The goddess of the Bol d’Or did not smile upon us this year either.
After submitting the official retirement notice, Fujii stood inside the tent the staff call the “fuel room,” a place filled with the heavy smell of gasoline, reporting the retirement to Mr. Suzuki of F.C.C.
At that moment, Fujii somehow looked smaller than usual.
More than twenty hours had already passed since the start of the race, and his unshaven beard and disheveled hair told the story of just how brutal this race had been.
Then Fujii spoke quietly:
“Taking responsibility does not mean quitting.
It means winning the championship next year.”
That kind of conversation passed between the two men.
Fujii’s voice trembled in a way it rarely ever does, but his eyes were already fixed on next year’s Le Mans.