Shun to booth!
Kanata's dropping like a lead balloon. What happened?
Katagiri Kanata seems to have lost second gear due to a technical issue.
You're kidding me.
It'd be one thing if Ogata was maintaining the car solo, but with Okuyama-san in their corner?
There's no way something so basic would get past him.
What the hell has happened to you, Kanata?
Miraculous Comeback
Beckenbauer in the 12 is in the lead.
And Sawatari in the 4 car is right on his tail.
A bit further back is Akaba in the 2 car.
Koki to booth. Any movement from the 86?
You're asking about the 86 again?
It's falling further and further back. Currently in seventh.
It's no good. There's no sense in waiting if he's not coming.
Change of plan. I'll drag this German jerk out of first place myself!
The 2 was expected to lose more and more ground, but it seems to be holding steady.
Akaba-kun's pride is on the line.
Especially since lesser drivers have outperformed him both this year and last.
This race is bound to be more intense for him than for most of the other drivers.
He's a pretty emotional guy.
I can't let them get any further ahead of me.
But if I wear out my tires too quickly, there's no point in keeping up.
The downside to this much horsepower is the harder I push, the faster I eat up my tires.
Better to keep my weapons hidden and still sharp for now.
You won't get away.
Is that Yanagida?
Makes sense. You always do well on twisty roads like these.
Not that I'll let you past.
The Huracan's wide frame makes it perfect for blocking on these peninsula roads.
He's braking hard with his left foot while cornering?
Is that to make up for a lack of torque in third gear?
He's pumping the brakes with his left foot and has the gas pedal pinned with his right.
He's trying to maintain his speed while increasing the boost from the turbines.
Turbo lag has more or less been eliminated these days.
But I guess this stuff comes in handy in the right conditions.
I've never even considered how to drive without second gear.
It's practically the default gear when it comes to street racing.
Watching him like this is mesmerizing. Almost makes me regret having to pass him.
From here in the tower overlooking the Manazuru Peninsula,
we can see Kibune Shrine quietly looming.
Records say Minamoto no Yoritomo prayed here while raising an army for the Genpei War.
And it would seem...
we have our own army of modern warriors aboard steel steeds, roaring past Kibune Shrine!
Okay, a question for Marie-chan now that she's done.
What's your biggest worry at the moment?
I'm worried about how I can't seem to stop gaining weight.
I keep getting bigger.
Ah, yeah. I can see why you'd be worried about that.
What's the plan? Exercise? Dieting?
Kanata...
I've tried both approaches, but it's so hard. I can never keep it up for long.
Why couldn't I just tell him I was grateful?
And I'm so bad at dieting.
Can I really keep avoiding him like this?
I bet it mostly has to do with stress, so...
I think I wouldn't be lonely if I had a boyfriend, and that'd help me lose weight.
Any takers out there?
That was Marie-chan, who's always got her eye out for a special guy.
But quick word of advice:
If you come sixth or lower in the Fall poll, you're off the team, so good luck.
No way!
I kind of like a rounder figure, though.
What's wrong with having more to love?
Here's the battle for seventh.
A pair of Toyotas come tearing around Aoi corner.
The course gradually climbs uphill from here to Route 138!
And pouring the pressure on the 86 with a sheet of paper between them is the 885 car!
Aw, we're so screwed!
This whole uphill section's gotta to be the worst part of the course for Kanata.
Thinking back, I may have made the wrong call.
If he had a paddle shifter, or we'd switched to a Supra,
the injury to Katagiri-kun's elbow wouldn't be so much of a handicap.
He would've likely been...
locked in battle with the 12 and the 4 in the top group.
Booth to Sena.
It's about time you passed the 86! Stop goofing around!
This is a real masterclass he's putting on here.
What I'm learning will be worth it.
This isn't a classroom. If you finish in this position, the boss'll tear you a new one.
I hear you.
I'll overtake him at the T-Point corner up ahead. Over.
I'm going on ahead, brother.
And the 885 car pulls off a sweet overtake on the 86!
Is that the conclusion to the much-anticipated "battle of the rookies"?
I'd say Katagiri Kanata is putting up a great fight.
His cornering while left-foot braking shows remarkable adaptability,
and more than a few times, he's shown an intention to pass any cars that pass him.
That resilience and refusal to give up really reminds me of his mentor, Fujiwara Takumi.
You and the tragic genius, Fujiwara Takumi, are still in contact, right, Akiyama-san?
I sure am. When he was in Japan at the end of last year, we went for a meal.
Do you mind if I talk about Fujiwara for a bit?
By all means. Please go ahead.
I'm sure there are many MFG fans who'd love to hear about him.
Fujiwara Takumi gets called the "Tragic Rallyist."
But I don't think about him in those terms.
I guess he was unlucky with the accident that stopped him from making his mark on the WRC.
But I don't think that's enough to pigeonhole him as a tragic figure.
I think real happiness doesn't come from results, but the process itself.
Fujiwara-kun often came across as enigmatic, and you never quite knew what he was thinking,
But deep down... I guess you'd call them beliefs? Well, you could tell he held them very strongly.
When you consider he moved to England at 20,
with no backing or funds to speak of, it's really impressive.
He barely spoke any English, for that matter.
Definitely sounds reckless.
But I think his passion and his resoluteness in his beliefs won over his English audience.
He's the kind of man who mesmerizes spectators when he's behind the wheel.
And the way he pressed on towards his dream without looking back...
He seemed happy to me.
Still, how can another person judge if someone's happy or not to begin with?
The race of life continues until the day you die. And in that final moment, before it ends,
as long as you can say, "Yeah, I was happy," I don't think anything else matters.
Fujiwara Takumi is an eternal challenger. Even now, I consider him my number one rival.
He's the man I envy. The one who makes me think, "I'm not losing to you, damn it!"
How was Fujiwara when you saw him?
Oh, naturally, he's doing well.
I'm digressing a bit, but he actually got married last year in England.
Really?
Well, that is some surprise good news!
Could you tell us about the lucky lady?
Is she blonde?
She's Japanese, actually.
She's another athlete from Saitama who supported him during his rehab.
She's a celeb in her own right and wowed everyone in Japan's women's golf tour.
Are you talking about—
Y'know, we should probably drop the subject.
He might get mad if I say any more.
That actually reminds me of something he told me last year.
He said one of his students was a particularly unique driver...
...and he wanted him to experience a year in MFG.
He specified just a single year?
That's right.
I'd actually been thinking...
that Katagiri Kanata has become a pillar of MFG in such a short time.
I believe that in the foreseeable future,
he'd be a source of endless excitement for the world's MFG fans, myself included.
Now back to the race. We pick up the battle for sixth on the Midnight Straight.
The Toyota GR Supra is showing the kind of pace to put it on an equal footing
with the 500 horsepower BMW M4!
The rookie, Moroboshi, is closing the gap on Yanagida in the 6!
And they're coming up to the Peninsula's toughest corner, Eau Rouge!
I've got you. You're just prey.
Passing around the outside? Who do you think you are?
He makes his move around the outside!
I'm just ripping off Katagiri Kanata. And while I haven't got it fully figured out...
He's doing it! He pulls in front of the 6 car!
Akiyama-san, it looks like one of the star rookies is showing us what he's made of!
Next on his list is the 3 car!
While the 86 flounders, Moroboshi Sena is determined to strut his stuff!
Even Katagiri Kanata pales in comparison this time!
Screw you. You don't know what you're talking about.
If Kanata wasn't injured, this guy wouldn't be a patch on him.
I mean, he set a course record on the third day of qualifying.
If he was in good shape and could lap like that again...
My partner's a sprinting prodigy, damn it!
And here we have the 86 and the 13.
It looks like the 86 has the edge!
Crazy.
It's hard to believe this kid's human.
It's fair to say that Eau Rouge is the least popular section with the drivers.
You come out of a tunnel at top speed
and are greeted by a sudden incline
that slopes down mid-corner.
With stock cars like this,
the lack of downforce can make them take off and lose control.
What do you suppose led to such a dangerous road design?
Well, that's an obvious one.
When the Manazuru Blue Line was built,
no one thought anyone'd be crazy enough to do over 200 kmph on it,
much less a whole group of wackos racing each other.
It's a very safe stretch of road at normal speeds.
And might I add, the view is fantastic.
Now our cameras focus on the first hairpin.
This is another point where momentum can be lost.
And sure enough, the 86 seems to be struggling again.
And Katagiri Kanata falls even further back!
It's unbelievable. Who could've possibly foreseen this is how it would shake out?
The super rookie is struggling desperately!
Did Kanata-kun expect this to happen?
If he did, it'd explain why he was acting differently this morning.
Say, dear.
Huh? Oh, she's gone already.
If he knew this would happen by this morning,
the cause must've been from the day before, maybe even earlier?
And I can't believe Ogata-kun wouldn't have tried to mitigate the issue in that case.
So maybe the problem's not with the car, but with Kanata-kun himself?
Is that why?
In saving Ren...
did something happen when he jumped in front of that train?
So you can't use second gear, huh?
Maybe if you had five liters of displacement like this baby,
you'd have enough torque in third to make up for losing second.
But with a 2-liter engine?
You're good as dead.
Dr. Takahashi, the patient has taken a turn for the worse.
Understood. I'll be right there.
MF Ghost.
The leaders are heading into the third lap,
moving from the inland portion to the peninsula.
So far, the 12 and the 4 have been rooted to their positions,
but Sawatari Koki won't let this end without trying something.
He's bound to be using the insight he gained in the Ashinoko defeat to overcome Beckenbauer.
Compared to the more orthodox Beckenbauer, Sawatari-kun has a few tricks up his sleeve.
You might even call him the joker in this pack.
I'm sure he's working on a way to turn this in his favor.
Now we turn our attention to the fight for fifth!
The 885 is chomping at Oishi's heels!
Fantastic. Another weirdo.
These rookies are too hard to predict. It makes dealing with them a pain.
As Kanata raced on, wracked with pain, something began to change within him.
Something that had been obscured after a year out from racing...
started to come into sharp focus.
His loss of motivation after his mother's death.
The weak side of him that turned inward, away from racing.
The fruitless downward spiral in pursuit of his identity.
A maze of doubt with no exit.
These circumstances that had cornered him mentally were stripped away, one by one,
until only two things remained.
The first: his deeply ingrained racing driver skills, learned at an impressionable age.
And the second?
Pure, unshackled competitive spirit.
Ironically, it was this bout of adversity that let Kanata Rivington
return to his peak as a driver.
But even as he ascended to a level he'd reached prior to his time away from racing,
his inability to use second gear remained a wall he couldn't easily overcome.
Whoa! The 885 car makes its move!
The right route in these three forks is thought to be quicker,
but he takes the left!
And going into Mitsuishi corner...
He caught up! They're side by side!
The 885 is pulling away!
What an intense overtake!
A rookie in his first race has bested the driver who came third in last season's rankings!
Akiyama-san, can you talk us through that overtake?
There are three forks on the peninsula, and the right route is usually better,
but that third one's a unique case.
While it's true the right route was used when the record was set in qualifying,
you can use the left route to draw alongside your foe,
providing you with a chance to overtake.
By dropping some lateral Gs and easing off a smidge,
by the time you hit Mitsuishi corner, you have an effective chance to go up the inside.
It was perfectly executed by Moroboshi-kun.
The fifth-placed group is now into the sea-level stretch of the course.
And the 3 car is gradually losing ground.
The 885's drone camera is closing in on the 1 car!
And if Moroboshi manages to pass him, it'll be huge news!
Another damn rookie.
Maybe teaching these reckless young chargers just how scary MFG can be is my job...
as a veteran driver.
He normally drives really aggressively,
but Aiba Shun in the 9 is weirdly subdued.
Him acting this calm is so out of character, it's creepy.
That's the way, Shun.
Pressuring the Yashi-Kita Gang in the peninsula section won't break their formation,
but it will eat your tires.
Your chance will come later on. Preserve your tires until then.
And keep a lid on it until I give the signal.
Roger.
Booth to Sakamoto-san.
Try to take it easy on these narrow peninsula roads.
The 86 is bound to lose speed at the T-point corner,
so do a cutback and pass him up the inside.
Got it.
It's gonna feel good moving up a spot.
The Godly Fifteen make their way along the peninsula,
and here on the third lap, they've reached the halfway point of the race.
It's still a little early for anyone to start their final charge,
despite some intense jockeying for position in the middle of the field.
The biggest moves of the race tend to happen near the end of the fourth lap.
Let's pay close attention to what the lead group does at that point.
Damn it. The 5 behind him is acting like it'll be an easy overtake.
I can see why. That car's got a 5.2-liter engine, giving him 620hp.
He has an easier time of it uphill.
Kanata's getting passed at the T-point corner again, huh?
That'll put him in tenth, despite starting in third.
At this rate, he could even end up in last place on the final lap.
He really could.
But despite that, Katagiri Kanata will grit his teeth and continue to race.
We know the truth. We may as well watch it play out to the end.
This might be the most meaningful last-place finish in MFG history.
And we need to see it through.
We have two cars competing for ninth place: the 86 and the 5.
They're weaving through narrow residential streets towards the T-point corner.
We're at the T-point corner. Let's do this.
He's got us. This sucks, Kanata.
He's off like a rocket!
Okuyama-san, what was that?!
The only possible explanation is he used second gear.
Ogata here.
What are you doing, dummy?! That was second gear, wasn't it?!
Kanata to Ogata-san.
Before I realized what was happening, my left hand shifted up into second.
Ogata-san. I'm not feeling the pain anymore.
I'm not following you, man. Explain yourself.
I can't.
I don't understand it, either. Over.
What is this?
A warm feeling of power is reaching over to me from the passenger seat.
And it's enveloped the whole of my left arm.
It's like the pain was never there.
Ogata-san. It's time for revenge.
Hold up. Don't do anything rash. Cool it.
Let's focus on maintaining your current position.
I'm begging you, Kanata. Don't mess your elbow up even more.
No.
All the cars that passed me...
I need to pass them again...
before this race ends.
Over.
Kanata.
I was running away from something really important.
I'll tell him. When this race is over, I'll let him know.
I haven't told Kanata that I'm one of the MFG Angels.
Next time, Turn 26: Fireball.