- Stewards Decisions may not be protested during the Event. If you have questions or wish to appeal a decision, you must wait until after publication of the post-race reviews and the results. Please adhere to the procedures: the team manager can submit a request ticket on Discord and either ask for further clarification on the decision or officially appeal it.
- Be aware that the corner numbering on our track map is different from the “usual” corner numbering. Please use our track map (attached to this post) for any corner number reference!
DRIVING TIMES
- Just like every other race this season, we will be enforcing a maximum consecutive driving time of 3 hours, after which you cannot return in the car for 1 hour.
- However, we will not be penalising you for going a maximum of 15 minutes over the maximum 3 hours to complete your stint. The only exception is when you started the stint at a time when it was clear you would not be able to complete it within that 3 hours +/- 15 minutes.
DRIVING STANDARDS
- Drivers must respect all other Drivers across all class categories. You are sharing the track with cars in different class cars and of different skill levels. All Drivers have the same rights within the boundaries as set out in the Sporting Regulations.
- It is highly recommended to use CrewChief along with an overlay or dashboard that shows relative time to the cars around you on track, for example: https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/relative-overlay.55635/
- Over the course of the past few races, we have seen comments along the lines of “nah, I don’t report incidents” or “I won’t report the incident” out of pity or lenience. While we understand you not wanting to snitch on other drivers or not wanting to force penalties on others, penalties serve a learning goal most of all. If you don’t report an incident and it isn’t penalised, you withhold an opportunity from the other driver(s) to learn from it and improve their race craft. Therefore, we implore all drivers and teams to report these incidents. You don’t do it to ensure someone gets a penalty, you do it to help them learn and get better!
TRACK LIMITS
- The track limits are enforced automatically by rFactor 2. A drivethrough penalty will be issued by the game when your car has accumulated 6 track cut points. Severe cuts that lead to more than this amount of points may lead to an immediate drivethrough or more severe penalty.
- The track limits are set to “Relaxed” for this track.
ORANGE ZONES
- Orange Zones are locations on the track where extra care should be taken when overtaking other cars. Overtaking Cars are required to avoid contact with other cars at all costs in an Orange Zone. This does not mean the overtaking car is always at fault. The slower car can still be at fault if they don’t provide enough space or make an unpredictable move that led to the contact.
- The following zones are marked Orange Zones
- The full track during lap 1
- The lack of specific Orange Zones does not mean you get a free pass through every corner. Along with the established definitions of “reckless”, the recklessness of overtaking attempts will be determined with the corner difficulty in mind, so caution is still required when you attempt an overtake through Indianapolis, the Porsche Curves and the Ford chicanes among other corners. What we want to try out for next season is to create less of a “this isn’t an orange zone, so divebomb it is” mentality and more of a “how reckless would this be?” mindset.
ADJUSTED QUALIFYING PROCEDURES
- After a vote with the Team Managers, it has been decided to change the qualifying format for Le Mans.
- The qualifying format will consist of a single 1-hour session on Friday night and a Top-5 (per class) Superpole session on Saturday morning. Main classes only, so there will not be a Pro/Am Superpole session.
- During the 1-hour Main Qualifying session, one (1) driver per car is allowed on the server. All cars (LMP and GTE) will be on track at the same time, so finding your gaps is as important as outright pace, if not even more so. It’s a big track, but catching a slow car in the wrong place will ruin your lap.
- It is NOT allowed to swap drivers during Main Qualifying. Remember it is also not allowed to use ESC outside of the pit lane during Qualifying.
- The top 5 in each class (so the entire LMP1 class as it stands) will proceed to Superpole Qualifying on Saturday morning. For all other cars, the classification of Main Qualifying (along with any penalties imposed by Race Control) will determine the grid order.
- Superpole Qualifying on Saturday morning will determine the grid order for the top 5 in each class. The format is a single-lap shootout with the classes divided this time. GTE will kick it off, then LMP2 and lastly LMP1. From the start of the session, each car has 5 minutes to get around and start their lap. When all cars of one group are either on their in-laps or already in their garages, the next group will be allowed on track for their out-laps (again, max 5 minutes). The entire Superpole session will take about 30 minutes.
- Cars that did not qualify for Superpole must join during Free Practice 3 (after Superpole Qualifying). During Free Practice 3, any irregularities from Superpole Qualifying will be investigated by the Stewards and the final grid order will be published.
PITLANE START ORDER
After the Spa 8 Hours, we have reviewed the pitlane start procedures and have come up with the following order in which the pitlane starters will be determined:
- Based on class. The faster the class, the higher up the order you start in the pit lane
- Based on Qualifying time (only valid laps, if you use ESC, that’s all laps invalidated)
- Based on championship standings
- Based on car number
STARTING PROCEDURES
- All cars start in a single starting group.
- For the first approximately two-thirds (2/3) of the formation lap, cars are required to drive in single-file formation, have the pit speed limiter engaged and are allowed to warm up the tyres and brakes, as long as they don’t endanger the cars around them. Drivers may briefly disengage the limiter to catch up to cars ahead.
- After exiting turn 17 (Maison Blanche), all cars will be instructed to line up double-file. The leader will line up on the left-hand side (racing line into T1). Weaving and braking is no longer allowed.
- When lined up, all cars must be within one (1) car length of the car in front and in a straight line behind the cars in front. Cars may not leave more than two (2) cars’ width between themselves and the car alongside, as illustrated at the end of this document.
END OF RACE PROCEDURES
- The winners in each class are required to park their cars on the start/finish line after completing their in-lap, in the following order:
[PIT WALL] GTE PRO/AM | GTE | LMP1 | LMP2 | LMP2 PRO/AM - All other cars must drive into the pit lane and park their cars in the fast lane. Do not Escape and leave the server until you’re given the “all clear” by the Race Director.
- The winners in all classes and all champions are encouraged to join the interview waiting room on Discord directly after parking the car on the main straight for a victory interview on the live broadcast. Other drivers may also join the interview waiting room, but the champions and then the race winners will get priority so there might not be enough time for your interview.
