venerdì 28 dicembre 2018

RACING TO THE FUTURE - #6: MOTORSPORT IS DANGEROUS

Erjona was not the only girl in that championship. There was Sophia Flörsch too. Sophia had understood that her colleague wasn't so committed during races, so the day before the Assen race, while the two girls were alone, the German female driver tried to investigate... "What's happening?" Erjona was surprised by that question. "What do you mean?" "I see that you aren't concentrated enough on the championship as a good driver must do" "I haven't got that experience" "I'm not saying that you're a bad driver... I mean that in my opinion there is something which takes away your concentration" "And if it was "someone" instead of "something"?" "Can you be more clear?" Erjona breathed deeply before replying to Sophia. "Well... do you know Lando Norris?" "Yes, I know, the McLaren young driver... he's your tutor too, right?" Erjona's heart start to beat faster and faster. "I have a crush on him" she said. Sophia smiled. "You have to tell him about your feelings!" "And how?" "After the race of tomorrow you send him a video in which you tell him about your love!" "Sounds great!"
But during the race, the disaster struck. Erjona was driving as fast as she could... there were only five laps to go when suddenly her car crashed into an advertising panel and rolled upside down on the lawn for several times. Erjona, who had lost her senses, was trapped into the car. Some of the drivers, including Sophia, stopped in order to save her. She was taken to the hospital by helicopter. 
Erjona was in a deep coma. The doctors made her an X-ray scan: her back was hurt, she had to stay away from the racetracks until she had recovered. Her sisters were sitting on the bed looking at her. "Stay strong, little sister" "You'll be back to racing" Sophia knew well the situation, she went through something similar some months before in Macau.
Meanwhile Lando, Erjona's love interest, had learned about his friend's massive crash and rushed to the Netherlands to see her. When he arrived to the hospital, he entered the room and saw her sleeping. He had a crush on her too, so, like a prince in a fairytale, he kissed her lips, waking her up. "Where am I?" In a corner of the room she saw her racing suit and her helmet and despite the pain sentenced: "I wanna go racing" Iris put an hand on her shoulder: "Erja, I know how much you love racing, but your back is seriously hurt and you have to recover fully before heading back to the track" "Look, there is someone there!" Arlinda smiled. Erjona turned her head and saw her beloved Lando! "I love you" the young McLaren driver told her. "Me too" she replied. And finally they hugged and kissed. A new couple in motorsport was born.

mercoledì 19 dicembre 2018

RACING TO THE FUTURE - #5: "MRS. VANDOORNE, START YOUR ENGINE!"

The Memorial Weekend was coming. It's not only the weekend in which Americans remember their soldiers who lost their lives during wars, but also the Indianapolis 500 race weekend. Arlinda couldn't be happier to compete again in the most important race of the IndyCar season, not only for the race itself but also because her wedding with Stoffel Vandoorne would have taken place two days later. "Will you race as Arlinda Vandoorne?" an ESPN journalist asked her. "No, I'm still going with my neé surname" 
Everyone was surprised when she scored the pole position. "She's the first woman to start from the pole position in Indy!" Her heart was full of joy, and her hubby-to-be was proud of her. "I have the fastest fianceé in the world!" "I won't be late at our wedding, I promise" she laughed.
But the most amazing thing happened on Sunday. She overtook Will Power at the last corner and won the race! She was the first woman to win at Indy. On the podium she bursted into tears. Stoffel kissed her. "I love you" were his only words. "Me too" Then the couple announced live on ESPN their wedding. "We're getting married in Las Vegas in two days"
Their wedding party was fantastic. Food was delicious and music was fantastic. All the attendants enjoyed it. Vicky and Louis got married in Vegas too, and it was nice for them to visit again the "Sin City".
But among the attendants there was someone who was not so happy; instead, she was starting to realize some things. She was Giulia. She was starting to understand that her marriage to Alex Lynn had been a wrong choice. The love she thought to feel for Alex was not so real. It was more similar to a teenage crush than to a real husband-wife love. She had been dreaming about marrying a racing driver since her earliest childhood, and married Alex only for convenience, only to escape from her life in the deep province of Italy. And now Giulia was a prey of an huge dylemma.

mercoledì 5 dicembre 2018

RACING TO THE FUTURE - #4: A DIFFICULT BEGINNING

The new Formula European Masters, born from the ashes of the old FIA F3 which merged with the old GP3 Series, finally saw the light. The first race was scheduled to be at Hockenheim on May 5th. Erjona was the first girl of the championship and she was so excited to compete there.
"Lando, I'm so excited" Erjona told at the phone with her tutor driver as well as crush. "You will do your best, I'm sure of this" Lando didn't have any Formula One races that weekend, so he could have reached his friend in Germany.
Obviously Arlinda, Iris and their parents were excited too for her debut. Erjona wouldn't have been the only of the three "Daughters of the Wind" to race in Hockenheim that weekend: her sister Iris would have competed in the DTM race. After the farewell to the championship by Mercedes, Iris signed a contract with Audi.
Iris was not that lucky: there were only two laps until the end of the race and her engine blew up. She cried so much about it: "When as a child I used to dream to become like Alonso, I didn't mean this!" she told to journalists who interviewed her. Her boyfriend Nyck tried to make her smile: "At least you will lie on a chair on the track as Fernando did!" Iris did so, making the whole paddock laugh.
Seeing her sister hugging and kissing Nyck, Erjona was feeling a bit alone: she would have loved to do the same with Lando. She was head-over-heels for the young Jewish-English McLaren driver, who was in all her thoughts. The race was hard for her: Erjona was not used to such powerful cars! And she was distracted by her heartbeat for Lando, which made her spinning a tons of times. She ended the race in 14th position, but the male drivers who ended behind her were disappointed: "That unexperienced girl defeated us! It's impossible!"
Erjona was disappointed too, not only by the race, but also by the fact she had thought about Lando all the time. When she saw him, she threw herself into his arms and started crying. "It's only the beginning..." A little smile appeared on her face. "Yes, my time in motorsport is starting now"

sabato 1 dicembre 2018

2018 POST-SEASONAL FIA F2 TESTING, DAY 3: LET'S END WITH A SMILE!

Hello! For this year this will be my last post about activities on track. This was the last of the three days of post-seasonal testing in Yas Marina.
In the morning Louis completed 25 laps, ending 10th with a time of 1:52.402. But the best thing happened in the afternoon, in which our hero topped the classification with a time of 1:49.638 and 29 laps under his belt! I'm so proud of him, he couldn't end these three days in a better way...
Actually, my blogger duty for this year is officially over. Or better, it's over when it comes to races and testing. In December and January I will post some new chapters of Racing To The Future and some posts about me as a motorsport fan. Keep on following me!