonso achieved two consecutive championships, which directly brought the popularity of F1 in Spain to its peak and also affected other lower-level formula events.

Costa is the new generation of talented teenager in Spain. His karting performance is almost as good as Alonso's back then. In addition, cross-border travel in Europe is very convenient, just like traveling abroad in China. Naturally, many supporters come to the scene to watch the game.

But before they could be happy for a few seconds, the Spanish fans died down. Vergne, the French driver of the ART team, set a faster lap than Costa and took the top spot.

1 minutes 57 seconds 797!

The appearance of this scene not only surprised the audience, but also the professional team engineers in the P room had expressions of surprise on their faces.

It wasn't that Vergne was surprised to top the standings; after all, as the favorite for this year's Renault Eurocup, second only to Magnussen, it was perfectly natural for him to top the standings or secure pole position. The team engineers were even more surprised to see that with just seven or eight minutes left in qualifying, three drivers had already broken 1:57. Their overall strength was surprisingly strong!

You know, the low temperature and congested track environment are not friendly. Is it due to the drivers' hard power, or is it that the appearance of Chen Xiangbei has mobilized everyone's fighting spirit?

In the performance room of the Superdream Racing team, data engineer Sho Mizutani looked at the constantly updated lap time leaderboard and muttered to himself in shock, "No wonder Xiangbei-kun had to use less fuel to push for another lap. At this rate, let alone securing pole position, we can't even guarantee a top five spot!"

Sho Mizutani is at the Suzuka Racing Academy in Japan. It can be said that he has seen the best talents in Asia during his tenure, but the intensity of the competitions they participated in was far less than that of today's first stop of the Renault European Cup.

Many times, when the strongest driver runs an amazing lap time, there is no possibility for others to challenge or surpass him.

The situation is completely different now. Chen Xiangbei ran such an exaggerated lap time, and it can still be broken one after another. It is as exciting as watching an F1 qualifying race.

As expected, all the real racing geniuses in the world are gathered in Europe!

"That's normal, Mizutani. You have to remember that as time goes by, lap times are always getting faster, even if they were set by Schumacher."

"The record at any track in Europe will be broken by the next talented driver. If you can't do that, you won't be qualified to compete for the world championship!"

Odetto explained to Mizutani Sho calmly that he had worked for the Super Aguri team for two years and knew that many Japanese engineers subconsciously believed that the track records set by famous drivers were unbreakable.

They have such a perception because the strength of Asian drivers is too weak. Indeed, the lap times achieved by historical drivers such as Senna and Schumacher are out of reach.

But in Europe, there is no track record that cannot be broken!
After warning Mizutani Sho, Odetto pressed the call button on the earmuff.

"Bei, your fastest lap has been broken by two drivers, and Magnussen of the Carlin team is also doing his own flying lap."

"If you don't want to be left far behind, then run faster!"

Still fast?

Hearing Odette issue such a team order at the critical moment, Hiroki Sawano and Sho Mizutani looked at each other in surprise.

If we go any faster, the tire will burst and we will run off the track!
"receive."

Chen Xiangbei had no doubts about Odetto's team instructions, or perhaps it could be said that this was within his expectations.

Chen Xiangbei was well aware that his tires locked on the previous lap and his lap time was not perfect, and Magnussen would definitely surpass him.

If Magnussen can't even beat the flawed flying lap, then he doesn't deserve the words "start high and run around randomly", but "start low and can't run"!
What Chen Xiangbei hadn't anticipated was that before Magnussen could even overtake him, two other drivers would already have broken the lap record. If nothing unexpected happened, these two would be future FE world champions.

Although FE cannot be compared with F1, it is still better than an F2 driver like myself, so it is not surprising that I can run the fastest lap.

Releasing the voice call button on the steering wheel, Chen Xiangbei focused all his attention on the track, as if the speed of the entire space had slowed down in his eyes, and the route that he had practiced countless times emerged in his mind.

This time, Chen Xiangbei did not follow the familiar routes that were like muscle memory. Instead, he was more aggressive as Odette required, squeezing out the empty space and shoulders on the track.

At the end of the qualifying lap, it all comes down to which driver has better details and which driver drives more to the limit.

Even if the speed lead is only a few kilometers per hour, it will become the pole position with the last laugh!

After exiting Turn T18, Chen Xiangbei arrived at the starting straight. The track director had already focused the camera on his No. 13 Renault car. Many people were curious about whether this Chinese newcomer could run a faster lap time and take the top spot.

The moment you cross the line, the lap time appears immediately on the big screen.

1 minutes 57 seconds 613!

Chen Xiangbei improved his time by another 0.25 seconds compared to his previous lap.

"Am I seeing right? Driver Bei is at the top of the lap time list again?"

"FUCK, how on earth did this Chinese guy do it? An improvement of 0.25 seconds is so exaggerated."

"I paid close attention to his flying lap the entire time. On the previous lap, Driver Bei had a lock-up error, but this lap he ran perfectly. It's no surprise that he made a significant improvement."

"Will the Chinese newcomer not be in pole position?"

A spectator at the scene asked what everyone was thinking: Chen Xiangbei's lap time has reached the level of all previous pole positions in the Renault European Cup, unless someone can run a magical lap to surpass it.

Vergne and Costa both finished their second flying laps, returning to the pits after each, with no chance left. The other drivers haven't shown any potential to challenge, with Magnussen the only one on the track who still has a chance of overtaking.

"James, Magnussen of the Carlin team also has a fast lap. Do you think he has a chance of overtaking Bei?"

Seeing this situation, Mike took the initiative to ask his partner James a question.

"Emotionally I think it's possible, but intellectually it's difficult."

James gave an ambiguous answer.

Chen Xiangbei's fastest lap time was only 0.15 seconds slower than Schumacher's pole position record. If the weather and track conditions were better, he might have broken the record and made history.

If Magnussen can run faster than this, he will have to break the pole position record, which is almost impossible.

But the problem is that as a European commentator, James also hopes to see Europe become the pole position of this race, and even the ultimate winner.

At the same time, judging from Magnussen's karting record, he has the potential to be a super talented driver and may be able to create miracles.

But James' expectations were quickly dashed. Just after he answered this question, Magnussen had already completed his flying lap and crossed the finish line.

1 minutes 57 seconds 677!

With a slight gap of 0.06 seconds, he failed to overtake Chen Xiangbei who was speeding in front of him and could only finish second.

"No way, Magnussen can't even outrun the Chinese rookie?"

"Does this mean that driver Bei Zhen will be on pole position for the first race?"

"There are still three minutes left in qualifying, maybe there will be a fastest lap."

"It's impossible. Other drivers don't have the ability to set a new fastest lap."

The audience was talking about it. They thought that this race would be like the previous European Renault Cup, with the champion becoming the prey pursued by well-known drivers from several major teams.

Then a Cheng Yaojin appeared out of nowhere, and the unknown Chinese driver defeated all the competitors!

"Team, what's my lap time and ranking?"

The moment Magnussen crossed the finish line, he asked questions to the team engineer.

The genius driver's intuition told him that Chen Xiangbei's flying lap speed was very fast and might become a threat to him.

"1 minute 57 seconds, ranked second."

"The fastest lap was with a Chinese driver?"

"Yes."

Hearing the team engineer's answer, Magnussen opened his mouth and was speechless for a moment.

Sure enough, my intuition was not wrong.

"Can I push it one more time?"

"No, we're out of gas. Pull the car in."

Just like Chen Xiangbei, the Carlin team only gave Magnussen enough fuel to run two laps.

"receive."

Magnussen responded in a low voice that he had already considered the pole position in the first round of Renault European Cup as a sure thing, but in the end he failed to beat a Chinese newcomer.

It wasn't just Magnussen who didn't win, but almost everyone did.

When the qualifying countdown on the big screen reached zero, the lap time of 1 minute 57 seconds 613 was still at the top of the list.

The pole position for the first round of the Renault European Cup at Silverstone Circuit was born, and he is the driver Chen Xiangbei from China!
(End of this chapter)