The sheer prestige of this top-tier Lawrence Award on Planet Blue, as Chief Technician Benda understood it, was comparable to the Oscars in the film industry. No, it was even harder to win than the Oscars, because the competition came from all sports across the entire planet – football, basketball, racing, tennis, badminton, and all other athletes.
Selecting award recipients from such a broad scope required no further explanation; one could tell how difficult this award was to win just from its description.
The award had many categories. The most prestigious were its main awards: Best Male Athlete and Best Female Athlete.
The rest were secondary awards, but even these were incredibly impressive. For example, World's Best Newcomer, Best Comeback Athlete, Breakthrough Award, and so on. Today, the award Lin Yan was most likely to contend for was the World's Best Newcomer.
"Is this information accurate?"
"It's pretty much confirmed. The Chinese journalists are working on it, and we should have news soon."
The beautiful reporter replied.
The award process began with nominations, which were handled by renowned journalists from around Planet Blue. After nominations were recommended for the shortlist, the final confirmation of who would be shortlisted was made through a grand list vote.
Hearing this, Chief Technician Benda nodded blankly.
"Both of those are bad news. So, what's the good news you mentioned?"
Chief Technician Benda continued. Indeed, the previous GP awards were manageable for them, but if Lin Yan were to truly win the Lawrence Award for Best Newcomer this year, it would be a significant disadvantage for them.
Historically, many world-champion caliber drivers had been nominated for the Lawrence Award, but very few had actually made it to the shortlist and won. To be precise, in this sport, only "Horse King" and Luo Xi had ever won, and not for the main awards, but for some secondary ones.
If Lin Yan were to win this award, regardless of the actual circumstances, it would at least appear that he had become the third legend.
Moreover, given the current situation, the chances seemed high. The judging criteria for the Lawrence Award could be described with a single word: prodigy, and Lin Yan fit this description perfectly.
Not to mention, having never participated...
"It's a dilemma! Oh well, we'll take it one step at a time."
Chief Technician Benda leaned back in his chair and sighed. From the perspective of an industry professional, he hoped that the kid from Ducati could go out and stand on the world stage. But from the team's perspective, he didn't want Lin Yan to win this year's world championship.
"Yes, that's true. The voting is still a ways off. If this kid ultimately wins the championship, perhaps we should support him."
The beautiful reporter sitting opposite him also smiled. Despite being on opposing sides, she was a small fan of Lin Yan.
After the beautiful reporter left, Chief Technician Benda continued to rest with his eyes closed, but his thoughts were now entirely different from before.
.......................................................................................
Lin Yan had many fans, and even more young female admirers. In three months, Lin Yan's influence had spread throughout most of Planet Blue's motorcycle racing scene. The next day at noon, looking at the sea of red number 27 flags waving in the spectator stands, Lin Yan was slightly taken aback. He stood at the entrance of the pit box, unmoving. He had only been in GP for a year, yet it felt like a return to his past life.
A rookie winning seven consecutive championships, Lin Yan touched his nose and told himself, "Awesome!" He then retreated back into the pit box to prepare for his warm-up.
There were qualifying sessions that afternoon.