The friend beside him looked at him as if he were a fool: "Do you think I’m stupid? Shire is driving a 488 Pista, while Qin is driving a 488 GT3. One is a civilian supercar, and the other a specialized race car. There’s simply no comparison between the two."
His friend, however, wiped the engine oil from his hands and laughed: "This is something you don’t understand. Qin’s car looks like the 488 GT3, but I’ve heard from people at the racing factory that Qin Miao’s car is just an ordinary 488 fitted with GT3 aerodynamic kits."
The person was taken aback: "Is that true? I thought Ferrari doesn’t allow owners to privately modify their race cars. Is Qin doing this right under Ferrari’s nose?"
"The key point is that Qin is not modifying it privately; he got Ferrari’s racing department to help him with the modifications. In some sense, Qin Miao’s car was modified with Ferrari’s help..."
"Damn, is he exploiting a loophole?" The person was shocked upon hearing this.
On the track, Qin Miao began a heated battle with the driver behind him.
Throughout this process, Qin Miao couldn’t suppress the smile on his face. If this were an anime, and someone’s face bore a wanton smile during such an intense and exciting driving scene, nine times out of ten, they would be the main antagonist.
But there’s no helping it; this was the only person in almost a year who could pressure Qin Miao even while he was defending, and the pressure wasn’t small.
How could Qin Miao not be happy to meet such a person?
The person behind Qin Miao’s car was, naturally, Leclerc.
Today, just like Qin Miao, he had come early from Monaco because he had a meeting tomorrow.
Upon arrival, he learned that today was a Ferrari internal track day, where he could drive his car recklessly at the Fiorano Circuit, with Ferrari covering fuel, tire wear, and vehicle support.
Finding himself with nothing better to do, Leclerc decided to take his car for a spin.
However, on the track, Leclerc encountered an older Ferrari 488 GT3 driving rather slowly.
He honked his horn hoping the other driver would let him pass, but little did he expect that the other driver took the horn as a provocation and immediately began defending against a possible overtaking line.
Fiorano is a narrow track. Although it’s not impossible to overtake, it is indeed very difficult. Newest update provided by novelFɪre.net
After all, the initial design of the track was for Ferrari’s own internal vehicle performance testing, not for racing.
But facing a young person daring to challenge him, Leclerc didn’t mind teaching him a lesson about the skill gap between an F1 driver and a regular driver.
After all, he could see that the GT3 ahead had slow acceleration, lower top speed, and slightly pushed its line, although the driver’s control was excellent, keeping the vehicle in a relatively stable state.
To be honest, Leclerc thought there might be a power issue with the car in front, as a normal GT3 couldn’t possibly be this slow.
Therefore, Leclerc was confident he could overtake this guy within a lap.
Leclerc followed behind Qin Miao’s car with an incredulous look on his face. He had tried to pull out several times and even went wheel to wheel with the unpainted Ferrari 488 GT3 in front of him more than once.
But the opponent just used the strategy of defending the inside line early and the characteristics of the track to block Leclerc effectively, crucially, no matter how many times he tentatively pressured the opponent, they seemed oblivious, maintaining a driving style as stable as an old pro.
If he didn’t initiate a substantial attack, the opponent just steadily adhered to their own driving line. But whenever he tried to launch an attack, the opponent always managed to position themselves perfectly to block his path.
Leclerc had to admit that he had indeed underestimated the guy driving the 488 GT3 in front of him.
(Note 1: Not sure how much a GT3 aerodynamic kit weighs, just guessing. If incorrect, please point out, and I will correct it promptly.)