2025 Zone Group Championship

Updates

February 25th – Scoring & Points section: Revision to the ZG Class Score information

Introduction

The Zone Group Championship (ZGC) returns for 2025.

Guiding Principles for the ZGC

All driver’s efforts contribute to their Zone Group points.
Fostering camaraderie within Zone Groups.
Fostering “positive” inter Zone Group competition.
Having fun!

Zone Groups

There are now four zone groups, not five, to better balance the numbers of active drivers. Drivers previously in Founders of Schnell Zones 2 and 4 are now in Hurricane Alley and the CZG respectively.

Group 1 – Zone 1 – Wildcats
Group 2 – Zones 2, 3, 12 – Hurricane Alley
Group 3 – Zones 4, 5, 10, 13 – CZG (Central Zone Group)
Group 4 – Zones 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14 – WWZ (Wild West Zone)

Participant Eligibility

Drivers who participate in the 2025 ZGC events must meet the following requirements:

Grid Pass is not a requirement to run the 2025 Zone Group Championship.
The driver is a current Porsche Club of America member in good standing or a PCA Test Drive program participant.
The driver is at least 18 years old.
The driver has a current iRacing account in their name that cannot be shared by an additional driver.
The driver is classed in Pro, Club, Sport, or Challenge.
The driver agrees to comply with the iRacing Terms of Use and EULA regarding custom-painted car skins.
The driver has a current PCA Sim Racing Discord account in their name.
The driver shall adhere to the following supporting documents: PCA Code of Ethics and Conduct, PCA Sim Racing Discord Rules & Guidelines, iRacing Terms of Use and EULA, iRacing Official Sporting Code, and iRacing Paint Guidelines.

Broadcasts

2025 ZGC races are not broadcast.
Drivers are encouraged to stream their race and add a link to their channel in the 2025 ZGC streaming channel.

Blue Flags

It is expected that cars being lapped give way.
It is incumbent on the overtaking car to make a clean pass.
iRacing shows a blue flag warning when the approaching car is 1.5 seconds behind.
Once the gap is less than 1.0 seconds, the car receiving the blue flag must let the other car(s) by within 3 corners.
Be predictable. i.e., don’t slow down quickly and don’t suddenly drive offline.
The overtaken car should facilitate a safe pass, including a “verbal point-by” on iRacing comms if practical.

Car Information

The Porsche 718 GT4 Clubsport will be used.
Starting fuel is limited to 70% to force a pit stop.
Open setups. (Share them with your zone teammates.)
One fast repair.
All drivers should use the 2025 ZGC decal template file. It is available in the “Custom Paint” section below.

Clean Driver Award

A winner in each Zone Group for the driver that manages to compete with the least number of incident points for 3 of the scheduled 4 races.
Only drivers with 3 race entries in 2025 ZGC are eligible.
If a driver disconnects from a race and does not take the checkered flag, that race is not included. Otherwise, a driver could run a lap or two each race and accomplish a clean driver result.

Custom Paint

We are required to comply with the iRacing Terms of Use and EULA, which include requirements for custom-painted car skins.
We will still use Trading Paints, but it is each driver’s responsibility to provide their custom-painted car skin with the requirements defined in the iRacing Terms of Use and EULA.
If a custom skin is found to not comply, it will be substituted.
Compliance information is included in the iRacing Terms of Use and EULA, and the list of approved iRacing sponsor logos is in the iRacing Paint Shop.
In plain English, this means you cannot use any manufacturer, product, company, logos, or graphics in your custom-painted car skin unless they are in the iRacing Paint Shop or you have written approval from the owner to do so.
The “test” to determine if an item is permissible: is it uniquely identifiable? If yes, don’t use it.
File downloads for the 2025 ZGC custom livery:

Use the PCA Sim Racing decal layer to replace the layer called “Car Decal” in the iRacing car Template. For help with the decal templates and painting your car, please reach out on the PCA Sim Racing Discord category for the ZGC.
2025-ZGC-Decal-Templates-psd-v1.0.zip

This pack contains tga decal files which can be used to add the 2025 ZGC decals to your livery if you are using Trading Paints Pro.
Please select the appropriate class decal tga file (class is included in the file name) located in the porsche718gt4 folder when uploading the decals to Trading Paints.
2025-ZGC-Decal-TGAs-v1.0.zip

The iRacing car paint template for the Cayman GT4 is available here.

Driver Conduct

PCA Sim Racing is dedicated to sportsmanship and camaraderie.
It is expected that each member will comply with the PCA Code of Ethics and Conduct, and treat other members in a respectful, fair, and courteous manner.
Demeaning, embarrassing, derogatory, bullying, retaliatory, or disrespectful language or actions are prohibited in any PCA Sim Racing session, on the Discord server, or in Discord direct messages.
PCA Sim Racing Steering Committee members have the authority, without prior notice or warning, to penalize and/or disqualify and remove a driver from a session if any of the above are observed.
The PCA Sim Racing Steering Committee has the authority to suspend or permanently remove a driver from any/all PCA Sim Racing activities, including the Discord server and driver classes/leagues.
You will be DQed from the race and prohibited from participating in the remainder of the 2025 ZGC if you intentionally wreck another car or purposefully attempt to cause mayhem.

Drop Race

There are no drop races for the 2025 Zone Group Championship.
Scoring is based on the contribution of all drivers running in each race. This means a driver can run in as many or few races as their schedule allows.

Establishing Position

A passing car must first establish position before the cars are considered alongside.
To establish position and be considered alongside, the trailing car’s front axle must be ahead of the rear axle of the leading car.
A car must establish a position before it can complete a pass.

Racing Room

One car width plus the width of a tire from the edge of the track.
Note that the interpretation of where the edge of the track is might include curbing, however, there is room for interpretation given some curbing is more “part of the track” than others.
Once there is an overlap between two cars it is both car’s responsibility to leave “racing room”. Overlap is where two cars are beside each other such that if either car moves in the direction of the other car they would make contact.
On straights or sections characterized by minimal curves that do not significantly affect the driver’s need to adjust speed or steering, once overlap has been achieved it is the responsibility of both cars to maintain their racing line or choose an alternate line such that contact is avoided.

Cleared

This is as it sounds. A car is considered clear when there is 0 overlap between cars.
That is, both cars could turn in either direction without causing contact.
At this point, there is no overlap and the cars can proceed as usual.
Note: The leading car after clearing another car must give adequate space before pulling back in front of the car that was just cleared. This is mostly relevant at or just before the braking zone. You must give the car that was cleared a reasonable time to react.

Event Format

There will be four race nights.
On each race night, there will be four concurrent separate races, one for each class Pro, Club, Sport, and Challenge.
Depending on participation, classes may be combined i.e. Pro/Club and/or Sport/Challenge.
45-minute open practice.
10-minute lone qualifying / 3 laps.
5-minute warm-up.
60-minute race.

Full Course Yellow (FCY)

There will be no Full Course Yellow flags in the 2025 ZGC.

Illegal Blocking

Drivers are allowed one defensive move before the braking zone, provided there is no overlap and that sufficient space or time exists for the chasing car to react.
Sudden last-second moves that could cause collisions, and leave little or no time for the trailing car to react, are not permitted.
Once a defensive move is made, no further moves are allowed until the next corner.
Slight adjustments back to the racing line are permitted as long as racing room is left.
A defensive move begins when the leading car starts moving toward one side of the track to fend off a pass and ends when the car stops moving in that direction.
If the driver moves in one direction, continues straight, and then starts moving again in either direction without leaving racing room, it counts as two moves and will be deemed illegal blocking.
A defensive move must be completed before the braking zone. Moving to defend while in the braking zone is not permitted.

Incident Race Review

There is no Incident Race Review (IRR) process for the 2025 ZGC.
Drivers involved in an incident are encouraged to review the replay, and then reach out to the other driver to politely share perspectives.
Otherwise, leave it on the track and move on.

Orange Zone

There is no Orange Zone for the 2025 ZGC.

Pace Lap

A short pace lap will be used if iRacing permits it on the event track.
Weaving around, hard braking, hard accelerating, and lagging back to get a “run” on the field is forbidden on the pace lap.

Some reminders:

On the formation lap and up until the green, please leave room for your next-door neighbor (half a car width will suffice).
Pole position should be ahead at the green light (but not necessarily before the start/finish line).
Pole should maintain pace car speed until green.
Stay in your line until you pass the start/finish line, but also before we go green do not leave more than a car’s length in front of you (bunch up), creating a bigger gap isn’t fair to those behind you.

Penalties

There is no live Race Control for the 2025 Zone Group Championship.
iRacing AI will issue any penalties.
When reaching 25x incident points, the driver will be disqualified automatically.
There are no intermediate drive-through penalties for incident points before the 25x disqualification.
All iRacing AI-applied penalties must be served.
Penalties issued by iRacing AI will not be reversed under any circumstances.

Penalty License & LPPs

There are no Penalty Licenses or LPPs for the 2025 ZGC.

Potential Technical Issues

Do not connect to a PCA Sim Racing event via a wireless connection.
Use only Ethernet-cabled connections to join PCA Sim Racing events.
Drivers with a poor internet connection may be removed from the race.
Connection issues can many times be resolved by rebooting the computer, or router, or reducing the home Internet connection load.
Drivers are welcome to rejoin the race after resolving their Internet problems.

Practice Sessions

Individual Zone Group practices are hosted/coordinated by each Zone Group.
They may be open or closed to other Zone Groups at a Zone Groups discretion.
Watch the Zone Group category on Discord for notices.

Race Communications

iRacing voice chat function for “necessary” communication during the event.
Use an available channel in the PCA Sim Racing Discord server If you and your race spotter would like to communicate privately.

Race Control

There will be no live Race Control.
All drivers are held to an honor system of observing all rules and procedures.
All drivers are to exhibit the sportsmanship and camaraderie expected in PCA Sim Racing.
There may be PCA Sim Racing Admins in sessions. They have the authority and ability to silence and/or DQ drivers not demonstrating these qualities.

Race Starts

All series starts will be rolling.
Drivers may not start from the pits except that starting in the pits is limited to emergency situations such as a disconnect just before the race.
Drivers should maintain pace car speed until the green.
Races start when iRacing shows the green flag/green lights.
The start/finish line, for race starts, is the point where iRacing’s “Barney the Flag Man” is located.
Drivers must stay in their lane until after the car’s front axle crosses start/finish.
A lane will consist of the width of the car in front of you. If you look above the car, straight down, draw two lines back. Inside those lines is the “lane”.
A driver must have at least 2 wheels (right or left) in that lane at all times until you cross the start-finish line.
You are allowed to “peek” or otherwise move left or right, as long as 2 wheels remain in the lane.
IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to maintain such a lane even if the drivers in front are slow, you must not only pay attention to the driver in front of you but the drivers in front of them.
Passing because a driver was slowing or for any reason along those lines is not acceptable.
Changing lanes may be advisable and permitted to take evasive actions to avoid a collision.

Examples include:

A driver is having technical difficulties and needs to pull off to the side to stay out of the way.
To avoid a car in front of you that is stopped or brakes suddenly.
To avoid another incident.

Re-entry

Do not re-enter the track surface until it is clear.
It is the responsibility of the re-entering car to enter safely and to yield to oncoming traffic.
This does not give the cars on the track free rein to force or keep the re-entering car off the track or not leave reasonable room for those re-entering.
It is the responsibility of an approaching driver to avoid an incident if there is adequate time or space.

Tracks, Sim Dates/Times, Weather Conditions

Each of the four Zone Groups will:

1. Pick a track geographically located within their Zone Group.
2. Establish the iRacing sim date/time.
3. Determine weather conditions for their race.

There will not be any rain races.

Scoring & Points

A modified IMSA points system will be used and applied to each driver class. i.e. P1 drivers in each class will each earn 350 points, even if driver classes are combined in a race i.e. Pro/Club.
Points are awarded for finishing positions Position 1 through Position 40
There are no points for qualifying positions.

ZG Class Score: The sum of points earned by the top four (4) finishing ZG drivers in a given class. If a ZG has less than four drivers in a race the points for each of the “missing drivers” will be the points for finishing last in the race. Example: 24 real drivers finish P1-P24 in the class race. ZG X and ZG Y had only three real drivers representing their ZGs. Their “missing drivers” will each earn the points for P25.

ZG Race Score: The sum of the ZG Class Scores for each Zone Group will be the ZG Race Score for each Zone Group.

ZG Championship Score: The sum of ZG Race Scores will be the ZG Championship Score for each Zone Group. The Zone Group having the highest ZG Championship Score will be the winner of the Zone Group Championship.

Sessions

All events will be “League Sessions”, found in League Sessions for each class.
Sessions will be created and available for Test Drive two weeks before the event date.

A special thanks to Patryk Adamczyk for creating our 2025 Zone Group Championship emblem.

Schedule

Race 1

Host Zone Group 3: CZG (Central Zone Group)
Track: Circuit of the Americas (COTA) – Grand Prix
Weather: Realistic, clear sky, cool temperature, strong NE wind, no rain
Track Condition: Leave marbles on track. 25% starting track state
Date: Thursday, April 17
Time: 9:00 PM Eastern / 6:00 PM Pacific

iRacing in-sim Event times:

Date: April 17, 2025
Practice starts at 8:00 AM
Qualifying starts at 8:45 AM
Warm-up starts at 8:55 AM
Races start at 9:00 AM

Race 2

Host Zone Group 4: WWZ (Wild West Zone)
Track: WeatherTech Raceway – Laguna Seca
Weather: Realistic, partly cloudy, moderate temperature, light wind, no rain
Track Condition: Leave marbles on track. 20% starting track state
Date: Thursday, April 24
Time: 9:00 PM Eastern / 6:00 PM Pacific

iRacing in-sim Event times:

Date: May 8, 2025
Practice starts at 3:30 PM
Qualifying starts at 4:15 PM
Warm-up starts at 4:25 PM
Races start at 4:30 PM

Race 3

Host Zone Group 2: Hurricane Alley
Track: VIR – Full Course
Weather: Realistic, partly cloudy, strong wind, no rain
Track Conditions: Marbles cleaned. 40% starting track state
Date: Thursday, May 1
Time: 9:00 PM Eastern / 6:00 PM Pacific

iRacing in-sim Event times:

Date: September 13, 2025
Practice starts at 7:15 AM
Qualifying starts at 8:00 AM
Warm-up starts at 8:10 AM
Races start at 8:15 AM

Race 4

Host Zone Group 1: Wildcats
Track: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Weather: Realistic, automatic, no rain
Track Conditions: Leave marbles on track. 20% starting track state
Date: Thursday May 8
Time: 9:00 PM Eastern / 6:00 PM Pacific

iRacing in-sim Event times:

Date: June 15, 2025
Practice starts at 1:00 PM
Qualifying starts at 1:45 PM
Warm-up starts at 1:55 PM
Races start at 2:00 PM