After two more laps, one of the test personnel said, "Chief Engineer Zhang, Ren... Ren Fei is falling behind." His voice trembled slightly.
The middle-aged man was already too shocked to speak. He had naturally seen this scene, but he still found it hard to believe. After all, Ren Fei was a current MotoGP rider and the only Chinese rider in MotoGP today. Although he only ranked in the middle tier in MotoGP, anyone who could enter MotoGP was definitely not a simple character. Yet, Ren Fei, as the main rider for the Ducati factory team, was struggling to keep up with Lin Yan ahead. This was an utterly unbelievable matter for the middle-aged man. In his original understanding, Lin Yan's skill was at most amateur level, as hobbies could not be compared to professional careers.
However, his shock was not over. At this moment, another test personnel said with a trembling voice, "Ch... Chief Engineer, Young Master Lin just set a lap time of 1 minute 51.611 seconds."
"1 minute 51.611 seconds, this lap time is quite… wait, what did you say? Say it again? 1 minute 51.611 seconds?" The middle-aged man hadn't realized anything at first. After murmuring it twice, he seemed to have thought of something, his eyes suddenly widened, and he looked at the test personnel who had just spoken with disbelief.
"Ch... Chief Engineer, Young Master Lin did indeed set a time of 1 minute 51.611 seconds, and this data broke the circuit record set by Lorenzo in 2019."
Upon hearing the test personnel's words, the middle-aged man stared intently at Lin Yan's figure on the screen. At this moment, he made a decision. Because the MotoGP Shanghai Grand Prix was about to begin, he had not planned to accompany Lin Yan. Originally, he had intended to send these two staff members to accompany him to the Isle of Man, but now he decided to lead the team himself.
It was worth noting that the record for this circuit was set by Lorenzo, another star rider for the Ducati factory team. 1 minute 51.616 seconds. Although this time was only 0.005 seconds slower than Lin Yan's, the middle-aged man clearly knew that Lorenzo was riding a factory bike at the time, while Lin Yan was riding a production model. Although Lorenzo was riding a 2019 factory bike and Lin Yan was riding a 2022 Ducati Superleggera V4, the middle-aged man knew deeply that even a 2019 factory bike was much stronger than Lin Yan's Superleggera V4. This was the gap between factory bikes and production bikes. In other words, if Lin Yan were also riding a factory bike, the gap between them would be far more than the current 0.005 seconds. It was terrifying.
At this moment, the middle-aged man's gaze towards Lin Yan had changed. His young master was probably the first person he had encountered in his many years in this industry who had shocked him so much. Lorenzo was another main rider for the Ducati factory team, besides Ren Fei, and he was even stronger than Ren Fei, having secured several race wins for the Ducati factory team last year. Although lap times could not fully represent skill, they could definitely serve as one of the reference standards for skill.
"Go tell Old Li to add one more spot in the test session held this afternoon," the middle-aged man instructed one of the test personnel, his gaze towards Lin Yan also changed. Perhaps, the young master was the only one who could possibly win them their first world championship to date. Of course, this was on the premise that the young master would go to the Isle of Man. Otherwise, if he had actively proposed for Lin Yan to participate in MotoGP, even if Lin Yan agreed, if something were to happen on the track, the Lin family would not let him off. However, participating in the Isle of Man changed the nature of things, as the safety level of MotoGP was still higher than that of the Isle of Man.
By the sixth lap, Ren Fei was already seven to eight meters behind. Under his helmet, Ren Fei's gaze was fixed on Lin Yan's figure ahead. He couldn't understand how this person in front of him could be so strong. He was certain that the person ahead was definitely not Lorenzo. Lorenzo did not have this capability. It was also impossible for him to pull away by such a large margin in just six laps. Only that person could achieve this. But that person couldn't possibly be here. So who was in front? Ren Fei was very confused. The "that person" he referred to was last year's MotoGP world champion, Marquez. Last year's world champion, Marquez, could be said to be the strongest rider in MotoGP today. He had already won two MotoGP world championships and was the main rider for the Honda factory team, his strength should not be underestimated. However, Marquez was a Honda rider, so he naturally couldn't be here.
Under his helmet, Ren Fei's face was already covered in sweat. He had never felt so strained. Every time Lin Yan took a corner, he would widen the gap between them slightly. After one lap, he would be more than a meter ahead.
Meanwhile, Lin Yan ahead, every time he passed a corner, his peripheral vision would sweep towards the rear, observing Ren Fei behind him. Even Lin Yan had to admit that the guy behind him did have some skill. The one who could keep up with him was likely a current MotoGP rider. However, his stamina still needed improvement. After only this short while, Lin Yan felt he was becoming somewhat exhausted. Indeed, this body was still lacking.
On the tenth lap, Lin Yan stopped. Based on his estimation, with his current physical condition, he could only barely endure 20 laps of racing. As expected, he needed to strengthen his training. In just ten laps, he had already identified parts of the bike that didn't match him. Now, he just needed to find someone to make specific adjustments for him.
Seeing Lin Yan stop, the middle-aged man hurried to meet him. At this moment, he looked at Lin Yan as if he were looking at a treasure. He thought, since Lin Yan could participate in the Isle of Man, he could naturally participate in MotoGP. If Lin Yan could participate in MotoGP, then he was sure that it was absolutely possible for him to reach the podium, and even with the cultivation of their factory team, winning the world championship was not impossible. However, he didn't know that Lin Yan was originally going to participate in MotoGP anyway.