Rulebook - Grand Tour Challenge · Take It Easy Racing

Grand Tour Challenge Rulebook

Welcome! Our league promotes fair, competitive, but not too serious racing. We are trying to avoid the huge number of rules, restrictions and litigation that accompany serious leagues, however, we do have a few. The main and all-encompassing one is: do as you would like others to do to you.

1. Eligible Drivers and Cars

1.1 The following GT3 class cars are participating in the championship:

Audi R8 LMS EVO II GT3
Ferrari 296 GT3
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
McLaren 720S GT3 EVO

The following cars are allowed in the GT3 Porsche Cup class:

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992)

The following cars are allowed in the GT4 class:

Aston Martin Vantage GT4
Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
McLaren 570S GT4
BMW M4 G82 GT4
Mercedes-AMG GT4

The following cars are allowed in the TCR class:

Audi RS 3 LMS TCR
Honda Civic Type R TCR
Hyundai Elantra N TCR
Hyundai Veloster N TCR

1.2 Any driver with a C Class SportCar license are allowed to participate in the race.

1.3 Drivers and Teams must register in Discord to gain points and compete in Championship. While a team is free to join a session without registering, they are still required to comply with all rules, requirements, and track-specific obligations posted on the League Discord in the Announcements for registered Members of the Series.

2. Liveries

2.1 Custom liveries via Trading Paints are very welcome, provided they are family-friendly and abide by iRacing’s livery guidelines. Drivers may be asked to change liveries which can be considered inappropriate, overtly political or offensive.

2.2 All drivers must ensure that their race number is clearly displayed on a number board on both sides of their car. Boards must be either a different colour to the panel around it or clearly outlined and the colour of the numbers must be a clear contrast to the board.

2.3 Since this is a team session, liveries should be uploaded to the teams section in Trading Paints.

3. Race Format

3.1 The Race Event follow the general scheme:

20:30 GMT — Practice (20 minutes)
20:50 GMT — Lone Qualy (10 minutes — 2 laps)
21:00 GMT — Race (1 hour 30 minutes)

3.2 Open setup without restrictions.

3.3 The session is a team session and there can be one or two drivers per team without prior declaration of drivers. If there are two drivers in a team, each driver must complete a fair share of laps according to iRacing Sporting Code.

3.4 Each car must make one mandatory 60 second pit stop. Pit stop time is measured from the moment the car come to the pit stall until the moment it move out of pit stall. A pit stop must be made after the first lap and before the last lap of the race.

3.5 Changes to these rules, as well as additional requirements, be it special instructions on following lines, etc., depending on the track, are published at least 1 day before the start of the race in the League Discord.

3.6 In the event of a major accident, track blocking, large number of cars involved, a safety car may be released, controlled by administrators and automatic software. The criteria for what is considered a major accident are not disclosed to prevent abuse.

3.7 Realistic dynamic weather.

4. Qualifying

4.1 The driver who qualified must start the race.

5. Rolling Start Procedure

5.1 All cars must keep their car in the appropriate line on their half of the track and at a maximum distance of 3 car-lengths while preparing to start. Any driver deemed to have their car outside of their line or be further than 3 car-lengths from the driver ahead without reasonable cause when the race begins may be penalised. Jump starts are prohibited.

5.2 Before the start, Race Control announces the Pre-Start Speed Mode via text chat, which corresponds to the speed in the pit lane. The leader and second place must slow down to this speed (the easiest way is to turn on the pit limiter), the rest of the cars must take this into account and also slow down, forming a pre-start pack. Next, Racing Control announces the start for each class separately via text chat. The race for the class begins immediately after the start is announced. GREEN FLAG DOES NOT control the start and should be ignored.

Note: do not consider the race start as a place to gain an advantage, there is still 1.5 hours of racing ahead. The ideal start should be safe for all participants: all cars in the class are lined up, packed, matched in speed and ready to start.

5.3 Once the pace car enters the pit lane, it is the each class polesitter’s responsibility to hold a steady speed until the start. Under no circumstances should the leader accelerate and then slow down causing a check-up except slowing down to Pre-Start Speed Mode.

5.4 Such a start is unusual and goes against the rules of Racing, be careful! There may be black flags for some drivers, these will be automatically cleared after the first lap.

5.5 Drivers opting to start from the pit lane must wait in the pit speed limiter zone and exit behind all other drivers in all classes (not including other drivers starting from the pitlane).

5.6 If the stewards determine there has been a clear manipulation or an attempt to gain an unfair advantage at the start, penalties will be applied.

6. Flag Rules

6.1 Yellow Flag: A yellow flag warns of danger, not a free position. Assess the situation and try not to make it worse. Be prepared for the car ahead to slow down rapidly. It’s better to lose 2-3 seconds here than to get caught in an avoidable wreck.

6.2 Blue Flag: Follow iRacing Sporting Code implementation:

A blue flag with a diagonal yellow stripe indicates faster cars are approaching. This flag is informational only.

In all cases, it is the responsibility of the faster car to safely overtake the slower car. It is the responsibility of the slower car to maintain a consistent line. It is strongly recommended that a slower car being lapped makes every reasonable effort to facilitate a safe pass.

Additionally, both lapping and lapped drivers share the responsibility to keep lapping manoeuvres safe. A lapped car may choose to move over and let the faster car through but should never do it on corner exit and should never make any unpredictable speed or line changes. However the lapped car is not obligated to yield until an overtaking opportunity arises. All parties must expect to lose time in this scenario.

6.3 Black Flag: If you are given a black flag by the iRacing system for any reason, you must serve the penalty mandated on the screen. Admins will not clear any black flag penalty.

7. Driving Standards

7.1 All drivers must respect the iRacing Sporting Code. The overarching rule is to fight fairly!

7.2 Drivers must give sufficient racing room to others at all times. On a straight, a car having any overlap at all must be given racing room.

7.3 The defending driver is only allowed to change line if there are no overlaps and the attacking driver is a significant distance away (draft break is acceptable). If the attacker has a chance to overtake on this straight then more than one line change or reaction to a driver behind will be considered blocking.

7.4 While overtaking into a corner, the front wheels of the attacking car must be level with the rear wheels of the defending car at the point of turn-in to earn the right to be given space.

7.5 While defending into a corner, a driver must give racing room to an attacker if their front wheels are level with the defender’s rear wheels.

7.6 Drivers must not move under braking, must hold a constant line and avoid cutting off another car’s trajectory.

7.7 Drivers must not leave the racing surface as defined by the white lines, to initiate, complete or defend against an overtaking manoeuvre and/or gain an advantage.

7.8 If, for any reason, cars do end up overlapping sufficiently at other points during a corner, racing room must be given to all parties.

7.9 Any manoeuvres judged by the stewards to have caused a driver ahead to take excessive evasive action to avoid contact may be penalised.

7.10 Flashing of headlights is permitted to inform the driver in front or in the slower class of the intention to overtake. Repeated, inappropriate, dissatisfied, thankful or any other use of flashing is prohibited.

7.11 Agreements between participants, “teaming” of different cars, mutual assistance, negotiations and agreements on actions in a race for mutual benefit are generally not prohibited as long as they do not affect the other participants. Conspiracy to slow down certain cars, obstruct, or otherwise interfere with participants are prohibited and are considered a serious unsportsmanship offense.

7.12 Bump drafting is not encouraged and protestable. Any incident due to an attempt to bump-draft or damage to the car in front is considered as gross violation by the driver who initiated the bump-draft.

8. Incidents

8.1 During an accident, pushing a stopped car out of the way in order to continue may be penalised.

8.2 Any driver found guilty of retaliation or malicious driving will receive an immediate and permanent ban from the community and all future events.

8.3 If a driver loses control for any reason, the brakes must be held until the car comes to a complete stop and then rejoin safely in line with rules 8.4 to 8.7. Failure to do so may result in a penalty if it results in contact or forcing a car to adjust their line and/or speed to avoid a collision.

8.4 Rejoining the track refers to any car not going at racing speed inside track limits. This can be but is not limited to cars recovering from spins or rejoining from being off track. This includes manoeuvring in a safe manner when off track.

8.5 Drivers returning to the track must remain off the racing line until back up to racing speed.

8.6 Drivers returning to the track must give way to other cars until back up to racing speed.

8.7 Rejoining drivers must not impede or make contact with other cars while rejoining the racing surface.

8.8 Drivers receiving a slowdown penalty must serve this off the racing line at the first safe opportunity. Drivers must not attempt to hold up any drivers until the penalty is served and they are back up to racing speed.

8.9 Upon receipt of 21 Inc points, a Black Flag and DT are assigned to the car. After this, the car receives DT every 9 Inc points.

9. Pit Lane and Pit Stop Procedures

9.1 On pit-entry, all drivers are expected to approach the pit lane speed limit line at a reasonable and predictable speed. It is the responsibility of the following driver not to collide with the car ahead.

9.2 Drivers must keep to the fast lane until they approach their pit box and rejoin the fast lane on the opposite side of the pitlane to the pit boxes as soon as possible on leaving. Driving through all the pit boxes is prohibited.

9.3 Drivers must be prepared to adjust speed to avoid collisions in the pitlane, this includes areas where the cars are ‘ghosting’. Any car merging from pit box to fast lane must fall in behind any cars already in the fast lane to avoid overlapping.

9.4 Drivers or their Crew Chiefs control the timing of the mandatory pit stop themselves. The car must stay in its pit stall. Stopping outside of it does not count. Race Control must notify the team that the requirements have been met, if they have been met, after Pit Service. However, due to technical peculiarities and the test mode of the software, this may not happen. All invalid pit stops will be manually reviewed by the Stewards.

9.5 The car can enter a closed pit lane if necessary. EOL penalty is automatically applied to it by iRacing.

9.6 Each team has 1 Fast Repair per race.

10. Safety Car Procedures

10.1 When FCY is thrown, cars that were involved in the incident or are currently approaching a dangerous place must slow down and carefully return to the peleton. After that all drivers must catch up with the Safety Car and the field as quickly as possible at almost race speed. Unreasonably slow driving may be penalised.

10.2 Pit Lane opens after the first full lap behind the Safety Car. After the second lap, the Safety Car leaves the track and the race resumes. In exceptional cases, the Yellow Flag may be extended by Race Control.

10.3 Restart pack is formed in Single Line. Classes and cars lap behind can be mixed in the peleton, there may be a variety of conflict situations; use respect and common sense to get out of them.

10.4 The leader must maintain a constant speed until the Green Flag appears. The race always restarts ONLY with the Green Flag! The leader do not control the restart of the race.

10.5 If the driver did not have time to catch up with the Safety Car before the Green Flag, then the race for him resumes from the moment of the Green Flag. However, he should not “rush” overtake cars that are moving at a reduced speed in the pack. These actions are considered as a jump start. The driver must match their speed to the car in front, which started behind the Safety Car, and only then begin the race them.

11. Protests and Penalties

11.1 After the race, the Stewards review the incidents live on Discord and anyone can join the discussion or as a spectator. The Stewards have no intention of punishing mistakes, only serious violations are identified in order to improve the level of driving in the League. If such an incident was missed, any participant can file a protest.

11.2 Protests for violations of the rules are accepted within 3 days after the race in the appropriate Discord server channel. Remember that people are not perfect and mistakes happen. Protests are necessary to prevent malicious unsportsmanlike violations and are considered subjectively by the Stewards.

11.3 Penalties may include, but not limited to:

Explanation and assistance in improving of a driver.
Warning.
Adding penalty time to race results.
Losing championship points.
Ban in next qualification and start from pit lane.
Disqualification for one/several races.
Ban in the League.

11.4 The protest can be filled out by any league member, regardless of whether they were involved in the incident or not.

11.5 All protests are anonymous: the original message is instantly deleted by the Bot Tieler and resent to the Stewards on behalf of the Bot. If the protest is satisfied, then the protested drivers are included in the discussion and they can appeal the decision within 3 days if they have grounds for this.

11.6 Penalties are determined at the discretion of the Stewards on a case-by-case basis. The list of violations and penalties will be supplemented in paragraph 11.7.

11.7 Penalties:

11.7.1 Unsportsmanlike behavior, including and not limited to retaliation on the track, insults in voice, text chat, private messages, and reckless driving will lead to a ban in the League and Discord.

11.7.2 Violation of mandatory pit stop time:

- less than 3 seconds: +10 seconds to the final time.
- more than 3 seconds: +1 minute to the final time.

12. Championship

12.1 Championship points are awarded to drivers who register themselves and their team in the League Discord. If the driver completed a race and registered after it, points will be added and recalculated automatically the next time the table is updated.

12.2 Points are awarded according to the following scale in class if the number of class participants in the race exceeds 10:

Grand Tour Challenge
1st : 100 points	2nd : 90 points	3rd : 84 points	4th : 67 points	5th : 64 points
6th : 60 points	7th : 57 points	8th : 54 points	9th : 50 points	10th: 47 points
11th: 43 points	12th: 40 points	13th: 37 points	14th: 34 points	15th: 30 point
16th: 27 points	17th: 24 points	18th: 21 points	19th: 18 points	20th: 15 points
21th: 12 points	22th: 10 points	23th: 7 points	24th: 5 points	25th: 2 points

12.3 If there are no 10 cars in a class, then points are awarded according to a special scheme. Race Control records the laps of all participants, conditions, weather (about 20 parameters in total) and compares them with the “reference” laps. This document does not reveal the full magic, but in the end each driver receives a “consistency” coefficient, which is used to calculate how many points he has earned. The number of points depends on the average pace, cleanliness of the driver’s driving, position during the race, pit stop speed, etc. The number of points received for each position can be from 0 to 100 and the driver in second place, for example, is not limited to 90 points, he may earn more (or less) depending only on his driving.
The system is experimental and will be improved as the season progresses. It aims to balance the competition between populated and unpopulated classes.

12.4 Additionally, each car is awarded 15 bonus points for clean driving if they finish with 5 Incs or less. From 6th Inc, the bonus is reduced in the ratio 1:1, respectively, if the car got 20 Incs, the bonus is not awarded.

12.5 All points, including all bonuses, are awarded only to cars that complete at least 80% of their Class Leader’s laps.

12.6 In a season 75% of all races are taken into account: 3 out of 4, 4 out of 6, 5 out of 7, 6 out of 8, and so on. If the car has competed in more races, then the top 75% of the results by points are counted towards Championship.

12.7 The Championship Points Table is published after the race and may change in the future due to the review of incidents, protests, appeals, etc.

12.8 Points are awarded per team. Considering that the points system is the same for all classes, there is only one overall winner. The championship is between all participants, regardless of class.

Rulebook — Grand Tour Challenge