PWRband Technica

Sponsor Objectives:

Aotech Green Industries - Passed - +35,000 CR - +20 Respect
Utahime Records - Yukie did not participate

Garage House Tsuchigami - Passed - +7,500 CR - +15 Respect
Izumi Springs - Passed - +2,550 CR - +5 Respect
________________________
Total Earnings: 45,050 CR

Rewards for R1 of Kaido:

Eduardo Espanosa - 8th - 80,000 CR (-16,000 Driver Earnings)
Darek Carello - 10th - 60,000 CR (-12,000 Driver Earnings)

Sponsor Objectives:
Aotech Green Industries - PASSED - +21 Respect +35,000 CR
Utahime Records - Yukie DNS
Garage House Tsuchigami - PASSED - +15 Respect +13,500 CR
Izumi Performance Springs - PASSED - +5 Respect +2,750 CR
___________________________________________________________
Total: 163,250 CR

It's really funny how friendship works. As humans, our emotions are always changing, our desires are endless, and our actions are unpredictable. To get to know a person is simple, but it's nearly impossible to know exactly what they'll do next, what they're thinking of, the latter.

This season onwards, I tried to become better friends with Efrain, talk with him more, and it's quite interesting really. A person I shut out of my life for a while was actually generally nice to get to know. Of course, he has his antics and quirks, most I find really creepy and annoying, but it's possible to get past the bad and see how much of a nice guy he really is. Coming back to Los Angeles, we hung out a bit and went on some small adventures to pass the time to the next event. IMAS stopped at Long Beach this time around, so we didn't really have to move that much and had more time to relax than the other teams.

Probably my most favorite moment during the small lull of racing activity was when we went to a Mexican restaurant in the heart of East LA, super close to the race shop. Granted, I didn't like the food that much, and I didn't even have a poke at it really, but the conversation that the both of us had was intriguing. 

To really put in perspective how small the place was, there was a total of 6 whole parking spaces next to the place, with another parking lot separated by an alleyway, totaling to a whopping total of 10 parking spaces to fight for. It took a while to find someone pull out of a space, but it inevitably happened, and this is where the butt of the conversation began. 

Right when I got out of Efrain's rather lackluster Sentra, there was a kind of uneasy feeling that hit me. An odd feeling that slushed around my stomach and made me dizzy. I usually get this feeling when I sense food I probably won't like or even touch, and I'm a horrifically easy person to read just by body language, and he shot me a stare that signified a worry.

"Hey, you doing alright?..."

"Oh, oh yeah, I'm okay. I just feel a bit under the weather, that's all."

He gave it a second thought, then let out a small burst of air through his nose. He already knew.

Opening the door only made me feel uneasier. It kind of reeked of an unfamiliar smell, something that was really foreign. I didn't want to be rude or anything, but I felt like telling him that I didn't like what I was about to order, but I really wanted to make him feel more comfortable around me. Throughout the weeks, it's been evident that he's been avoiding me, and I hated that feeling. I feel so isolated when people try to avoid me, it is a terrible feeling. When you're known as the person that is always grumpy and uptight, it doesn't bode well for friendships. 

After we ordered our food (I tried ordering the lightest thing on the menu, but even then I wouldn't think I could eat it all), we sat down at a table, and I immediately started up the conversation with something that could've turned out to be super awkward, but I stuck to my plans.

"So... uhm... I've been thinking."

He raised his eyebrows as I posed the non-question, looking up from his soft drink and mouth sipping on the straw. I took it as a sign to go on.

"Y-you know how there's a ton of cute girls that are racing with us, right?"

He put down his drink. He was obviously interested in this question, a very prevalent topic in his mind.

"Yeah? What about them? Are you trying to say--"

"Uh-uhm, no... uh... I just wanna ask if there's anyone cute that you really like, like someone that you would date or go out with. Like, a genuine date."

He held up with head with his fist, and gave it a second to gloss over.

"There was this really cute girl like last season. I forgot her name, but she was blo--"

"Hannah?!"

"No, I mean she is cute, but it's not her."

I tried to restrain myself from interrupting him, but I felt like I had the answer to his question. Now I just looked like a fool and even a bit jealous, something that I really wanted to hide from him. You see, it's a case that I don't ultimately want to lead him on. It's a really stupid fear, but it's justified at the same time. I don't want to feel horrible having a sort of close relationship that I didn't like. I don't know if I would really like it or not, but I was too scared to figure out, since it could also ruin my career by even getting kicked out of the team for interacting with others poorly. 

"Sorry."

"Nah, it's fine... hmmm..."

He took yet another sip and tried to come up with a name for this mystery girl. All of a sudden he put his drink down and startled me.

"Hah! I got it! It was Julie, that was her. I remember now... yeah, she was French?... Canadian?... I don't know, but I think she's super cute. I don't know what happened to her, though, I don't see her around anymore."

"She got released from her old team. She's in Europe with another team now."

"Oh... that sucks. So we won't see her for a while."

"Don't think so... who else?"

"You keep putting me on the spot... haha... let me think..."

This moment was rather awkward. He stopped drinking his soda and began to look in different places trying to think, but I wasn't too sure whether he would say me or someone else. Something that gave away that was at least thinking about me was that he shot a few looks at me during his small eye-tour around the restaurant. Either that or he was trying to think of something to impress me.

"Don't really know, actually, aha..."

There was a sign of disappointment from his face, it put forth a somber mood that really unsettled me. There was an event that probably messed him up earlier that he had just remembered. Possibly an ex. He deterred it by taking a bite out of his first taco.

"Hey, I know this is kinda personal, but how come that sudden change of mood?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing. Nothing too important anyways."

"No, really. I want to know."

I attentively looked at him. I really did want to know why he got so moody in such a short time. He laid his head on his hand once again and pondered about something. 

"Well... I just recalled of someone that was pretty close to me. That's why I kind of thought of Julie a bit. She looked like her, blonde hair--well, more like a dirty blonde color. Probably dyed, but even so. Light skin, sameish figure as her."

Being genuinely interested in this, I got a bit closer to him, trying to show real attention to the things he was saying. 

"Yeah. Uhm, we met in high school, her name was Roxy, short for Roxanna, you know? She was a typical Mexican-American. She was... a bit... chubby."

I tried to stifle a laugh, I didn't want to offend him, but he noticed.

"No, it's alright to laugh. Heh, looking back, she was ugly. Well, I mean... not ugly, but ugly to me because of what she did. I mean, she probably isn't really that chubby, you know? Haha, just rigidly built?... I don't know how to describe it or anything... gah... anyways... Yeah, we met in the 9th grade, I don't know how it works for you over there. Super nice, in fact the only person that was nice to me. So we hit it off, had a few dates together, and that was it, we were together. The only person I knew that I could actually look forward too. She got me to keep doing stock car racing too."

This girl seemed really important to him, he had a shine in his eyes when he described her, they turned alive and deep. It's weird how talking about certain things, your appearance absolutely changes.

"So... what happened?..."

"Broke up. We had a huge argument when I said I would move away to race internationally, and she started crying, because I promised her that I would stay with her forever... plus things were going downhill really quick. She became super distant and all that bullshit. And when she did want me, it was to do errands for her. So I pulled the plug. It's a shame, we spent a ton of energy on our relationship in the past years that it feels so worthless and empty now. But it doesn't matter anymore, it's done."

Gah, I felt horrible, he seemed to be hurt talking about it.

"Oh... sorry..."

"No, it's fine. I needed to vent it out a bit."

His hands were on the table, and I felt obliged to do something about it...

I grabbed his hands.

"Look... I'm really sorry... I didn't mean to bring that back to you."

I never really held anyone's hands before,but I felt like I needed to do it to console him. He seemed extremely depressed about it.

"I'm sure you'll find someone better than her."

"Thanks..."

"Don't worry about it. It's all the way back there, it's not affecting you anymore. If you need anything..."

I hesitated a bit.

"...I'm here for you. Okay?"

I felt my grip tightening...

"Alright... but... that's really it." 

"Okay..."

I let go. I started to feel a bit warm all of a sudden.

"Haha, I don't think that was necessary, Ryoko, ahaha!"

"I-I was just trying to help..."

Due to Sunday's incident, Nissan has compensated us for their GT-R GTE PRO chassis. They have promised to provide safer GT-R GT3 chassis at no additional cost (OOC: Will still be using the GTR in GTE AM) and have came out and apologized to us for this unfortunate occurrence. They have also vowed to cover Ryoko Maruyama's hospital bills.

However, we will announce that after this season, we will not plan to return to the Nissan program. We have agreed with Porsche's terms for 2017, and we are excited for Porsche's return to the GTE PRO program after tedious development of the 991 RSR.

Ryoko-chan is doing fine at the moment. She is expected to return home to Nishinomiya at the end of the week after her treatment at the Long Beach Memorial Hospital.

#RM44

-Juan Rodriguez

After Sepang, Frida began to become much more focused, and is beginning a talent to devote all her focus on the road, instead of going over her ideas for a Kongou cosplay for the Mexanime Convention in the winter.

9 -> 10 Consistency

41 -> 42 Driver Level -> 100,000 CR

Ricardo Lionheart

3 pits slots have been opened after this phase.

2 more phases for the 2 Engineer slots. Ricardo Lionheart

Ryoko Maruyama has had a revelation over her hiatus, and after copiously studying many on-board footages of Haruna Tsuchigami's 1999 championship season of the JS-A GT Masters, her driving skill increased due learning new techniques.

Skill 24 -> 25

2,800,000 CR -> 3,035,000 CR Total: -235,000 CR

Ricardo Lionheart

Ryoko has been putting in simulator laps in moeFactor Pro, and has a better understanding of the circuits and the art of consistency. After a 3 hour stint by herself in the sim a day, she begins to become a bit more competent at being less erratic of her times.

Consistency 12 -> 13

Total cost: -235,000 CR

Ricardo Lionheart

Advanced Wing Analysis for the GT-R GT3 is complete.

Ricardo Lionheart

PWRBand has confirmed for the 2017 season that they will utilize cars from the Stuttgart-based sportscar manufacturer in both GTE PRO and GTE AM, completely dropping Nissan NISMO.

"It's in our best interest to go back to the team's roots, and be welcomed by opening arms by Porsche. Their new cars are something unbelievable to behold, and I can't wait to see the fruits of this program." Team principal Juan Rodrigues stated after announcing the switch to Porsche power at Suzuka Circuit.

The team will roll out the new GTE PRO chassis, rumored to be an evolution of the 991 RSR-HY currently driven by Yukie Koizumi in the IMAS United Endurance Championship, and a GTE AM chassis that has been yet to be known.