Chapter 80 - 12: "Skipping Grades

Chapter 80: Chapter 12: "Skipping Grades

Montezemolo took a deep drag of his cigarette and tossed the report onto the desk. Amid the swirling smoke, his eyes looked somewhat weary.

The growing rift between the Rafa brand and his own group was becoming increasingly severe.

From a businessman’s perspective, he wanted to expand Rafa and increase its profitability. However, internal resistance was immense. Most of the old guard insisted on keeping Rafa a small, exclusive, and premium high-end brand, firmly opposing any expansion in production.

This conflict was a clash of ideologies, which was the hardest to resolve.

He flicked his cigarette, his index finger tapping incessantly against the filter.

After a long time, he stubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray. Picking up a fountain pen, he wrote the word "Fast-track" in his notebook.

Driven by his pursuit of commercial efficiency, he inevitably had to steer Rafa toward reform, but figuring out how to break the current deadlock was a major issue.

He wondered if placing this kid into the fray early and achieving dazzling enough results could rally another faction to counter the stubborn conservatives.

Perhaps such an arrangement would have some effect. At the very least, it was better than doing nothing. However, the final outcome would still depend on the situation in F3.

***

Amid the triumphant cheers, Wu Shi stepped down from the podium.

Since it wasn’t a championship, the award ceremony wasn’t particularly solemn. It was more of a formality, as this series was originally billed as a practice run anyway.

Returning to the locker room behind the pit garage, he saw Verstappen standing in the hallway with a serious expression.

"Got scolded?"

"Yeah, I didn’t perform too well at the very end," Verstappen replied lightly, his face expressionless.

"And then?"

"He told me to stop competing and go straight back to Holland."

"You’re definitely not going back."

"Of course." Verstappen nodded.

Wu Shi patted his shoulder. "I’m going to change first. Let’s get some American barbecue tonight."

"I was just thinking of trying that," Verstappen agreed, nodding.

Back in the locker room, Wu Shi had just unzipped his racing suit and was about to strip it off when the phone in his locker began to ring.

He picked up the phone and glanced at the screen. It was Louise.

"Hello, what’s up?"

"Can’t I call you if nothing’s up?" Louise’s delicate voice came through the receiver.

"Oh. Well, if there’s nothing, I’m hanging up."

"Stop, stop, stop! There is something! The race is over, right? How did you do?"

Hearing her urgent tone, Wu Shi chuckled. "I won them all, of course."

"Hehe. Then when are you coming back to Europe? I feel like you’ve been gone forever."

"Probably the end of next month."

"Great! I’ll take you on a trip then. I recently found a beautiful lake. It looks like a clear, emerald gemstone. When you float on a boat there, it feels like you’re suspended in mid-air..."

Wu Shi listened quietly as Louise rambled on for a long time before finally finishing.

"Yeah, sounds good. We’ll go once I get back."

"Hehe! I even saved up money this time, so I don’t have to ask Mamu for it anymore. She won’t stop us from traveling now!"

Louise was extremely excited and chattered for quite a while longer before hanging up.

Wu Shi put down his phone and finished peeling off his racing suit. After stripping off his undergarments, he went to the shower to wash away the sweat.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror.

Without realizing it, he had been living abroad for six years. His once-childish face had grown more adolescent, though it still retained a slight hint of baby fat.

His father had been promoted continuously. Word was that with just a couple more steps, he would be aiming for the position of Asia-Pacific President. However, this also meant he was currently at his busiest.

He had so many social engagements on a daily basis that he was almost never home, let alone able to travel all the way to Europe to visit Wu Shi.

However, every Lunar New Year, they would return to the countryside to pay respects to their ancestors, allowing him a long-awaited taste of the atmosphere back in Hua Country.

SPLASH!

The sound of running water drowned out his thoughts. Time continued to surge forward relentlessly.

The schedule for the Florida Winter Series was incredibly tight. By February 3rd, they arrived at the Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter to hold three races: R4 to R6.

It featured the same practice sessions, qualifying rounds, and main races.

While Wu Shi maintained a steady performance, he couldn’t completely overshadow the brilliance of the others.

Antonio Focca still secured the second starting position in R4 with an outstanding lap time, ultimately finishing in third place. Latifi also managed to snatch a second-place finish in R5.

In R6, however, Wu Shi’s car engine experienced some issues. He opted to protect the engine and retired from the race, ultimately allowing Verstappen to claim the victory.

The next six races would all be held at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. However, they would use slightly different track layouts, creating distinct racing experiences.

The first layout was somewhat more challenging, but not necessarily harder than the tracks from the previous two stops. Therefore, the circuits in these final two stops were mostly designed to let the drivers practice handling F3 cars.

Wu Shi maintained his lead in the slightly tougher R7 to R9 races. However, in R10 through R12, a series of accidents on the track, combined with a layout that made overtaking extremely difficult, prevented him from achieving a clean sweep.

Nevertheless, across the entire series, Wu Shi had been dazzling enough.

He was so dazzling that when R12 concluded, he was swarmed not only by a large crowd of local reporters in America but also by numerous journalists who had rushed over from Europe. Among them were several local media outlets from Italy.

"Hi, Wu Shi! It’s a pleasure to interview you here. In the series that just concluded, you secured a total of nine victories. Had it not been for a few unforeseen incidents, you might have monopolized the entire series.

"We know that you were just as dominant during your karting days, seemingly operating on an entirely different level from your contemporaries. I’d like to ask: how is it that, despite being younger, you display far richer driving experience and technique?"

Wu Shi straightened his baseball cap, hesitating for a moment before replying, "Maybe it’s because I’ve been racing since I was in the womb? So even though I look younger than them, I’ve actually been racing for five or six more years."

The reporter burst into laughter and continued the interview. "Haha, what a humorous answer! We know that achieving such victories is unprecedented. Even though this series isn’t a championship, it has thoroughly showcased your absolute strength.

"From what we understand, there must be multiple F3 teams reaching out to you right now. What are your current plans?"

Faced with this question, Wu Shi glanced back. Sid nodded at him, signaling that the plan remained unchanged. Without beating around the bush, Wu Shi declared, "I plan to join the Van Amersfoort Racing Team and compete in this year’s Europe F3."

"Wow, that’s quite an unexpected development! With your current talent, you could easily go to a much better team," the reporter noted in genuine surprise.

"True, but this isn’t F1. The so-called ’better teams’ can’t really secure that much of an advantage with the cars themselves. Besides, if I were driving a superior car, I think I’d get pretty bored," Wu Shi replied.

"A very confident statement, though you certainly possess the strength to back it up. Now for my final question: As one of the Hua Country People, why don’t you participate in the Asia-Pacific F3 races?" the reporter asked.

"If I have time in November, I wouldn’t mind participating in the Macau Grand Prix," Wu Shi replied, sidestepping the obviously loaded question.

Following that, several other reporters took turns asking a few more questions.

Considering that he was at a crucial stage where he needed to build his reputation, Wu Shi didn’t refuse. He answered whatever questions he could.

By the very next day, his coverage was plastered all over the major sports and racing sections in Europe and America.