The reason Rins was ahead of him was that Rins had practiced on this track for a longer time.
Rins had been living in China since joining the Ducati factory team.
However, a real race was different from simply setting lap times.
Lin Yan wanted him to take it seriously because Lin Yan had pulled away from him by a full 0.5 seconds.
This was almost impossible, considering Rins was only less than 0.1 seconds faster than him.
There were only three people in a row, and Ren Fei was behind Reisner on the second row.
Next to Ren Fei were a Yamaha rider and a Suzuki rider.
It was the first time in many years that two Ducatis had started in the first and second positions simultaneously.
Even with Gu Yueyan holding the umbrella, Lin Yan still felt hot, but he couldn't pull his leather suit down any further, or the chest protector would fall off.
With half an hour left before the race, Lin Yan and Zhang Mingzhi checked the vehicle again. The closer it got to this moment, the more cautious they had to be. Other factory team riders were doing the same.
He checked the racing car's instrument panel and found no issues.
All the data was accurate.
Ten minutes before the race, Lin Yan put on his earplugs and pulled up his leather suit.
The tire warmers were removed, and the grid girls and mechanics began to retreat. The atmosphere in the venue became tense.
After putting on his earplugs, Lin Yan also put on his helmet, stretched his arms, and grasped the handlebars again.
From the starting grid, it was evident that most of the satellite team riders were ranked towards the back. This was due to the bikes; although they were factory bikes, they were last year's models.
At this point, the safety car started its lap to inspect the track.
Before the main race, there would be a formation lap to warm up the tires.
Lin Yan was on the left side of the track, and the first corner was also a left turn, which gave him a significant advantage.
As the safety car returned behind the riders.
The red flag was waved, and thirty factory bikes sprinted from the starting line as the formation lap began.
During the formation lap, riders wouldn't go too fast, only to heat up the tires.
For the full slick tires used by factory bikes, the optimal working temperature was generally around 90 degrees Celsius. It was difficult to reach this temperature with just tire warmers, so the race organizers added a formation lap before the main race.
After the formation lap, the riders returned to their original positions, and then it was time for the main race.
At this moment, all the spectator stands gradually fell silent, and the chief mechanics of each factory team in the pit lane were staring at the screens.
Lin Guoxiong, who was having lunch during his break, also took out his phone and opened the official live stream.
"We can now see that the red flag in front has been withdrawn, and the green flag behind has started waving."
The commentator's magnetic voice came from the loudspeakers.
"Red lights on!"
The starting lights above the track lit up, and all the riders were ready to go, their right hands already gripping the throttle.
"Lights out and away we go!"
The moment the red lights went out, thirty factory bikes erupted with a deafening roar of engines.
Fortunately, all the race officials were wearing noise-canceling earplugs; otherwise, their ears would have been damaged by this sudden blast. The roar of the factory bike exhausts, which had not been silenced at all, was incredibly loud.
As the cars launched forward, Lin Yan immediately maneuvered his racing car to the left side of the track. Rins and Reisner made the same move.
It was clear that all three wanted to secure the inside line into turn one.
The three were very close together, with Rins's front wing almost brushing against Lin Yan's car.
The three cars accelerated violently through turn one.
Ultimately, Lin Yan, with the advantage of starting from pole position, managed to secure the inside line into turn one.
He successfully defended his position, but every car behind him was very close. Rins's front wheel was tightly pressed against Lin Yan's rear wheel.
Reisner was behind Rins, and behind Reisner was a KTM rider.
This KTM rider had an excellent start, moving directly from seventh to fourth place.
No wonder KTM sold so well; this rider was also very impressive.
At this moment, a KTM fan in the stands, seeing this, immediately shouted excitedly.
"KTM is the best in the world!"
KTM never believed in aerodynamics because they only believed that great power could create miracles!
Exiting turn two, Lin Yan tried his best to increase his lap time.
He knew that battling it out was not suitable for him at the moment. He had to use his pole position advantage to create as much distance as possible from the second-place rider and conserve energy.
The more he battled, the more energy he would expend.
As the cars started, the safety car followed behind because, on the first lap, all the cars were close together and not spread out, making accidents easy to happen.
At this moment, the cars on the track were bumper-to-bumper. They were all top riders, and it was impossible to create distance in a short period.
Their lines, braking points, and even their throttle application timing were almost identical.
Ren Fei, who was in sixth place, was closely following the fifth-place Suzuki rider, trying to find an opportunity to overtake.
At turn three, Reisner made an inside pass, trying to force his way past Rins.
However, Rins defended tightly and refused to yield the position. Reisner missed his opportunity as they had already entered the corner.
During the exit of the corner, Reisner had no chance against the horsepower advantage.
However, at turn four after turn three, Reisner directly leaned in at a 65-degree angle. With late braking and the Honda's superior cornering speed, he directly overtook Rins's GP22.
Rins was not to be outdone. While the GP22 was indeed inferior to the Honda in corners, it was not weak on the straights.
Although this track only had one long straight, which was from the exit of turn eight to before the entry of turn nine.
There were still quite a few short straights.
The distance between the two racing cars was already very close. At the exit of turn five, Rins overtook the Honda on the straight, reclaiming the position.
The battle between the two was a good thing for Lin Yan.
While Rins and Reisner were battling, consuming energy and tires, if the person in front adopted a defensive line, their lap times would drop, allowing him to build a larger lead.
Truly a 'good teammate.'
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ps: An extra chapter for the story's "Finally Dream Big"大佬.