Inside the Kawasaki pit, a staff member suddenly pointed at the live broadcast screen and said to his superior.
The Kawasaki manager was still talking to his two riders. Hearing his subordinate's voice, he frowned. Just as he was about to reprimand him for being so flustered, he subconsciously glanced at the screen. To his surprise, his eyebrows twitched violently.
How did they get here?
Following the manager's gaze, the two participating riders of the Kawasaki team also turned their heads to look at the big screen in the pit.
Sensing Ren Fei and Lin Yan in the Ducati pit on the screen, they were also startled. How did these two get here?
Lin Yan and Ren Fei were sitting in the pit's lounge chairs, their leather jackets unzipped. This scene was clearly captured by the cameraman who had just entered. The managers of the major pits stood up from their chairs, clearly shocked by their presence.
"Fuck, Ducati is cheating, this is cheating!"
In the Suzuki pit, the Suzuki manager stood in front of the screen, cursing angrily. Bringing GP riders to compete in a twenty-four-hour endurance race, what else could this be but cheating?
"Get out of the way, I'm going to protest to the race committee."
Saying that, the Suzuki manager prepared to turn and walk towards the race committee's office building outside the pit. However, before he could even step out, he was stopped by two quick-thinking staff members in the pit.
"Boss, you can't go. Although their approach is unethical, it's actually legitimate!"
"Hey, boss, calm down."
Although the other party had brought in GP riders to help, they hadn't broken any rules. The race committee had not restricted the identity of the participating riders. In other words, they were legally participating.
The manager, being the manager, had a stronger capacity to withstand pressure. After a while, he calmed down. As his subordinate had said, their actions were unethical but legitimate.
"Fuck!"
He cursed inwardly and then sat back down. The previously relaxed atmosphere in the Suzuki pit instantly became tense. With two GP riders joining the main race, the Suzuki riders became much more nervous.
The championship that was almost decided had now become uncertain.
Suzuki also had a factory team and GP riders, but it wasn't easy to invite them to participate in endurance races. If they could, they would have done so long ago. The key was that they couldn't get them.
It was true that the team and riders had an employer-employee relationship, but GP riders were only responsible for MotoGP events. They didn't care about other races. This meant that even if you were the boss, if you wanted them to participate in an endurance race, you had to ask them if they were willing, and you couldn't force them.
Most of these GP riders were unwilling to participate in endurance races. From a technical standpoint, a 24-hour endurance race was slightly lower than MotoGP. It was the kind of race where there was no benefit to participating, and losing would easily lead to criticism. They were too lazy to participate in such a low-cost-effectiveness competition.
This could be seen from when Zhang Mingzhi had discussed it with Lin Yan. If possible, he wouldn't have needed to find Lin Yan and could have directly spoken to Ren Fei.
"Damn, are those Lin Shen and Fei Ge?"
Some spectators also noticed Lin Yan and Ren Fei. After all, these two were quite famous figures in motorcycle racing. It was hard not to recognize them in any motorcycle racing event.
"Not only Lin Shen, but it seems to be Rins as well. Why is this guy with Lin Shen again?"
"Damn, I didn't come here for nothing. I came last time for the eight-hour endurance race, and I didn't expect to meet Lin Shen twice. My luck is amazing, my ancestors must have set off firecrackers!"
Seeing Lin Yan, the more than 10,000 Chinese spectators on the scene erupted in excitement. Suddenly, countless people felt that the more than one thousand tickets were a great deal.
"Good heavens, with this lineup, I think Ducati might be a dark horse in this year's endurance race."
"The lineup is indeed strong, but I'm still worried about the car. I'm afraid the car will hold back these two great gods."
Hao Dong's livestream had also started, with a full online audience. Many viewers in the comments were regretting not attending the endurance race in person, having missed the opportunity to watch Lin Shen compete live.
Compared to other pits, the Ducati pit was very orderly. Professional MotoGP factory team technicians tuning street bikes was a trivial matter.
After the staff filled the car's fuel tank with cooled fuel, the qualifying session officially began.
Lin Yan did not participate, and Ren Fei was more than capable of handling the qualifying session.
Ren Fei drew the eleventh position. Putting on his helmet and mounting his bike, Ren Fei lined up in eleventh position in the starting grid. As the car stopped, Ren Fei waved to the fans in the stands, and cheers erupted from all directions.
The surrounding riders cast their gazes towards Ren Fei, their intentions clear. These endurance race riders were quite worried about this GP brother, thinking that another one would be at the bottom this year.
At ten-thirty, the qualifying session began, and the rider in first place started.
One by one, the riders ahead started, and those behind became increasingly nervous. After the top ten started, five seconds later, Ren Fei leaned over the fuel tank of his bike, and all eyes were on him.
Under his helmet, Ren Fei's face showed no signs of nervousness. GP riders had excellent self-regulation of their mindset, and excessive nervousness could easily lead to mistakes at the start.
As the time arrived, with the referee's flag waving, Ren Fei's Ducati V4 shot out with a launch.
His hands gripping the handlebars, his feet off the ground, the front wheel lifted slightly, hovering one centimeter above the ground, right at the edge of the bike's anti-wheelie system.
A standard launch start, as standard as could be. After the car launched, Ren Fei quickly shifted to second gear, then to third. The straight before the Le Mans start was very short. By the time Ren Fei shifted to third gear, he was already at the entrance of the first corner.
Downshifting, braking, extending his leg, and leaning the bike, Ren Fei's handling of the corners was like that of a good student in his school days compared to Lin Yan. He wasn't particularly stunning among GP riders, but he was neat and standard, like completing a teacher's assignment.
There was nothing particularly stunning, but in GP, he was a rider who rarely made mistakes, which was Lin Yan's evaluation of him.
However, even so, it was a dimensional reduction attack in WSBK.
In the Suzuki pit, the Suzuki endurance race manager rubbed his temples. In just the first corner, he was already 0.25 seconds slower than the opponent.
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PS: Regarding the concept of dimensional reduction attack, there are real cases, not just talk. This year, a former MotoGP rider (nicknamed "Eighth Brother"), due to age, his competitiveness declined significantly. Last year, he transferred from GP to WSBK (he was thirty-eight this year). Previously, he was at the tail end in GP, but this year he won the world championship in WSBK...
...
Earlier, I saw someone in the comments section mentioning that the Isle of Man TT was a MotoGP round. Here's the answer:
Theoretically, it's incorrect, but not entirely wrong. It was a round of WGP, not MotoGP. However, WGP and MotoGP are theoretically the same thing, just with different names in different eras. Whether it's right or wrong depends on personal understanding.
(Check WGP for detailed information)
As for why it wasn't later, that's a question for the person ranked first in the Hall of Fame.
If you're interested, comment, and I'll talk more about it when I have time.