Car Racing without Money

Chapter 858: Chapter 352: Tactical Dimensionality Reduction Strike

"Fuck, why does it feel like Xiangbei’s rally talent is even more terrifying than F1?"

"The difficulty of adjusting the aerial posture and connecting into the curve is no less than scraping the guardrail at zero distance on the F1 Monte Carlo Circuit. You know, Chen Xiangbei at the start of the season didn’t have this capability, yet can now show top-level prowess in WRC just for fun."

"Is this the strength of Asia’s strongest driver?"

"Without a doubt, Car God Bei will no longer be an empty title!"

The exclamations resonated throughout the venue, even WRC fans from different camps couldn’t help but praise and marvel after witnessing Chen Xiangbei’s aerial control.

Strength has always been the universal rule in competitive sports, and Chen Xiangbei’s performance won over many on-site.

"Team, what’s Xiangbei’s speed now?"

Raikkonen’s voice came through the radio.

In the first three mini-timing segments, he hadn’t asked the team about Chen Xiangbei’s speed.

The reason is simple. As a fellow F1 driver, Raikkonen well knows that on asphalt pavement akin to a track, Chen Xiangbei couldn’t be that slow.

If he can’t even handle such a surface, then this young Chinese kid wouldn’t become the new king of the Monaco Circuit, let alone become a championship contender this year.

But once he enters the muddy terrain, the shortcomings of formula-style drivers are revealed.

Take Raikkonen himself, for example, his worst road environments are dirt and dust surfaces as rally drivers have the habit of creating clouds and "sweeping dirt," which formula drivers are just not used to.

As for snowy surfaces, that instead is Raikkonen’s forte, an innate talent of Finnish drivers.

"On the single SS4 section, Xiangbei is 0.33 seconds faster than you."

[What?]

Hearing this answer from the team, the usually expressionless "Ice Man" Raikkonen finally showed a surprised and shocked expression.

"Is it really that fast?"

Raikkonen asked uncertainly. He somewhat couldn’t believe the answer.

"Yes, Xiangbei is very fast, almost on par with Leb."

[On par with Leb?]

Hearing this reply, Raikkonen took a chilling breath.

You have to know that historically, Raikkonen only raced in rally for one year, returning to F1 in 2011 and joining the Lotus Team, known as the "Black Gold Divine Lotus."

The reason he returned to the F1 paddock was partly due to his still significant influence, coupled with the Lotus Team having Renault technical support, making its racing performance far superior to the "Green Lotus" within the paddock, and competitiveness naturally brings attraction.

Additionally, he simply wasn’t satisfied with his rally performance; his best WRC career outcome was a stage win, standing on the podium with the overall second in the event station.

For some rookie in their freshman year, such results would certainly be an excellent report. But for an F1 world champion, even a stage win isn’t enough; the goal can only be the WRC world championship!

Without a world championship, there’s no point in continuing, and Raikkonen also felt the terrifying dominance of "Road Overlord" Leb at his peak, with no short-term possibility of surpassing him.

Yet, Chen Xiangbei managed to be on par!

While everyone was discussing, the Fox RS car had already passed the SS4 section timing point, with Chen Xiangbei clocking in at a total time of 23:17.84, topping the leaderboard again and leading second place team Citroen Total’s Leb by 0.32 seconds.

In comparison to the previous three asphalt sections, Chen Xiangbei didn’t open a gap with Leb.

The issue is that not opening a gap was already somewhat shocking.

You must know that muddy dust surfaces are Leb’s strongest!

Chen Xiangbei, using his own shortcoming, matched Leb’s strength. If he could maintain and enter snowy surfaces without a dramatic speed drop, this young Chinese F1 driver might indeed become the first stage champion of the WRC Monte Carlo Night Race.

Due to Chen Xiangbei’s outstanding performance, the helicopter camera overhead that had been more or less locked on Leb, shifted to his Fox RS car.

Through the open broadcast big screen at the team camp and under the starry sky, one could see Chen Xiangbei’s precise drifting arcs, performing dance-like maneuvers on the knife’s edge at nearly 200 km/h, skimming along the cliffside road edges.

If only discussing robust control skills, likely no one on-site would raise many objections.

If an F1 driver doesn’t have control, then how can they stand at the pinnacle of the racing world’s pyramid?

The issue is that many team personnel on site found that Chen Xiangbei’s familiarity with the course reached an astonishing level, with each brake point, line through curves, jump, and obstacle dodging, so precise it didn’t seem like a first run for a newcomer.

This level of proficiency was definitely not something route notes could provide, and even with a divine-level native navigator by his side, they couldn’t supply overly detailed information under high-speed driving conditions.

Did Chen Xiangbei run the Monte Carlo Circuit?

This thought sprouted in many minds, yet seemed improbable.

While it’s not uncommon for professional drivers to secretly compete in underground races, especially the Japanese mostly being regulars on Capital High and Bayshore, but Chen Xiangbei is a Chinese driver, how could he have run the Monte Carlo Circuit in Monaco or France’s Alps?

Even if he did, such skill and performance would go viral in the European racing scene overnight in the internet age, with everyone speculating about a Chinese underground Car God emerging.