CHAPTER 70: RACE WEEKEND | SUNDAY | THE FINAL RACE

"From this track, the championship started, and on this track, the championship will come to its end, ladies and gentlemen. We are five minutes away from the final race of the championship, a championship that has borne the rise of a dominant driver, a powerful competitor, and a champion in his title defense, providing us with an exciting three-way battle that led to each of them being taken out of the race at least once," Süleyman began his commentary as the feed showed the drivers in their grid positions, with their coaches doing final preparations before the race.

"Let’s go through the things that we have managed to experience during this championship," he said before the feed changed, showing different replays of the previous races in the championship.

"For starters, we have Fatih Yıldırım, who has accomplished the largest number of overtakes in the season, completing over a hundred overtakes across both the heats and races, with in-race overtakes alone exceeding ninety. This number is a record in the history of the championship, with the closest runner-up in this record throughout the championship’s history not even reaching half of that," Süleyman said, his voice revealing his amazement at the stats achieved by the young driver in his first season.

"These abnormal stats are a result of him overtaking the entire grid in two races, with the second one featuring a back-and-forth battle between Selçuk on rain tires and Fatih on dry tires in the wet, where they exchanged positions more than ten times before they crashed, ending their races," Zakir added, explaining how such a large number of overtakes had been accomplished by Fatih.

"Another unbelievable stat now held by Fatih is that, across all the qualifying sessions, he took P1 in every single one, including yesterday’s qualifier. He has also won more than ninety percent of the qualifying heats if we include today’s heats..."

Süleyman and Zakir continued going through all the records set by the drivers during the season, with Fatih taking the majority of the positive records and Selçuk leading in penalties and crashes.

"On pole position, we have the usual pole holder, Fatih Yıldırım, and his gridmate Selçuk, who comes from a race-ending crash in the fourth round that ended his championship hopes. In P3, we have Huzeyfa, taking a place that is usually occupied by Jackson, who is now in P7 after receiving a five-place grid penalty for his role in the racing incident in the last race. In P4, we have Ayşe, who continues to find herself in the top five in the majority of the finals..."

"Huzeyfa still has a chance to win the championship if he finishes nine points ahead of Fatih or if Fatih doesn’t finish the race," Zakir said, taking over once Süleyman was done going through the top twenty in the final race grid. However, even as he said that, his tone made it clear how near-impossible it was going to be. "The same goes for Jackson, who has a chance of winning if a few things go well for him. But unfortunately, it’s going to be very difficult for them to do that, as Fatih rarely makes mistakes, even in wet conditions with slick tires. It’s to the level where I can say I’ve never seen or remember him making a mistake on a dry track. Now that I’m saying it, it’s something very unusual for someone in their first year of competitive karting, making me look forward to what he’s going to show us in the next two seasons in this category, or we might even see him being granted a higher license to race at the next level of karting."

"Though it’s unlikely for Fatih to make a mistake, racing is not a scripted play. No matter how small the possibility, it still exists. Until that checkered flag is raised and he wins the race, the chances for the runner-ups are still on the table for them to win. I’m also looking forward to seeing what he’s going to continue showing us, but at the same time, I feel sad that we won’t be able to see him on the track for a very long time until the next season," Süleyman said as the camera feed changed to the track, showing all the non-drivers moving to the sides as there was less than a minute remaining until the start.

"If even I’m feeling this much tension, I’m wondering how Fatih is feeling, knowing that with Selçuk on his side, the chances of the start being the most dangerous part of his race have increased," Zakir said, reminding everyone that although Selçuk’s chances of winning the championship were nonexistent, there was nothing stopping him from being aggressive if he wanted to win this race.

"Let’s hope that it doesn’t happen, and the final light is out as we start the final formation lap of the championship, with Fatih leading the pack, something he is very experienced at," Süleyman said as the feed focused on a two-shot between Fatih and Selçuk, both weaving left and right, trying to warm their tires.

......

Aron looked from the grandstand at his son in P7 and watched calmly as Fatih and Selçuk led the group across the track, the same track where he had once celebrated his son finishing in a podium position.

In his mind, the only chance for his son to win was for Selçuk to take out Fatih at the start. The rest was something his son could accomplish, as all he needed to do was overtake Huzeyfa and go on to win. When it came to overtaking, if it was anyone other than Fatih or Selçuk, that was something his son could do easily without any problems.

......

On Selçuk’s side, this time, instead of his father, who had attended all of his races during the championship, it was his mother who was present. She watched with worry on her face, knowing what her son had been put through by his father, but despite all of that, he still wanted to continue karting.

......

"And we have a green flag as all drivers push their focus to the maximum! The lights start coming on, and it’s lights out, and away we go! Fatih has a very good start, giving him an advantage over Selçuk as they head into the first corner, where they had a crash in the first race of the championship that sent Fatih to P40. But fortunately for Selçuk, this time Fatih has a clear advantage and has covered any opportunity for a dive bomb leading into the corner.

As they enter the straight, Selçuk neatly tucks behind him to slipstream, lowering his head for a mini DRS effect, gaining an additional one to three kph, allowing him to close the distance. He’s gaining, gaining, gaining, and HE MOVES TO THE SIDE TRYING TO FINISH AN OVERTAKE! IS HIS SPEED ADVANTAGE ENOUGH FOR HIM TO SUCCEED? NO! FATİH COVERS HIM PERFECTLY, LEADING INTO THE CORNER, FORCING SELÇUK TO BRAKE OR RISK TOUCHING THE TIRE WALLS. THIS TRACK HAS NO RUNOFF, THE MONACO OF TRACKS IN THIS CHAMPIONSHIP THAT DOESN’T FORGIVE ANY MISTAKES.

AS THEY COME OUT OF T2, SELÇUK ONCE AGAIN STAYS BEHIND, THIS TIME TAKING HIS TIME AS THEY GO THROUGH T3 AND ENTER ANOTHER SHORT STRAIGHT. HOWEVER, THIS TIME, ALL OF HIS AGGRESSIVENESS SEEMS TO HAVE DISAPPEARED AS HE IS NOW BIDDING HIS TIME, KNOWING THAT IT’S GOING TO BE DIFFICULT TO GAIN ENOUGH SPEED ADVANTAGE TO COMPLETE AN OVERTAKE IN SUCH A SHORT STRAIGHT.

As they enter the following straight, HE MOVES TO ATTEMPT ANOTHER OVERTAKE BUT HAS TO ONCE AGAIN BACK OFF AND COME OFF THE PEDAL OR RISK GOING FLYING AT THE HIGHEST POINT ON THE TRACK BEFORE THE FOLLOWING DROP IN ELEVATION. For the next few corners, he won’t have a chance for an overtake attempt as they are entering the narrowest section of the track. Fatih goes through T5’s hairpin, followed by the next hairpin, with Selçuk breathing down his neck, waiting for the perfect moment, which is in the next straight following T7.

Leveraging his better exit, Selçuk once again starts closing the distance between the two of them, benefiting from the slipstream that Fatih is trying to break. But Selçuk follows everywhere Fatih goes, intent on not giving away such an advantage. As they near the end of the straight, HE BRAKES LATE AND DIVE BOMBS! OOOOOOOOH, HE NEARLY COLLECTED FATİH! BUT IT SEEMS FATİH HAD EXPECTED HIM AND TOOK THE TURN VERY LATE AS SELÇUK WENT THROUGH, HIS TIRES LOCKING UP, ALLOWING FATİH TO RETAIN HIS POSITION.

With Selçuk having to correct for his mistake, Fatih now enters the next double hairpin corners with more than a two-second advantage in his hands, taking them with ease of mind. I’m sure his ears are already telling him the distance between him and Selçuk.

Going through the underpass, Fatih increases his advantage even further to a three-second gap, with only two corners left in the opening lap. He takes them without any mistakes before finding himself on the start-finish straight, starting his second lap as the crowd cheers him on for his perfect defense against Selçuk.

"Wow! This has been a magnificent opening lap that allowed us to see the abilities of these two drivers. We saw the Fatih we know, the super calm and capable driver under any conditions. But surprisingly, we’ve seen a glimpse of evolution from Selçuk, who has now stopped dive bombing everywhere and shows patience, starting to choose his battles. Although his attempt failed, it’s still a good direction for him to go.

It looks like evolution is inevitable if you try to avoid your previous mistakes, and all it took for him to consider that was a few crashes during the season, a fair price for the valuable lessons he learned through them. I hope he shows us this continuous improvement in the next season and throughout the rest of his career," Süleyman said, pausing between sentences to take a deep breath, having spent all his energy commentating on the action-packed first lap alone.