It was the catching up to Valerio that would be the greater challenge, as Valerio was a genuinely fast driver, even if his defensive skills were lacking, and Tor was sure that if he was told that someone was closing in on him, he’d push even harder, which would make it hard for Tor to gain on him.
Nonetheless, Tor was pleased when his engineer informed him over successive laps that he was gaining, even if only by the smallest of increments, on Valerio, whom he was starting to be able to see on the track ahead of him for longer and longer periods of time.
A glance toward his pit board as he surged down the main straight, however, made Tor’s heart sink.
On one hand, it displayed that he was 1.9 seconds behind Valerio, but on the other, it bore the instructions that he was to box next lap for new tires. Tor was sure his were in good enough shape to carry on past Valerio, where he could have a push lap before diving into the pits, but the team obviously had other ideas.
“Do I have to box this lap?” Tor asked. “Can’t I get past Valerio first?”
“Box this lap please,” his engineer replied. “Box this lap.”
Tor was annoyed, but he pushed as hard as he could in hopes that he might be able to undercut Valerio in accordance with team orders, and even force Valerio to pit in an effort to ward off his attempt, even though in the case of Valerio, passing on the track wasn’t often much more difficult than an undercut strategy — or an over-cut one, for that matter.
On the final straight before the sweeping curve that led into the pit lane, Tor felt his car vibrating massively, suggesting there was something wrong with one of the tires, but he didn’t dare let off the throttle, it wasn’t like he wasn’t close to the pit lane entrance.
“I have massive vibrations,” Tor reported.
“Copy, that’s why you’re boxing,” his engineer replied.
Tor rounded the curve when suddenly the rear end of his car snapped. He let off the throttle and fought for control, as well as to aim his car into the pit lane he was massively grateful to be so close to.
Once he was safely in the pit lane, Tor slowed down to a crawl, making his way toward the team’s pit box, where the mechanics and fresh tires were waiting for him. He saw in his rearview mirrors as he crawled along that it was his right rear tire which had blown, which made sense with the way his car had snapped.
Arriving in his pit box, Tor put his car in neutral while the jack men jacked him up and the other mechanics rapidly replaced all four of his tires before he was dropped down and allowed to drive out of the pit lane feeling a lot more balanced in his car.
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