kachow | arthur leclerc

chapter five

location: Bahrain 🇧🇭

"You're going to do great out there, kid." Nico said, leaning down beside the car. Olivia sat in her car, seconds away from the start of the race. Starting at the back of the grid was not ideal.

"Thanks Nico." Olivia said before disconnecting. She watched as the red lights started to flash.

"And it's lights out and away we go!" Olivia pushed the car as the lights extinguished. She pulled into the middle and gained two places before she was cut off.

Olivia took turn 1 wide as a car tried to squeeze by her on the inside. She heard a loud noise and see car debris flying over her car. In her mirror, she saw two cars skidding into the gravel and smoke.

"Who was that?" Olivia asked. There was a moment of silence on the radio.

"Stanek and Cordeel. Both drivers are responding and okay. Keep driving." Nico informed her. Olivia nodded to herself and pushed the car as she passed another car.

lap 14 Olivia was sitting in 14th place. She was pushing the car to it's limits on the straights, trying to pass another car. Stanek and Cordeel both had to retire from the race.

lap 27 Olivia was now up to 10th place after several cars decided to pit. A yellow flag and a safety car came out due to someone car malfunctioning and stopping on the track. Olivia was called to pit during the safety car. The pit stop went smoothly and she was back out on the track swiftly.

"How are you feeling?" Nico asked.

"It's really hot out here but I should be fine." Olivia replied.

"I'm asking about your back, not the heat."

"My back is fine. There's been no reason for there to be pain," Olivia answered, "What's the gap in front of me?"

"Gap to Doohan is 2.4 seconds, push if you want to pass." Nico informed her. Olivia pushed the car until she was directly behind Doohan's car. Her plan was to overtake on the inside when they hit turn 11.

lap 30 Olivia had overtaken Doohan, who didn't put up much of a fight. She had overtaken several other cars and was up to P6. She was happy to be back on the points, but a podium would be amazing considering she started from p18.

lap 43 Olivia hasn't moved anywhere. There was a five second gap between her and P7.

"Hold you position please." Nico told her over the radio.

"You don't want me to overtake? I could have a shot at the podium, Nico."

"I'm sorry, but I've been told to keep you at your position for now."

"But his car is right there, I can totally overtake before the lap is over!"

"Sorry kiddo." That was it. There was no arguing it. She turned off her radio.

"This is so fucking stupid." Olivia yelled. Only 9 laps left in the race and she couldn't do anything to change that unless she went against orders.

"That is P6, Olivia! Good job out there kid." Nico announced over the radio as she cross the finished line.

"Thanks everyone..." Olivia replied. She pulled her car to it's spot, unattached the steering wheel and climbed out. She reattached the wheel before heading towards the podium to see who won.

"Olivia! Hurry up, we can't miss Ollie on the podium!" She looked up to see Ollie's radio engineer waving at her to hurry up. She started to jog over to the podium where PREMA was already lining the railing. She found an open spot on the railing. She saw Ollie's car sitting in the P3 spot.