Sections
A – Rolling Start Procedures
B – Standing Start Procedures
C – Pit Stop Procedures
D – Race Finish Procedures
E – Incident Review Request (IRR) Procedures
F – IRR Team Procedures
G – Race Control (RC)
H – Interviews & Driver Cams
I – Dropped Races
J – Tie Breakers
A – Rolling Start Procedures
A1.0 Starting Formation: The field will begin the race behind the pace car, organized into two separate lanes. Drivers who are not on the grid when the pace car starts moving must begin the race from the pit lane.
A1.1 Leader’s Responsibilities: The leader must maintain the same gap to the pace car that was established when the cars lined up on the grid, and should maintain the posted “pace car speed” for the given track, as closely as possible, once the pace car peels off.
A1.2 Green Flag Start: The green flag signals the field to accelerate to race speed as a group. Remain in grid formation and do not overtake cars ahead in your own lane until you reach the start line. Any significant decrease or increase in speed by the leader before the green flag may result in a penalty.
A1.3 Maintaining Spacing: All drivers must keep appropriate spacing from the car in front in their lane and should aim to match the overall speed of the field. Significant gaps between cars are not allowed.
A1.4 Grid Adjustments: If a car in front of you fails to grid or otherwise drops out of position during the pacing lap, you must not occupy the vacant space left by that car until the green flag drops.
If a driver falls back in the field for any reason, they may attempt to return to their original position, provided they do so safely. Any contact or incident resulting from trying to reclaim the position shall be deemed the responsibility of this driver and will be penalized as an Orange Zone violation.
In extreme cases, a car may take evasive action to avoid a collision, i.e., if a car ahead “checks up”. Any positions gained from this action must be returned as soon as possible. Failure to do so may result in a penalty.
A1.5 Overtaking in Other Lanes: Drivers must maintain spacing to the car ahead of them in their lane until the green flag drops, irrespective of their position relative to the cars in the other pacing lane.
A1.6 Pace Lap / Start Driving Conduct: During the pace lap, tire warming activities are not permitted. Drivers must not engage in weaving, hard accelerating, and/or braking unless necessary to maintain grid position or to avoid a collision.
The front edge of the second-place (P2) car must not be ahead of the front edge of the lead car (P1) when (a.) the green flag/light/signal is given, nor (b.) when crossing the official start line. Failure to comply may result in a penalty issued by iRacing or Race Control (RC).
A1.7 Staying in Lane: Until crossing the start line, cars must stay in their lane behind the car ahead of them until the front of their car has passed the start line.
Offset positioning is allowed, provided that at least one tire of the car remains within the lane created by the car ahead.
If a car on the grid does not move when the field starts, drivers behind may navigate around that car. Please use caution and consider using the outside lane.
A1.8 Starting from the Pits: Starting from the pits without RC approval is subject to a penalty. Follow iRacing instructions for release.
A1.9 Orange Zone: An event may have an Orange Zone, which will be announced on the relevant event-specific page. Penalties issued by the RC during the Orange Zone will result in a 15-second stop-and-hold penalty.
B – Standing Start Procedures
B1.0 Green Flag Start: Cars may not move until the green flag/signal/light. Any movement before the green flag will result in an iRacing-issued penalty. After the start signal, cars are free to move and pass other cars on the track.
B1.1 Starting from the Pits: Starting from the pits without RC approval is subject to a penalty. Follow iRacing instructions for release.
B1.2 Orange Zone: An event may have an Orange Zone, which will be announced on the relevant event-specific page. Penalties issued by the RC during the Orange Zone will result in a 15-second stop-and-hold penalty.
C – Pit Stop Procedures
C1.0 Pit Entrance: Drivers are encouraged to notify following drivers that they intend to pit to facilitate a safe pit entry.
C1.1 Pit Exit: Drivers leaving the pit area should exercise caution to avoid any merging traffic on the active track.
D – Race Finish Procedures
D1.0 The race concludes once all cars have crossed the finish line and received the checkered flag.
D1.1 Drivers must maintain voice comms silence until RC announces that the track is clear.
D1.2 After finishing, individual drivers should continue driving and pull over to a safe location that does not impede other drivers or incur an i-Racing off-track penalty.
D1.3 Post-race collisions with other cars may result in incident points issued by iRacing. iRacing continues to count “safety x’s” until the “track is clear.” RC will announce when that happens using iRacing voice comms. If iRacing imposes an incident penalty, the RC cannot remove it, and it will be included in the driver’s final results.
Such situations can affect both drivers’ eligibility for the Clean Driver Award. The offending driver will also receive an RC-administered post-race time penalty for such collisions.
E – Incident Review Request (IRR) Procedures
E1.0 The IRR process provides a post-race means of applying or repealing penalties.
E1.1 If a Series or Special Event uses the IRR process, it will be stated on the Series or Event page.
E1.2 A link to each race replay will be posted on the page within 3 hours of the race. This is the “official” replay for the purpose of submitting an IRR.
E1.3 The IRR Process is as Follows:
E1.4 Only drivers with standing may submit an IRR.
E1.5 Read the information carefully on the IRR form and submit it in accordance with the instructions on the form.
E1.6 Submitted IRRs will be validated before being sent to the IRR Review Team. This is only to determine whether the criteria for submitting an IRR are met. It is not a review of the merits of the IRR.
E1.7 IRRs are to be submitted no sooner than 24 hours after the race concludes, and not later than 48 hours after the race.
E1.8 The IRR Review Team has up to 4 calendar days to respond.
E1.9 The IRR Review Team’s response is to cite the CRG rule(s) numbers that are grounds for their decision.
E1.10 Once all IRRs have been returned from the IRR Review Team, Timing & Scoring will process the results within 48 hours.
E1.11 After all IRRs have been finalized and penalties adjusted, the IRR Review Team decisions will be announced in the Ask-Race-Control channel.
E1.12 Final race IRR decisions and results will be posted 24 hours before the next Series race for the class.
E1.13 Any IRR post-race penalty will add time to account for the time it takes to ingress/egress from the pits. This is in addition to the penalty itself.
E1.14 A reversal of a penalty shall be a time credit for the penalty, including a time credit for the time lost in pit entry and exit.
E1.15 All decisions of the IRR Review Team are final.
E1.16 The Outcome of IRR Decisions:
A driver should expect the following possible outcomes after an IRR is submitted.
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- A post-race penalty is going to be issued.
- A Race Control penalty is going to be removed.
- No additional action regarding penalties from the incident.
E1.17 Note that iRacing AI penalties, except for an errant disqualification, cannot and will not be removed.
E1.18 Before Submitting an IRR:
E1.19 The very first thing to do is watch the official replay carefully to confirm that what you thought happened is what did happen.
E1.20 Discuss the incident respectfully with the other driver(s) involved. Most everyone is doing their best.
E1.21 You are strongly advised not to “poll” friends if you or the other driver(s) were at fault.
E1.22 Do not post on Discord about your incident or name the other driver(s) involved.
E1.23 Refrain from calling out another driver or alluding to what you think they did.
E1.24 None of the following roles will provide any comments regarding the validity of your submitted IRR and should not be contacted regarding your IRR submission:
E1.25 PCA Sim Racing Race Control (RC)
E1.26 PCA Sim Racing Steering Committee (SC)
E1.27 PCA Sim Racing Instructor/Coach (I/C)
E1.28 PCA Sim Racing IRR Team
E1.29 Valid Reasons for Submitting an IRR:
E1.30 A driver involved in the incident believes the other driver(s) should have received a penalty beyond what iRacing and/or Race Control applied.
E1.31 A driver involved in the incident believes the other driver(s) should have received a penalty.
E1.32 A driver involved in the incident believes they should have received the penalty, not the other driver(s).
E1.33 A driver has received a penalty from Race Control that they believe to be incorrect.
E1.34 Submitting an IRR:
E1.35 Only the official replay shall be used to identify the time of the incident.
E1.36 Submit only the iRacing .rpy clip file of the incident, not the entire replay.
E1.37 The replay should include several corners leading up to the actual incident, and include sufficient time afterwards to fully capture all consequences.
E1.38 If you do not know how to clip an incident from a replay (.rpy) file, watch this video.
E1.39 Upload the clipped .rpy file to your Dropbox or similar file storage program, and be sure the file is set for reviewers to download.
E1.40 Provide the download address in the IRR form.
E1.41 Ensure it is set to be shared so that anyone with the link can access it.
E1.42 Do not submit images (jpg, png, or video clips (mp4) with your IRR form.
F – IRR Team Procedures
F1.0 An IRR Team Pool will be established at the beginning of a series. Any driver holding a Grid Pass for the current year may volunteer to be a member of the pool by sending a personal message (PM) to the PCA Sim Racing Chair.
F1.1 An IRR Team for each event will be established by random selection from the IRR Team pool via a randomizer app. No IRR Team member will rule on IRRs related to their class or team affiliation.
F1.2 For special events, the IRR Team shall be selected from GridPass volunteers who are not participating in that specific race.
F1.3 Selected IRR Team volunteers must not share their selection as an assigned IRR Team member with anyone.
F1.4 IRR Team members will not be made aware of the identity of other members on the team and should not try to determine who the other members are.
F1.5 The PCA Sim Racing Chair will send IRRs independently to each selected member.
F1.6 They are to work independently to reach their own ruling on the IRR without consulting any member of PCA Sim Racing or Race Control.
F1.7 Each IRR Team member will send their ruling to the PCA Sim Racing Chair via PM within 4 days. Their ruling shall state the CRG rule number(s) that apply.
F1.8 To overturn RC rulings, it requires a unanimous decision of the IRR Team. For all other IRRs, a simple majority is sufficient.
F1.9 After final IRR decisions are posted, IRR Team members are to remain anonymous and not discuss or post their reasonings and/or opinions about IRR decisions they were involved with.
G – Race Control (RC)
G1.0 RC monitors all event activities and applies the CRGs and event-specific rules DURING the event.
G1.1 RC will hold a Driver’s Meeting right before the race, usually in the warm-up session. All drivers must pay attention to the information provided and comply with any directions given.
G1.2 During a Race:
G1.3 RC receives automated notifications of incidents on track and will investigate accordingly.
G1.4 Drivers are encouraged to notify RC via iRacing comms if they were involved in an incident, so RC can take note and ensure it is reviewed.
G1.5 Use either the channel “@DRIVERS” or “@ALLDRIVERS” as Race Control scans only those channels.
G1.6 During a race, do not ask RC for an explanation of or question penalties issued.
G1.7 Evaluation may conclude either both, or neither, drivers to be at fault and rule it a racing incident.
G1.8 A driver shall not argue/contest a ruling with RC. They may appeal a decision through the IRR process.
G1.9 Connection Issues:
G1.10 RC monitors the connectivity of all drivers. When a bad connection is observed (a car ‘blinking’), RC may issue several warnings and ultimately force a driver to pit until the connection issue is resolved.
G1.11 Separately, iRacing may issue a “Connection Black Flag” for severe, persistent connectivity issues.
G1.12 Post Race:
G1.13 RC will post the assigned penalties within 24 hours of completion of a race.
G1.14 Drivers may ask RC for the reasoning/explanation of an assigned penalty by publicly posting ONLY in the Discord Ask-Race-Control channel.
G1.15 Do NOT contact RC directly; they will not reply.
H – Interviews & Driver Cams
H1.0 The podium finishers from each race should join the “Broadcasts” category on Discord and enter the “Interview Waiting Room.”
H1.1 Please ensure your headset is ready and set to push-to-talk. The broadcast team will join the waiting room to check in with you before you go live.
H1.2 Additionally, we encourage as many drivers as possible to provide a driver’s camera. You can find the RaceSpot setup information here.
I – Dropped Races
I1.0 The number of allowed drop races will be stated on the event webpage.
I1.1 The dropped race is the one that contributes the fewest points to your season total.
I1.2 A disqualification (DQ) for any reason cannot count as that drop race.
I1.3 The specific race designated as a drop for a driver’s final series points will also be the one used when calculating the Clean Driver Standings.
J – Tie Breakers
J1.0 In the event of a tie (two or more races having the same lowest point score), the tie is broken using the iRacing Tie-Breaker rules.
J1.1 The race that is ultimately dropped is the one with the lowest value in the iRacing tie-breaker metric.