Chapter 336 336: Speed Kills.

Leo didn't care for anything, he kept on moving, but as he moved up in the position set, he relied on his danger perception as well. It was because some drivers tried to put him into dangerous position during the race, and almost created a life and death situation....

While the track had become a battle ground, inside the paddocks everyone was fuming. Nikki Saint's pale complexion had turned rather blushing as he controlled his temper. He looked at Marco, who had been complaining to the Race officials but the latter group had yet to take any action at all.

Lily looked at her anxious mother, and then she looked at monitoring station. She frowned and her brows furrowed. Zeenat was standing beside her and she sensed something as she turned to look at the little girl, who said, "Mister Marco, we have many people waiting outside for the meet and greet, right?"

Marco nodded and Lily said, "Call them inside and have the team's online media team come down and initiate the live stream. The broadcast doesn't show what is going on inside the paddock, so have the world see what is going on here so that they understand how the racers are risking their lives and the race officials are just trying to earn profit from this. The whole situation is no longer that of a race, but of gamble."

Her words shocked the people, but as she stopped speaking, her face turned slightly pale. Snow was worried and she asked, "Lily, are you okay?"

Lily nodded and replied, "Just a little tired."

She was not used to accessing this high level of intellect to handle such complicated situations and the sudden spike in the brain activity caused this this tiredness. Lily leaned against Snow and the latter offered her some water.

Nikki Saint looked at Marco, and said, "What are you thinking about? Young Miss has given us the chance to grab the lead and force these race officials down to the ground."

Marco quickly executed the proposed plan and he called in ten lucky winners of the fan contest, they met with the technicians and Marco, Lily, Snow, and Nikki were not disturbed, and just then Marco said, "Liam, I am trying to get the race officials to look into the situation but it is not happening quick enough. Tell Leo to be careful. He is already P3."

While all this was going on, Leo was not holding back in his charge, he was now seven seconds away from Jin who was P2 and nine seconds away from Theo who was P1.

Liam passed on the message, and Leo clicked his tongue as is said, "Are they fucking with us right now? I am getting not getting attacked now, but every time P4 catches up to me, he tries to rear end me. Have you all gone blind?"

His frustration was valid, because in the past three laps, these things were hindering him. Liam tried to calm him down, but the people who had come from outside heard it all, and one of the curious visitor looked around and asked, one of the water bouncers, "Man, what is going on?"

The bounce only gazed at him but didn't speak at all. At this time, Nikki Saint said, "What happened is, from the start of this race, some guys have been trying to create a voluntary accident with Leo, be it the braking or the unnecessary side block. We have been calling the race officials to come down and check if the cars of these teams have some defect, or is it just a race where things are moving too intensely. However, we are not getting any response from them."

The old man paused and he said, "Leo's daughter is sitting over at the monitoring bay, watching her father put his life on the line for the team and for the dream. Yet, these people who preach so much about the value of the spirit of a sportsman and the value of life, they haven't shown up at all. Is this how someone who wants to make this sport safer for the drivers should act? Blasphemy, if any mishap happened out there, I will sue these fucking lazy bums."

His outburst was not uncalled for and many of the fans who have been keeping up with the race from the start were complaining about it on the live stream, and they have funneled in to support the Cardinal Racing Team on their channel.

One of the visiting fans said, "I understand what you are saying, Mister Saint, but they could be busy, or maybe we are overthinking about it?"

Nikki sighed and said, "Young Man, what's your name?"

The fan replied, "I am Jinny."

Nikki patted the man on his shoulder and said, "Jinny, do you know how many times our team has gone through inspection since the start of the tournament? Seven times. We have been through eight races, and seven of them started after these so called busy officials wasted our time with unwanted and uncalled for inspections. However, we cooperated everytime without any question or complaint.

However, now that our driver and boss is facing such a situation we cannot get the people to tend to us, fine, after the race, the first thing I am doing is filing a police complaint against these people for the dereliction of their duties and then file a court case in the higher court to let the world make the decision if they need such lobbyist kind of people as the presidents of the Racing Organization."

...

Leo was getting pissed off, and thinking about this he suddenly felt that this conspiracy might be planned by Viktor after all, the teams that attacked him were somewhat in connection to the Four Rings company and Henesi Co. as well. Thinking about this, he pedaled the metal and the car shoot off. He decided to put everything aside and then take the lead.

He moved quickly, and with every corner he improved his lap time with tens of a second, and soon, after one lap he was behind P2 Jin, and the latter was doing his best to block Leo. He didn't seem to care about Theo who was moving fast ahead, but his concentration was focused on Leo.

However, it didn't work for long, because as soon as the fifth lap started, Leo faked to go make a move on the inside, and just as Jin moved in to defend, Leo passed him on the outside at a higher speed.

As they reached the second turn which was not very far, Jin drove in close and his right front wheel made contact with Leo's left rear wheel.

The car turned, but Leo was quick, his reflexes were still good enough and he counter steered to keep the car inside the track lines and drift over the curb for a few tens of meters, and he fell to P3 again.

Leo was seething with rage and he said, "Arrgghhhhhh, fucking piggg!!"

The moment he got control of the steering he dashed ahead at full speed, his wheels had lost quite a bit but still enough for him to do a dozen more laps.

...

The crowd gasped and Tom Jones in the commentary said, "My word, that was a shameful act by Jin. He should be given a penalty for that. It almost looked deliberate to me. What do you think Mickey?"

Mikhail Hakanin nodded and said, "Indeed, that was definitely deliberate, he had enough space to turn early but he moved in to make contact with Leo. That could have been rather dangerous."

...

The people watching the race from their homes were also discussing this incident, while the fans of Henesi racing supported Jin, calling him competitive, the fans of Cardinal Racing denounced the act as a sin of racing.

However, Leo was not listening to any of this, he was simply charging through. His performance had changed gears once again. And, after another lap, he caught up to Jin again. This time he did the opposite of the last time. Jin thought he was feigning the move on the inside, but this time Leo stomped on the accelerator and dashed through the gap.

His car was superior to Henesi racing's, and Jin followed up. Leo sensed this with his danger perception, last time he was not expecting this from Jin and since his position on the track was on the outside, and he wasn't unable to dodge.

However, this time, he was on the inside, and Jin was trying to turn in a bit too much and aim for his rear right tire. Leo stomped the accelerator, and the car responded with a short dash ahead. Jin didn't expect this and he was momentarily stunned. That moment of daze was enough for his car to end in the barriers with a bang.

The crowd gasped, because the next moment, the car caught fire. Leo wanted to rush away, but he moved his own car onto the side of the straight and quickly got out of the monocoque before dashing back. The people were shocked to see this, but it was real.