In [#149 Drive], the Delta Flyer undergoes an interesting test flight and later enters the Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally.

Paris and Kim are taking the new Delta Flyer for a test flight when a small alien ship pulls alongside them and its pilot, an attractive alien female called Irina, challenges them to a race. The new Delta Flyer has vectored exhaust ports, accelerated driver coils and new impulse thrusters.

the race between the Delta Flyer and Irina's ship

  
New impulse thrusters. The red-glowing vent ports rise up, one to port and starboard at the rear of the ship.
They provide greater acceleration than the Delta Flyer had previously.

As the two ships speed through an asteroid field, Irina's ship begins filling with nyocene gas. Paris and Kim beam her to the Delta Flyer and bring her and her disabled ship back to Voyager. As they make repairs to her ship Irina describes the Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally, a contest she is about to enter her ship in in. This prompts Paris and Kim to convince Janeway to let them enter the Delta Flyer too, and they also suggest reassigning fifteen crew members to adapt the Delta Flyer for the race. The racers are limited to two-man crews, and each ship must maintain sublight speeds, making it the ultimate test of ship design and piloting skills. The race has very specific guidelines, such as all ships being required to use enriched deuterium. Since the Delta Flyer is not equipped to meet that rule, Irina agrees to lend them a fuel converter.

Meanwhile, Torres becomes anxious that her romantic relationship with Paris has deteriorated and might be about to end.

When Janeway registers the Delta Flyer in the Rally, she learns from O'Zaal, the Rally co-ordinator, that the Rally is the first step towards sealing the new and fragile peace between four different species who have been at war for nearly a century. Voyager smooths a diplomatic path by hosting the pre-Rally social gathering.

Seven tells Torres that she has embraced some of Paris' interests and it has made him easier to work with. Taking Seven's comment as good advice, Torres convinces Kim to let her fly with Paris as co-pilot of the Delta Flyer. Paris is at first bewildered when Torres shows up in the Delta Flyer wearing a flight suit.

part of the Rally course, as illustrated on the main viewscreen of Voyager's astrometrics lab

O'Zaal addresses the race competitors from the bridge of Voyager, and Voyager fires a photon torpedo as the starting signal - the race begins! The Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally consists of three segments covering 2.3 billion kilometres, with obstacles ranging from dwarf star clusters to K-class anomalies. The Mobius Inversion covers the entire last third of the course, and consists of level-6 subspace distortions and gravimetric shears.

Paris, in racing uniform, pilots the Delta Flyer in the Rally

Torres, also wearing racing uniform, co-pilots the Delta Flyer in the Rally

The Voyager crew cheer on the Delta Flyer, with many watching from the messhall and following progress in the astrometrics lab. Torres reverses the Delta Flyer's deflector shield polarity to repel the shields of the other ships so they can pass them and they manage to achieve first place (pictured). But then suddenly O'Zaal calls a temporary halt, because Irina's control panel has malfunctioned and electrocuted her co-pilot. His injury puts him out of the race and it looks as if the Rally might be cancelled. But it is later determined to be intentional sabotage. Janeway persuades O'Zaal to decide to continue the Rally the next day. Kim offers to help Irina fix her ship and also fly as her new co-pilot, which she agrees to after hesitation. Paris and Torres notice that Kim and Irina seem to be forming a relationship, which causes Torres to wonder how good of a match she and Paris are.

When the Rally continues the next day, Torres is distracted by her thoughts and Paris can sense something is wrong, but the Delta Flyer manages to maintain its lead. Irina and Kim have successfully repaired Irina's ship and begin to catch up with the others almost immediately, keeping track of the Delta Flyer the whole time on their computer. When Paris finally asks Torres what is bothering her, they get into a heated discussion about their relationship. Paris is determined to work things out, although Torres sounds like she is ready to give up. Paris stops the Delta Flyer and tells her they are not going to move again until they work it out.

Meanwhile on Irina's ship, the co-pilot's control panel malfunctions again, almost electrocuting Kim, who realises that Irina sabotaged her own ship. When Irina seems strangely interested in the Delta Flyer's progress, Kim realises that she has sabotaged the Delta Flyer too. She confesses that she has rigged the Delta Flyer so that veridium isotopes will leak into the warp core, causing the fuel converter and hence the warp core to explode when it crosses the finish line - it would kill the spectators and officials in the area, ensuring an end to the new peace agreement.

As Paris and Torres begin to work out their problems, Kim manages to send them a message. He scans them with a modulating pulse that reads as Morse code, something he and Paris use in the Captain Proton holoprogram. This leads Paris to realise that the converter is about to cause a warp core breach. The computer did not warn them because the online sensors had been tampered with.

Monitor screen on the Delta Flyer - they are being scanned by Kim's and Irina's ship, by some kind of modulating pulse but there is something odd about the amplitude. Suddenly Paris recognises it as morse code - he and Kim use it in the Captain Proton holoprogram. It reads: "Fuel converter rigged. Eject."

It is too late to eject, so they pilot the Delta Flyer to a nearby nebula to eject the warp core there. En route Paris proposes to Torres! They eject the warp core inside a class-J nebula whose ionised gas contains the explosion safely. They lose the Rally of course, but have won out in their relationship.

the Delta Flyer, dead in space

After the Rally is over, Janeway lets them take the Delta Flyer out again, with the warp engines not yet restored, but that will not bother them as this time they are on a personal mission - their honeymoon.

Paris and Torres, just married

the Delta Flyer takes Paris and Torres on their honeymoon