Successfully avoiding Ruisina's counter-pressure, Lin Yan didn't let up and immediately switched styles to defense.
The race car whizzed past the inside edge of the track at the second corner. Lin Yan's knee scraped sparks off the ground, leaving Ruisina behind not even a sliver of space, defending tenaciously.
Ruisina's race car stayed close behind Lin Yan. This intense duel with Lin Yan quickly put him in race mode, his skills far superior to when he was training with Luns and the others.
It seemed the old saying "one performs better against stronger opponents" was indeed true.
The front wheels of his car were glued to Lin Yan's rear wheels.
The two "horsepower dogs" were stuck together, continuously shifting gears up and down. Ruisina and Lin Yan were almost in sync. When entering corners, they both extended their legs at the same time. This near-perfect synchronicity was rarely seen during training, giving it a real race feel.
Before the third corner, Lin Yan pulled his car from the outside of the track to the middle, preemptively occupying the overtaking zone to prevent Ruisina from passing him.
Another textbook defensive maneuver.
To overtake, one would surely go for the inside. Lin Yan's preemptive occupation of the inside line was equivalent to directly blocking Ruisina's overtaking path.
As for overtaking on the outside, it was almost impossible unless there was an absolute advantage in skill or the car.
Braking late into the corner, Ruisina's line was blocked. There wasn't much opportunity in this corner, but because Lin Yan entered the corner quite close to the inside, he had a slight outward trajectory when exiting, resulting in a slightly lower exit speed.
While a normal entry would be outside-inside-outside, Lin Yan opted for a middle-inside-outside.
Exiting the third corner, both cars violently accelerated.
Lin Yan's car was clearly a step slower than Ruisina's, a difference in exit speed.
In the short straight section connecting the third and fourth corners, Ruisina's car overtook him from the side.
Under his helmet, Ruisina couldn't help but exclaim, "It feels so good to be a horsepower dog!"
Previously, their team, Bantian, had analyzed the duels between Luns and Qionghai. Qionghai's skill was originally superior to Luns', and at the beginning of last season, Qionghai generally ranked higher than Luns.
But in the first two races of this season, Luns had almost completely dominated Qionghai.
And this dominance wasn't just in terms of raw skill. Yamaha's cars were known for their strength in corners, and at the start of the season, Qionghai had also out-cornered Luns several times.
But no matter how easily he overtook Luns in the corners, as soon as they reached the straight before the finish line.
With just one long straight, Luns could claw back all the advantage Qionghai had created during the lap.
This showed just how powerful the GP23 was this year.
Luns could ride through corners casually, letting others overtake him, knowing he could regain his position with just one long straight. Even when he was at Bantian, he felt a sense of envy.
Ruisina was now experiencing that same feeling. Braking before the fourth corner, Lin Yan was again left behind.
Entering the corner smoothly, Lin Yan had little recourse against the overtake on the straight.
At the fifth corner, Lin Yan made another move, but this time Ruisina had learned his lesson and anticipated Lin Yan's trajectory. Lin Yan's cornering pattern was quite predictable.
Top-tier duels involved not only technical skill but also psychological warfare.
Although his overtake was anticipated, Lin Yan didn't feel discouraged. Instead, he noticed that Ruisina's confidence in his car had improved slightly.
At the sixth corner, Lin Yan attacked again, this time with a very aggressive entry. Ruisina's defense was equally fierce, with both drivers leaning in at very low angles.
Ruisina successfully defended thanks to the car's advantage, then shifted position. At the seventh corner, Lin Yan attacked again, and the two red figures clashed once more.
This time, Lin Yan successfully overtook. However, it wasn't long before Ruisina retaliated at the eighth corner, his extremely high exit speed allowing him to instantly overtake Lin Yan.
The GP23's biggest upgrade was its "black technology" in corners: the adjustable suspension system. This was also a key area Ruisina had been practicing intensely in recent days.
When a driver can perfectly leverage a car's inherent advantages, their skill level is already quite high.
In the following corners, Lin Yan continuously attempted to attack. Initially, Ruisina could still cope, but as Lin Yan's lean angle became sufficiently low, his "external cheat" physique began to show.
It had been so long since Ruisina had seen Lin Yan's 68-degree lean angle that he had almost forgotten about it.
With an extremely low lean angle of sixty-eight degrees, Lin Yan regained his position at the eleventh corner and quickly prepared to pull away.
The roar of the red horsepower dog echoed throughout the entire track.
Ruisina followed closely behind, also pushing his car to its limits. However, once Lin Yan's cornering lean angle was low enough, all the car's advantages were nullified by the gap in skill between the drivers.
Ultimately, it was the person who truly determined the outcome.
In the subsequent corners, no matter how aggressively Ruisina pushed, how late he braked, he couldn't shake Lin Yan's position. Lin Yan, having entered his zone, was terrifyingly strong in the corners.
At the end of this lap, Lin Yan crossed the finish line smoothly, waved to Ruisina behind him, and then drove his car off the track.
After this test, Lin Yan felt that the duels had indeed improved Ruisina. However, he couldn't push too hard at once. Ruisina's physique wasn't particularly robust, and he didn't want him to crash and get injured.
If Ruisina knew what Lin Yan was thinking at that moment, he would likely be furious. What did he mean by "physique not particularly robust"? What kind of talk was that?
Lin Yan didn't intend to ride this car for too long. After just a few laps, he got off the track and returned to the pit to switch to the GP23.
Seeing Lin Yan switch to the GP23, Ruisina's heart tightened. "Good heavens, is he going to switch cars and torture me?"
However, this time he was wrong. Lin Yan's second time on the track was not to seek him out but to train alone.
This relieved Ruisina; at least he wasn't going to be continuously abused.
Mounted on the GP23, Lin Yan's lap times improved by another notch. He overtook cars continuously. For Lin Yan, daily training was about constantly pushing his own limits.
He continued practicing until 5 PM when it got dark, and then he came off the track. At this time, the tire grip decreased, and it no longer had a positive effect on his training.
Since there was no training benefit, Lin Yan saw no reason to continue.
After tidying up in the pit and changing his clothes, Lin Yan returned to the villa.
Standing at the villa entrance, before even opening the door, Lin Yan smelled a rich aroma of food. He figured his wife must have already prepared dinner.
He pushed open the door, changed his shoes, and found the meal surprisingly different today: hot pot. He hadn't had this in a long time.
"Why did you suddenly decide to make hot pot?"
While changing his shoes, Lin Yan asked Su Mojin, who was carrying dishes to the dining table.
"We can't go out, so we have to eat at home! Husband, hurry up, it's just finished cooking and smells so good."
Su Mojin untied her apron, brought two sets of bowls and chopsticks from the kitchen, and beckoned to Lin Yan. She had spent a long time preparing tonight's hot pot.
The hot pot broth was specially prepared by a professional chef. She didn't have the skill for preparing the base ingredients herself, but all the dishes were meticulously prepared by her and were sure to suit both her and Lin Yan's tastes.
Tender beef, lamb rolls, oysters, duck blood, boneless chicken feet, and various vegetables like broccoli, enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, tofu, and shrimp paste.
Over a dozen dishes, all sliced and arranged on plates, along with prepared dipping sauces.
The dishes were common hot pot items. Su Mojin didn't use any fancy ingredients. She found some things difficult to eat, and while expensive things were often prized for their rarity, it didn't mean they were always delicious. True traditional hot pot dishes were the most delicious.
Seeing the table full of food, Lin Yan couldn't help but swallow. He went to the changing room, put on pajamas, washed his hands, and quickly returned to the living room.
"Let me do it."
Seeing his young wife carefully lifting the lid, Lin Yan volunteered. His hands were calloused and not afraid of heat. The water had already boiled, and Lin Yan had returned at just the right time. He could smell the hot pot base as soon as he arrived.
He had to admit, the smell was good, though a bit pungent.