Occasionally, a small hand would reach into Lin Yan's popcorn bucket. Although they had eaten lunch, the snacks in Jianghai City didn't quite suit their tastes.
So Lin Yan asked Li Wei to buy two more buckets of popcorn. However, due to the large number of people buying, they could only get one bucket for now, and the rest would have to be picked up later.
The race reached its fiftieth lap. The sky had completely cleared up, and it seemed unlikely to rain today, though tomorrow was another matter.
Neither Lin Yan nor Zhang Mingzhi wanted it to rain during the main race tomorrow.
Xiao Li was currently in twelfth place. Despite having been racing for over an hour, as an endurance racer, he still had plenty of stamina.
Endurance racers had abundant stamina, unlike the person on stage who was currently fighting with Su Mojin for popcorn...
Through a U-turn, Xiao Li passed smoothly. He had no thoughts about the eleven drivers ahead of him, as the next pit stop for tire changes was imminent.
Xiao Li was naturally a steady person. This personality wasn't ideal for a main driver in endurance races.
However, he was the perfect choice as Lin Yan's co-driver. With Lin Yan handling the lap times, he only needed to ensure he didn't drag the team down.
In the Kawasaki pit.
The person representing Kawasaki this time was their chief technician. If Lin Yan saw Kawasaki's chief technician here, he would be very surprised.
This was because Lin Yan remembered that it was the WSBK race period. WSBK was Kawasaki's home ground, and it was strange for their chief technician not to be there.
At this moment, the Kawasaki chief technician was staring at the big screen in the pit. The Suzuki and Kawasaki drivers, who had been leading the race so far, had not yet been separated.
The first position had been rotating between the two of them.
As a major factory team, Kawasaki was given a concrete pit box by the race organizers. However, the pit boxes at Jianghai International Circuit were simply too small.
Kawasaki's more than twenty staff members looked cramped inside.
The Kawasaki chief technician had an Asian face and was also a middle-aged man in his forties. It seemed that the position of chief technician was not held by anyone under forty.
He was currently standing with his back to a young man behind him and asked,
"Do you think we have a chance in the main race?"
Although the tone of his voice was normal, the meaning conveyed was clearly lacking confidence.
"Very difficult!"
The young man behind him replied, his tone somewhat somber.
The young man was the main driver participating in the endurance race this time, and also a master temporarily transferred from the WSBK competition by Kawasaki.
"Yes, not just difficult. None of these major factory teams are easy."
The Kawasaki chief technician continued.
"Besides these people, there is one more person you should pay close attention to. I think you know who it is."
The middle-aged man's tone became noticeably heavier.
Although some of the other teams were strong, they were within his expectations. However, the person he was about to mention was beyond his expectations.
"I know. I've watched videos of his races. He's very strong, so strong it's outrageous. But I'm curious why he's participating in an endurance race. It's unfair."
The young man's tone carried a hint of unwillingness.
Hearing the young man's words, the Kawasaki chief technician sighed.
"Why would he come to this race? Let's not talk about that. Aren't you here too? And that BMW driver just now wasn't originally an endurance racer, was he?"
The young man behind him was no simple figure; he was the third-place finisher in last year's WSBK world championship.
He was also a rising star, achieving third place in the world at the young age of 23, indicating his formidable strength.
Originally, the Kawasaki representative thought that bringing in a WSBK driver like this would be enough to secure the endurance race championship.
However, they hadn't expected that the drivers from the major teams this year would be more formidable than each other.
Especially the one officially announced by Ducati; he had even shown up, which was something he had never anticipated.
Although that person was also a rising star, with less experience than them, his strength was undeniable.
After all, that person could even handle Rea Sner.
What was this? It was clearly bullying.
Yet, they were helpless because that person was even younger than their drivers and had less experience in racing.
...
Back on the track, the second wave of pit stops had begun. There were thirty minutes left in the race, and sixty-two laps had already been completed.
The drivers' stamina was almost depleted, and some of the lapped drivers had been declared retired.
Only forty drivers remained on the track, striving for the final positions.
The top rankings were unlikely to change; it was now all about the positions behind them.
"I've been watching for almost two hours, and it's getting a bit boring."
"The key is that Lin Shen isn't here. If Lin Shen were here, I could watch even a twenty-four-hour endurance race without blinking until the end."
"If you weren't bragging, I'd believe you."
With no exciting overtakes in the latter half, the spectators were starting to experience aesthetic fatigue and began chatting amongst themselves.
"Brother Yan, I'm a bit bored too. Shall we go down? I want to go and see the pit lane."
Su Mojin whispered into Lin Yan's ear.
At this moment, Lin Yan had long stopped watching the race. He was childishly rummaging through the popcorn bucket, trying to find the biggest kernel.
He had been bored staying here for a long time, but he was only accompanying Su Mojin. Hearing Su Mojin's suggestion,
Lin Yan didn't hesitate. He grabbed Su Mojin and started walking downstairs.
Before leaving, Lin Yan also adjusted Su Mojin's mask, as there were cameras in the pit lane.
As they walked down the stairs, the surrounding spectators looked confused. Although it was a bit boring, the results were about to be announced, so why were these people leaving so soon?
However, under their gaze, Lin Yan and the others walked directly from the stands to the pit lane.
"Why did those people go to the pit lane?"
The people around them began to discuss.
"I guess they want to get autographs after the race."
"Who knows, but the security guards definitely won't let them in. My friend was... last time."
However, before the fan could finish speaking, he saw Lin Yan and the others walk straight into the pit lane. The security guards didn't even seem to stop them.
"This..."
The fan had to hold back the rest of his words.
Why can he do it and I can't?
The others around them also saw this and started to get ideas.
"It seems like we can go in now. Why don't we go in and take a look?"
"I think we can. No more talk, I'm going to try my luck first."
ps: Cough cough, harvesting as usual. If you have any opinions, leave them in the comments. I'll read them.