Some in the audience noticed Daniel was no longer actively attacking.
"What's up with this guy, is he scared?" an uncle in a red t-shirt and hat watching the screen commented with a smile. The uncle was clearly a big fan of Lin Yan, with the number twenty-seven emblazoned on his clothes and hat.
These outfits weren't cheap, being merchandise of the racer.
"He shouldn't be, I think he might need to set a good lap time to stabilize his position before trying to compete again," a young man dressed similarly mused. He believed that even if it was a one-on-one, it should be after securing a good starting position.
"But it's been three laps. If he uses one lap for a time trial, then there's only one lap left for competition," the uncle continued.
"Wow, it seems neither side plans to make a move this lap! Our Lin Shen is still topping the leaderboards in qualifying. I wonder if our Daniel can surpass Lin Shen. This lap is about to end, let's wait and see." Hao Dong leaned into the camera at the very front of the audience, excitedly addressing the fans in the live stream.
Currently, Lin Yan was in first place in qualifying. As for second, it was no longer Rins, but Daniel. Third was Reisner. Yes, after Daniel entered the fray, Reisner also came out, and Rins, who was originally second, had been pushed down to fourth, behind Reisner.
"Three red sectors, let's see Daniel's final sector!"
"Lin Shen also has three red sectors!"
Both drivers achieved three red sectors in their lap. Daniel was clearly aiming to climb the rankings, while Lin Yan was focused on defending his position.
Seeing that both drivers seemed intent on competing for the best lap time, their respective fans stood up from their seats, cheering them on.
However, just as the audience was filled with tension, a very significant piece of news suddenly came from below.
"Are you sure?"
"It should be pretty accurate, this is news from the East Asia Meteorological Bureau."
In the Ducati pit, a shocking piece of news reached Viñales. Viñales's expression changed repeatedly as he frantically searched his memory, recalling whether Daniel was good at racing in the rain.
Just moments ago, according to new information released by the East Asia Meteorological Bureau, there was a high probability of rain tomorrow afternoon, and it was expected to be a torrential downpour.
Viñales was nervous, and Zhang Mingzhi was naturally also nervous.
Young Master, he knew, Lin Yan had mentioned to him that he wasn't good at racing in the rain. He had learned this during the previous eight-hour endurance race, but he hadn't witnessed it firsthand, as production bikes couldn't represent factory bikes.
This was a variable. Looking at the weather forecast in his hand, Viñales said to himself, Daniel wasn't skilled in the rain. Although there weren't many races in MotoGP that were held in the rain, there had been a few. In Viñales's memory, Daniel wasn't particularly adapted to rainy conditions, and his riding style might even make it more dangerous in the rain. He was hesitant to act, but what about Young Master...
He had no idea about the situation! Who knew how bad "not good" was for Young Master. What if he was a complete novice in the wet, wouldn't that be disastrous?
At the same time, in the Honda pit.
The chief engineer Honda, upon receiving this news, also had a drastic change in expression. He glanced at the sky; how could it rain on such a sunny day with temperatures in the twenties?
"Go, find all the videos of Lin Yan racing in the rain."
Silently cursing, Chief Engineer Honda instructed his subordinates. Hearing this, his subordinates paused, standing still.
"Huh? I haven't retired yet, what is the meaning of this?"
Chief Engineer Honda frowned, his gaze fixed on the staff member.
He hadn't retired yet, and his subordinates dared to act like this.
"No, Chief... we... we don't have any rain racing data for this driver, Lin Yan. He's never participated in a rain race." The staff member said hesitantly. Did the Chief Engineer forget? He thought to himself.
Upon hearing this, Chief Engineer Honda was stunned and immediately understood. He had indeed forgotten.
Lin Yan had another unique characteristic: he hadn't participated in Moto2 or Moto3, so his data was extremely scarce. The only data available was his Isle of Man TT championship and endurance races.
"I remember it rained one day during the endurance race. Find that data for me."
"Yes!"
The staff member turned to carry out the task.
After the staff member left, Chief Engineer Honda, who had previously relaxed, became solemn again. Racing in the rain, Lin Yan's strength was unpredictable!
Without data on Lin Yan's rain racing, his assessment of Lin Yan's strength instantly became an unknown variable. If his own riders were strong in the rain, it would be fine, but the problem was that both Reisner and Daniel were not good in the rain.
Damn it, I forgot someone... Suddenly, Chief Engineer Honda's expression changed in alarm. He had forgotten that Ducati had a rider who was good at racing in the rain...
The lap ended, and Lin Yan crossed the finish line first. The qualifying rankings were refreshed. The gap behind Lin Yan, who was in first place, changed, becoming slightly faster than before. Everyone was staring intently at the ranking table, wanting to see if it would continue to change.
Soon, in everyone's sight, the ranking table was refreshed again. The positions remained the same, but Daniel's personal best time had changed, lagging behind Lin Yan by a few microseconds.
Seeing this result, the audience in China erupted in cheers, but the cheers didn't last long.
"Look, Daniel is attacking again." A person in a red hat in the audience shouted, and instantly countless red-hatted fans turned their attention to the screen and the track below.
After crossing the finish line, on the final lap, it was the second corner again. Daniel braked late again. This time, Daniel changed his attack route, overtaking first and then using a slide to defend. Sliding could, to some extent, block some of the opponent's lines, but it required a certain level of skill from the rider.
Drifting with a motorcycle is called sliding.
"Look, it's sliding again. This Daniel seems to be very good at sliding."
"Hmph, our Lin Shen can also slide. What's the big deal? Our Lin Shen was playing around with slides at the Isle of Man."
"Yeah, Lin Shen's slides aren't bad either."
"......"
In the audience, the topic of sliding sparked a lively discussion among the fans. Daniel's sliding defense was indeed somewhat effective, blocking Lin Yan, but Lin Yan could also do it, so this method was applicable to both of them simultaneously. However, because Daniel didn't have electronic controls, the angle of his slides was more pronounced.
Seeing that Lin Yan could also slide, Daniel's mouth twitched under his helmet.