IET RACING LEAGUE RULES
We began as the InternationalEndurance Team in the Spring of 2020 as a group of iRacing drivers from allover the world looking for a team to compete in the 2020 iRacing Le Mansspecial event. Several of our original members were brand-new to sim racing andeager for the opportunity to prove themselves. Since then, IET (as it iscommonly known) as fielded a team to most, if not all, iRacing specialendurance events. At our core, we aim to provide a fun, competitive environmentfor all levels of experience.
The IET Racing League is anextension of our enthusiasm for endurance racing of all kinds. Currently, ourleague races exclusively in iRacing. We intend to host leagues in othersimulators soon including rFactor 2, Assetto Corsa Competizione (ACC),Automobilista 2 (AMS2), F1 games, and Raceroom. League racing focuses primarilyon GTE, GT3, and GT4 cars. Occasionally we’ll mix it up a bit to different cartypes too. League racing is open to all levels of experience – we simply askdrivers to be respectful of one another, display good sportsmanship, andcapture opportunities to both teach and be taught.
HOW TOAPPLY
League racing is administeredprimarily through The Sim Grid (www.thesimgrid.com)and our Discord server. You will need active accounts with both services toparticipate. We require all league racers to be members of our Discord server.
Once you have accepted aninvitation to our Discord server, visit #role-assignment to unlock differentcategories of the server relevant to your interests. If you do not complete thequestions in #role-assignment, only uncategorized channels will be accessible.
CHAT CODE OF CONDUCT
Racism/Discrimination/Hate Speech
We are an inclusive sim racing community. Incidents of hate speech willnot be tolerated and will result in an immediate ban.
Politics and/or Religion
Unlike some communities, we're happy for you to discuss these, if it isin a civil manner.
Do not argue about incidents in public channels or harass thedrivers involved
Please refrain from calling out other drivers in public channels orDM’s. To report incidents, see the report incidents section below. You may DMstewards to discuss outcomes of incident reports if we all keep it friendly.
If you feel you are being harassed by another member of IET, pleasereport it through a direct message to any server administrator.
GENERAL RULES
Custom Liveries
We allow custom liveries in iRacing league races so long as they areuploaded through Trading Paints or iRacing’s livery editor. Please keep racingliveries civil – in other words, make sure you wouldn’t be embarrassedexplaining it to your significant other’s parents.
No chat during qualifying
Using chat in game or in the assigned Discord channel during qualifyingis prohibited regardless of its format. Please remember, you may be done withthe session but other may still be racing. Violation of this rule may result ina penalty warning from the stewards.
Assists
All assists are allowed in practices, qualifying, and races apart fromthe ideal driving line.
Car Damage / Repairs
Car damage and repair will be active in all practices, qualifying, andraces.
iRating / Safety Rating
League practice, qualifying, and racing sessions will not have anyimpact on a driver’s iRating or Safety Rating. Driver are expected to minimizecollisions with other drivers, track scenery, and/or deliberately interferewith an ongoing league session. Violation of this rule may subject a driver topenalty points, disqualification from league session, or ban from IET.
Scoring
IET league races will award championship points in a league race basedon finishing order with bonus points for pole position and fastest lap duringthe race. These points may be scaled based on the league season, event type,and/or length. Only finishing positions 1 through 10 will be awarded points ina race session. Bonus points will be available to any league driver regardlessof their finishing position so long as they remain logged into the race throughits conclusion.
PRACTICE
Free practice sessions will occasionally be available throughout theweek. Drivers are encouraged to practice the track and adjust their set-up inleague practice sessions or on their own. Drivers are welcome to socialize withother drivers in chat sessions during practice. A practice server will beavailable to drivers one hour prior to the start of qualifying for officialpre-race practice. No stewarding will take place during practice sessions,however drivers are expected to remain courteous of one another.
QUALIFYING
Qualifying is held immediately prior to race start and will set thestarting order for the race based on the single fastest lap time. Allqualifying sessions will be “open”, meaning all cars in an applicableclassification will enter qualifying laps at the same time in the same session.Each classification of car will be allowed 10 minutes to set a qualifying lapand must return to the pits at the end of their session. No car is permitted tostart a flying lap following the 10:00 minute mark. The next qualifying classof cars will be permitted to leave the pit only once the prior session has hitits 10:00 minute mark.
QualifyingScoring
Other thanbonus points for pole position, no points are awarded for qualifying sessions.
QualifyingPenalties
Qualifying sessions will be stewarded and appropriate points /penalties will be assessed against offending drivers.
QualifyingFlags
Blue Flags – when not on a flying lap, you must yield to any caron a flying lap. The standard penalty for failing to do so is a 5 secondpenalty which can be adjusted for severity.
Yellow Flags – cars still on their flying lap do not need toslow down or yield for yellow flags.
Hindering
You are not allowed to overtake or otherwise hinder cars ahead of youthat are on a valid lap. It is every driver’s responsibility to make sure asufficient gap exists between cars to avoid overtaking a car on a flying lap.If you are no longer on a valid flying lap (i.e. no official lap time will bereported through iRacing’s incident points) you are expected to yield to anycar on a valid flying lap. The standard penalty for hindering is 5 secondswhich can be adjuster for severity.
RACING
Use of Spotter
While not mandatory, IET suggests drivers use a spotter (live, CrewChief,or in game spotter) enable to prevent incidents.
Overlap
Overlap is defined by the front axle of the car behind being along therear axle of the car in front. This is not an exact scene, so there is leewayfor drivers and stewards to assess overlap.
Overtaking
In general, it is the responsibility of the car behind to choose a safepoint to attempt an overtake, and to do so without causing an incident. Oncethe car behind establishes overlap, it becomes the responsibility of bothdrivers to avoid an incident. While cornering, the driver behind must haveestablished overlap to the car in front at the turn-in point of the cornerbefore they should attempt an overtake. If there is no overlap at this pointthe leading driver has the right to their racing line and does not need to makespace for the attacking driver, any attempted overtake without overlap will beclassified as a divebomb. If you find you are about to divebomb another driveraim for the outside of the corner to avoid contact. Divebombs can result in awarning or a penalty at the discretion of the stewards. (Note that the turn-inpoint is not the start of the breaking zone; drivers can still out brake eachother on corner entry)
Defending on straights
The car in front can choose any line they like to drive if they areahead of the car behind. However, they are only allowed to change directiononce before the braking zone to defend and can only defend one side of theroad: either the inside, or the outside.
Squeezing
A car is permitted to squeeze another car to the side of the road if(1) they are at least half a car length ahead, or if (2) they are following thenatural racing line. Either way, they must leave more than a car’s width ofspace on the track for the other car. If neither (1) or (2) holds, you are notallowed to squeeze as this risk collision.
Incidents during race
If you are involved in an incident, please try to keep the racing lineclear to prevent further incidents. If you are facing the wrong direction afterincident and other cars are approaching, hold your brakes so you don’taccidentally roll into them. The goal is for you to be as predictable aspossible, so other drivers do not run into you. If you are off-track, you mustreturn to the track in a safe and predictable manner, and yield to cars thatare on the racing line. Unsafe reentry may result in a penalty at thediscretion of a stewards.
Racing Flags
Yellow flags - drivers must drive cautiously and are not allowedto overtake other cars: except if they are off-track, out of position, orinvolved in the incident. If a driver overtakes another driver under yellow flags,it is the leading driver's responsibility to return the position as soon as itis safe. If the driver does not return the position it will result in apenalty. Drivers are also not allowed to gain an advantage on a car in frontthat drives cautiously and must wait till after the next corner beforeattacking the car in front. If two cars are side by side during the incident,this rule does not apply.
White flags - it is the last lap of the race.
Blue flags - In a race, getting a blue flag means a car is aboutto lap you. When under blue flags, you are not allowed to defend from thelapping car when they make an overtaking attempt. This does not mean you haveto immediately slow down to let the lapping car through though, as it would inFormula 1 for example. Instead, it is up to the car behind to make a safemaneuver, and for the lapped car to make sure they do not defend. You shoulddrive predictably and hold your line to avoid an incident with the faster car. Itis still advised that cars being lapped make it easy for lapping cars to passthem, as this most often leads to the least amount of time lost for both cars.
Black and orange (meatball) flag: drivers are shown the blackand orange flag when they need to pit for repairs or turn on their headlights.If repairs are needed drivers may attempt to drive back to the pits they do sodrivers should activate their flashers (left and right turn signals) and dotheir best to stay out of the way and off the racing line for faster cars. Ifdrivers find they cannot drive back to the pits they can stop their car offtrack and teleport to the pits. Aside from the time incurred by iRacing to towthe car to the pits, no additional penalty is assessed for teleporting.
Unlapping
Drivers are allowed to unlap themselves from cars that are laps ahead.Please only do so if you are sure that you are faster than the car ahead andcan pull away from them. After you have unlapped yourself, remember you arestill not allowed to defend if there are blue flags.
Track Limits
iRacing will assess all warnings / penalties given for violating tracklimits. A drive through penalty will be assessed against any driver exceedingtrack limits every ten off track events. There is not a maximum number ofoff-track points during a race session. Drive through penalties must becompleted within 3 laps of being issued and cannot be cleared by stewards. iRacing’sidentified limits for each track will be used.
Overtaking and track limits
If an unfair advantage is gained from going off-track during anovertake (either as an attacker or defender), the position should be yielded tothe other car, except if the off-track was made to avoid an incident.
Avoiding incidents
Stewards will take risky overtakes, risky defending (see squeezing),and forcing 3 wide situations into consideration when issuing penalties.Meaning that if an incident happens to you as a result of your risky driving,stewards may not penalize other drivers for causing the incident as you will bepartially at fault.
Pitlane Etiquette
When leaving the pits drivers are not allowed to cross the white line.Once cleared of the white line drivers are free to race. During all sessionsother than the race drivers exiting the pits must do so in a manner that doesnot interfere with drivers currently running hot laps. During a race session,drivers leaving the pits have priority, therefore must be left space. Driversare not required to signal entering or leaving the pits (although it can behelpful at some circuits)
PENALTIES
Penalties are announced in the weekly incident report and remainsubject to appeals until the next race. Any in game retaliation will result ina disqualification or a one race ban. Time penalties will only be applied forthe race in which they are given, meaning if you retire after causing anincident the penalty will not carry over to the next race. When you cause anincident, we recommend returning the position. Stewards will take this intoaccount in assessing penalties. It is not always obvious who’s at fault in themiddle of the action: if unsure, continue racing and let the stewards handleit.
Assessable penalties include:
· Racing incident. None of the drivers involvedwere found at fault for the incident.
· No further action (NFA). The offending driverwas at fault, but they were the only one disadvantaged by the incident.
· Warning. When the offending driver was at fault,but there was not enough damage and/or position loss for a penalty.
· 5 second time penalty. For causing minor contactwhere an advantage is gained, and for causing a collision where the position isreturned.
· 15 second time penalty. For causing a collisionwith serious damage and/or position loss. This usually involves a spin.
· 30 second time penalty. This penalty will begiven for more severe incidents typically involving multiple cars.
· Disqualification. When a car is deliberatelycausing contact with other cars.
· Qualifying ban. We hand out this penalty at ourdiscretion, or when exceeding the maximum amount of license points (morebelow).
· Race ban. This penalty is also given at ourdiscretion, for example when a driver still causes incidents after being givena qualifying ban.
Lap 1incidents
For incidents in the first lap, the penalty is escalated by 1 step (5second penalty becomes 15 second penalty etc.) because incidents in the firstlap often have much more detrimental effects on race outcomes. Note that licensepoints remain unaffected.
Licensepoints
League drivers are provided a “license” valid only for that season ofleague racing. Points will be assessed against a driver’s license (“LP”) basedon assessed penalty points and warnings during the series.
· 1 point for each warning
· 2 points for each 5 second penalty
· 3 points for each 15 second penalty
· 4 points for each 30 second penalty
Extra penalties are imposed on drivers when they reach the followingnumber of penalty points:
· 8 points: qualifying ban for the next event
· 12 points: race ban for the next event, or a DSQfrom the final race.
· 16 points: race ban for the next event, or a DSQfrom the final race.
· 20 points: race ban for all remaining events inthe season, or a DSQ from the final race.
License point penalties ignore whether the driver returned position orwhether it is a first lap incident. For example, if a driver causes a smallincident on lap 1, rather than a 5 second penalty they get a 15 second penalty.However, they still only get the 2 LP penalty points based on the original 5second penalty.
Reportingincidents
Stewards use iRaceControl to monitor every incident of contact betweencars during a session. Since incidents can involve more than simply carcontact, drivers are encouraged to report all incidents. Incident report isintended to make league racing fair and help drivers improve by learning frommistakes. Apologies between drivers involved in an incident is encouraged!Stewards will go over all reports and provide an incident report. If a stewardwas involved in an incident, they will not be involved in the discussion. Areport of incidents occurring in a race will be posted by the stewards in#incident-report within 72 hours of the conclusion of the race.
Appealing
Drivers may appeal any stewarding decision if they feel the penaltyissued in the incident report is unfair. Any appeal of an assessed penalty mustbe submitted within 24 hours of the incident report posting. An appeal reportwill be posted in #incident -report prior to the start of the next scheduledleague race. An appeal may result in a lesser or harsher penalty thanoriginally levied.
