kachow | arthur leclerc

chapter three

location: Bahrain 🇧🇭 [qualifying race]

Today was the qualifying race. After a week of tests and training, the race weekend was finally here. Olivia stood to the side in the garage, headphones on. She had her eyes closed, with her steering wheel in hand. She was going through the track in her head, turning the wheel every couple seconds.

Ollie was probably doing similar on the other side of the garage where his car was. The two driver's had similar pre-race ritual. Over her music she could hear the loud sounds of the garage. Engineers talking strategy, pit crew talking about the tires and pit stops.

Q1 started in 20 minutes. Soon, cars would be pulling out into the pit lane. Olivia handed the steering wheel to a passing engineer as she finished going through the track for the fifth time. She untied her track suit from around her waist and slid it on, zipping it up.

She felt a rap on her shoulder. Olivia took her headphones off and turned around.

"Alright, I don't want you to worry but there's a storm coming in." Nico said. Olivia's face dropped.

"Will they postpone the race?" Olivia asked.

"I don't think they will. It's not supposed to hit until probably halfway through the race." Nico shook his head. Olivia stood there for a moment.

"Okay. I can handle a little rain, it's not like I haven't raced in it before."

"I wanted to let you know because of last year." Last year, right. The crash was caused by rain, a huge storm that came out of nowhere.

"We will worry when the rain hits. I need to focus or I won't make it out of Q1." Her mind went to Arthur's threat from earlier this week. What if he tries to force me off the track, Olivia thought. She started to think of worst case scenarios. Nico nodded and walked off.

An engineer motioned for her to start getting in the car. Olivia nodded and headed towards her stuff. She put her earbuds in and her balaclava. She grabbed her helmet and headed to her car. She put the helmet on, over her braided hair, and climbed into the car.

"Ready to go, kid?" Nico asked over the radio. Olivia took a deep breathe as she focused on the crew member about to wave her into the pit lane.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Olivia replied. She flicked the visor down on her helmet and started to pull out of the garage.

Olivia pulled out behind a HITECH car, probably Jak. She saw Ollie pull his car out behind hers.

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There were 3 minutes left in Q1. Olivia was ranked p7. She wasn't nervous about not qualifying. She was nervous about the car ahead of her, Arthur's car.

The threat still clear in her mind as she watched his car.

"Olivia, that rain is about to hit in a minute. Please be prepared to pit for slicks if necessary." Nico informed.

"Copy that." She responded. She took a sharp, inside cut at turn 10. The car got closer and closer to Arthur's.

The cars kept a safe distance as they completed another lap. Olivia moved up to p6. As time continued, she started to notice raindrops on her visor.

"Shit." Olivia muttered as the rain got harder. Then track got slicker, cars drove slower, drivers getting closer.

The DAMs car was now behind Olivia as she headed for turn 4. She drove carefully around the slick corners. Her team told her not to pit because the rain was supposed to clear up. Olivia glanced at the mirror to see the DAMs car inching closer, an empty feeling growing in her stomach.