4. Race events

4.1 Practice

1. The practice sessions are team sessions.
2. Teams are encouraged to join at least one of the practice sessions with the correct team ID to check if their livery and car number work.
3. There are no live stewards present for the full duration of the practice sessions.
4. Incidents during practice sessions may be reported. In this case, iRacing replay files or screen recordings of the incident must be provided by the team.

4.2 Warm-up

1. The practice session prior to the race on race days is called warm-up.
2. All drivers must have completed sufficient practice prior to the start of warm-up and must be able to drive safely, and in an appropriate manner, to ensure safe and fair competition.
3. Drivers driving in an unsafe manner will be warned and, by discretion of the stewards, may not be allowed to race. During warm-up, Race Control’s expectations of pit lane and on track conduct are the same as during the race

Important

It is critical every entry connects with the correct team ID, car, and car number on race day. If a team fails to connect with the correct team ID and/or car number, a penalty may go as far as exclusion of the car.

The team ID is linked to the car livery, live timing, and TV graphics. When the team ID is incorrect, the car livery, live timing and TV graphics will not work for said car.

Any driver who joins the session with the incorrect entry, is not able to drive in the race. This is a limitation of the iRacing software, as it does not allow a driver to be registered to multiple entries in the same server.

4. Teams registering the entry with the wrong car number or team ID, will receive a penalty.
5. Teams registering the entry with the wrong car, will be disqualified from the event.

4.3 Pre-race briefing

1. On race day, between the warm-up and qualifying sessions, there will be a meeting including Race Control, team managers, and drivers.
2. In this meeting teams will have an opportunity for any final questions. Please do not wait until this meeting to ask a question if an earlier opportunity exists.
3. For the pre-race briefing, each team manager or a representative of each team manager must be in the #briefing-room channel on Discord, to make sure everyone is updated. Drivers are also allowed to join the meeting, but this is not mandatory.
4. No cars are allowed on the track during the pre-race briefing.

4.4 Qualifying

1. The qualifying session, that will determine the starting grid, is a multi car session divided in four parts:
   • One 15 minute session reserved for GT3 class.
   • One 15 minute session reserved for 992 class.
   • One 15 minute session reserved for GT4 class.
   • One 15 minute session reserved for TCR class.
2. The qualifying sessions are separated by a 5 minute break.
3. Cars that cross the finish line before their allotted time is over, are allowed to finish their lap.
4. It is forbidden to stop the car on track and tow back to the pits from outside of the pit lane in the qualifying session before the time has elapsed. When stopping in the pit lane, cars may not obstruct the fast lane.
5. Entries may swap drivers during the qualifying session.
6. During each qualifying session it is prohibited to be on track except during the qualifying session for a car’s own class. Race Control notifies the teams when their respective sessions are open through iRacing chat.
7. Cars which are not on a timed lap must be driven in a predictable manner and not obstruct cars who are on a timed lap.
8. When preparing for a timed lap, cars must be driven in a regular manner. Continuous dragging of brakes, burnouts (except when leaving the pit box), driving off track, or other unregular operation may be penalised at the discretion of the stewards.
9. Cars which do not set a time start at the back of their class. This will be handled by the iRacing software.
10. The qualifying procedure for the 6H NURBURGRING event will be published separately, closer to the event.

4.5 Gridding

1. The grid is sorted by class and then by time.
2. The gridding period gives teams the opportunity to grid their cars for the start of the formation lap.
3. At the discretion of the Race Director, the grid time may be adjusted.
4. Cars which (have to) start from pit lane shall not grid and shall wait for the “missed start” button to be shown on the launch screen. Cars who (have to) start from pit lane must wait for the last car on track to pass pit exit before exiting the pits. It is the responsibility of the team to give the signal to their driver to join the track.

4.6 Formation lap

1. During the formation lap drivers should follow the car in front, or the pace car, at a steady speed and distance.
2. Excessive weaving to warm up tyres is prohibited.
3. 992, GT4, and TCR class pole sitters are expected to maintain a gap of 2 seconds to the next class in front during the formation lap. This gap must be maintained when approaching the start of the race.
4. If deemed necessary, the Race Director will inform the 992, GT4 and TCR classes to switch sides on the grid.

4.7 Start

1. When the pace car has pulled away, the pole position car in each class will be responsible for maintaining a constant speed towards the starting area.
2. The class pole sitter starts the race by accelerating somewhere in the designated starting area.
3. Once the class leaders are in control of the field they must ensure that their actions do not cause issues of safety for those behind them. Any penalty for causing dangerous situations is at the discretion of the stewards.
4. A class is racing under green flag when the class pole sitter accelerates. From this point on, cars are allowed to overtake.

4.8 Pit Stops

1. Any driver intending to leave the track to enter the pit lane must make sure that it is safe to do so.
2. The beginning and end of the pit lane will be defined precisely on each circuit by two sets of cones, one at each end of the pit lane.
3. The pit lane speed limit is set by iRacing and enforcing of the speed limit is done automatically by iRacing.
4. Pit lane is divided into two areas:
   • “Fast lane”: this is the lane closest to the pit wall.
   • “Working area”: this is the part closest to the garages where the pit stop is performed.
5. When in pit lane, a driver should stay in the fast lane, until they arrive at their own pit stall.
6. Cars in the fast lane have priority over those leaving the working area.
7. When exiting pit lane drivers are required to follow the marked pit exit lane if present, and join the track in a safe manner after the pit exit merges with the main track. Unsafe pit exits are enforced by iRacing, however the stewards reserve the right to penalise incidents resulting from an unsafe pit exit.

4.9 Driving Time

1. The maximum driving time for each driver is 70.0% of the class leader's total laps.
2. The maximum number of laps is calculated as follows:
   • 0.7 * total laps class leader
   • The result is rounded up to the next whole number.
3. Any laps over the driver's maximum driving time are deducted from the entry's total laps. Below is an example on how the penalty is applied.
4. The entry will be classified as the last car on their lap.

Example

• Class leader completed 188 laps
• Driver 1 of entry A completed 133 laps
• Driver 2 of entry A completed 54 laps

70% of 188 = 132 laps (rounded up from 131.6).

Driver 1 completed 1 lap too many. Therefore, entry A gets a 1 lap post-race penalty.

4.10 Safety Car

1. Only under very special circumstances may the Safety Car be deployed. This is at discretion of the Race Director.
2. When the Safety Car is deployed, no overtaking is allowed, including when iRacing instructs the driver to do so. Exceptions to this rule are described in this article.
3. During the Safety Car period, cars who are behind the Safety Car but ahead of their class leader when the Safety Car is deployed will be allowed to pass the Safety Car.
4. When the Safety Car is deployed, the pit lane will be closed until Race Control notififes the teams that the pit lane is open. At any point during the Safety Car period, cars which require service may only be stationary in their pit box for 5 seconds.
5. Cars exiting pit lane are required to wait until all cars who are part of the line behind the Safety Car have passed pit exit.
6. Restarts are single file, with any lapped cars remaining in position.

4.11 Red flag

1. When the iRacing session crashes and the majority of the competitors and Race Control lose connection, a red flag will be called by Race Control through the communications channel which remain available to Race Control.
2. The full red flag procedure can be found in Appendix 1.
3. Driver changes are allowed during a red flag.

4.12 Finish of the race

1. The chequered flag will be given to the lead car the first time it crosses the line after the total race time has elapsed.
2. After each driver takes the chequered flag, they should exit their car in a manner that does not impede the other drivers. Drivers are encouraged to complete the cooldown lap and stop in their pit stall.
3. The winners of each class are allowed to do burnouts, donuts or other celebratory manoeuvres, as long as they do not impede other drivers.
4. At no point on the cooldown lap may drivers cause contact with others with the intention of retaliation. Any driver found doing so will be penalised in the final results, at the discretion of the stewards.

4.13 Classification

1. Only cars which completed a minimum of 60% of the laps of the class leader will be classified. This is also applicable for cars which have not taken the chequered flag.
2. Any possible post-race penalties may influence whether a car is classified or not.
3. The final classification will be published by class.

4.14 Race results

1. All results are provisional until they are confirmed by the organisation.