6.1 – Protests

6.1.1 – Stewards investigate incidents post-race and distribute penalties which are submitted by drivers via the penalty submission form available in Discord

6.1.2 – Protests must be submitted between 21:30 GMT on the day of the race and 23:59 GMT on the Thursday after the race. Protests submitted outside this window will not be investigated

6.1.3 – Drivers must indicate their lap of the reported incident, not the other driver’s

6.1.4 – Anyone involved in a protested incident can receive a penalty

6.1.5 – The stewards reserve the right to review any incident, regardless if it was protested or not

6.1.6 – Drivers may only protest incidents that they were directly affected by

6.1.7 – Drivers may have their number of available protests for the season reduced or receive a penalty at the discretion of the stewards for submitting frivolous protests

 

6.2 – Additional Lap 1 Rules

6.2.1 – All incidents on lap 1 are reviewed by the stewards regardless of protests submitted. Drivers are still recommended to submit lap 1 protests to ensure incidents are reviewed

6.2.2 – Any penalties accrued during lap 1 will be upgraded by 1 level as described in 6.4

6.2.3 – In the event of any significant incident ahead, any cars that are deemed to have not slowed sufficiently so that they could have stopped if needed, will receive a level 1 offence regardless of the outcome of their actions

 

6.3 – Driver Etiquette

6.3.1 – Drivers should maintain their normal racing line when there are drivers who are approaching to lap them

6.3.2 – When the driver behind closes to within half a second of the driver ahead, the driver ahead must lift off the throttle on one of the next two straights before the braking zones in order to help facilitate the pass

6.3.3 – Drivers deemed to have defended their position when being lapped are at risk of receiving a penalty

6.3.4 – Drivers should not slow excessively to allow their teammates or allies to pass for extra championship points

6.3.5 – Drivers should not weave when there is a car within 2 car lengths behind them

6.3.6 – The edge of the track is defined by the white lines when reviewing incidents

 

6.4 – Penalty Levels

6.4.1 – Every incident is unique, therefore the stewards reserve the right to apply any penalty they deem necessary for a specific incident regardless of the guidelines laid out below

6.4.2 – Incidents can be judged to be a level 1, 2, 3 or 4 penalty or worthy of a warning. These levels consider the action of the guilty driver

6.4.3 – The stewards can also award post-race time penalties. These post-race penalties consider the impact made to the victim(s) of the guilty driver

6.4.4 – A level 1 penalty yields 1 license point

6.4.5 – A level 2 penalty yields 2 license points

6.4.6 – A level 3 penalty yields 3 license points

6.4.7 – A level 4 penalty yields 4 license points

6.4.8 – Warnings yield no penalty, however, stewards may give a driver a penalty of their discretion if multiple warnings are accumulated through a season

6.4.9 – The below are only examples of incidents that could yield each penalty level. 

6.4.10 – A level 1 penalty can be awarded for:

     6.4.10.1 – blocking in qualifying

     6.4.10.2 – forcing another driver to take evasive action due to a poorly executed overtake

     6.4.10.3 – a small error that causes contact when racing alongside another driver

6.4.11 – A level 2 penalty can be awarded for:

     6.4.11.1 – driving into the rear of another driver

     6.4.11.2 – being judged to have little control when making contact with a another driver when racing

     6.4.11.3 – blocking in reaction to an attempted move

     6.4.11.4 – causing contact or a driver to change their line by moving before or in the braking area

6.4.12 – A level 3 penalty can be awarded for:

     6.4.12.1 – attempting a reckless overtake

     6.4.12.2 – re-joining the track in an unsafe manner

     6.4.12.3 – deliberately defending against a driver who is attempting to lap you

     6.4.12.4 – brake checking

     6.4.12.5 – causing a collision due to attempting to drive an excessively damaged car

     6.4.12.6 – not escaping back to the pits when stationary in a dangerous part of the track

6.4.13 – A level 4 penalty is awarded when a driver has caused a level 3 offense on the first lap

 

6.5 – Appeals System

6.5.1 – An appeal allows a driver to submit their rpy file, giving stewards information on their pedal and steering inputs (not mandatory) and send a worded account of the incident from their perspective (not mandatory). Stewards who did not initially review the incident, will review whether the correct penalty was given

6.5.2 – Appeals can be submitted drivers who submitted a protest or who received a penalty

6.5.3 – An appealed penalty can be removed, reduced, maintained or increased

6.5.4 – A driver can request an appeal of an incident within 24 hours of the announcement in discord that all incidents have been reviewed

6.5.5 – Drivers have 1 appeal at their disposal. If they appeal an incident that is overturned (removed or downgraded), they will have their 1 appeal returned

 

6.6 – Penalty Points

6.6.1 – For every 2 license points a driver has at the end of the season, they will receive 20 penalty points

6.6.2 – Penalty points count towards the teams championship as well as the drivers

6.6.3 – Penalty points will count, even if the incident was at a meeting the driver drops

 

6.7 – Pit Lane Starts

6.7.1 – If a driver has 2 or more license points on their license, they will be mandated to start from the pits at the next race

6.7.2 – Complying with the above subtracts 2 points from the driver’s license

6.7.3 – Drivers must not leave the pitlane during qualifying when they are serving their pit lane start. If this is not followed, the driver will still have 2 license points subtracted from their license but also be penalised with a level 1 offence

6.7.4 – Drivers may not exit the pits when serving their pit lane start until all the grid-starters have passed. If there is an incident causing drivers to slow down significantly, the driver exiting the pits does not need to wait for those drivers to pass. If a driver breaks this rule they will have 2 points subtracted from their license put also be given a level 2 penalty

6.7.5 – Pit lane starts can be served in any race. For example, if a driver has 4 license points, they will need to start from the pits in both race 1 and 2

6.7.6 – If a driver delays serving their pit lane start, they will be penalised with a level 2 offence. An example of this would be a driver, who has 2 points on their license, serving their pit lane start in the second race of a meeting instead of the first race. This is to avoid tactical serving of a pit lane start

6.7.7 – If a driver is supposed to start from the pits at a meeting, but does not start from the pits in any of the races, they will be banned from the next meeting (with no refund). They will not have 2 points subtracted from their license. If the driver had multiple pit lane starts to serve, but only serves 1, they will not be banned from the next race, but instead be penalised by 6.7.6

6.7.8 – If a driver is supposed to start from the pits at the final meeting of the season, but does not start from the pits in any of the races, they will have their points from the final round removed. They will not have 2 points subtracted from their license. If they serve some, but not all of their pitlane starts, they will be deemed to have delayed serving their pit lane start and be penalised by 6.7.6

 

6.8 – Intentional Wrecking

6.8.1 – Intentional wrecking during the race will result in a driver being banned from the season (with no refund). They may be banned indefinitely from all future ARL events

6.8.2 – Intentional wrecking after the race will result in a driver being banned from the next race (with no refund) and be penalised with a level 2 offence. This includes crashes between teammates. Intentional wrecking does not include light contact, however the stewards may deem this to be worthy of a smaller penalty

 

6.9 – Driver Conduct

6.9.1 – Drivers are susceptible to penalties should they direct abuse to other drivers on the iRacing voice or text channels or on discord. Abuse could be in the form of racism, harassment, personal insults, inappropriate language and/or anything else the admin team deems to be unacceptable

6.9.2 – ARL reserve the right not to allow drivers into the series who could have a negative impact on the league

6.9.3 – Apex Racing League reserve the right to remove drivers with poor driving standards from the series. They will receive a refund based on section 8.0 of this rules document. They may also not be invited back to any future ARL seasons or events.

6.9.4 – The iRacing sporting code applies to anything not mentioned in this document

 

6.10 – Qualifying rules

6.10.1 – Drivers must not drop below a speed of 60kph in qualifying after they have left the pits besides moving aside to allow drivers past or driving through tight corners

6.10.2 – Drivers should also not use any iRacing exploits to prepare their tyres before a fast lap