SportsCar Championship Regulations

As of September 13th 2026

Preface

According to our organisation’s guidelines, the General Sporting Regulations are in effect.

This series is aimed at both experienced simracers and iRacing newcomers. Nevertheless, to offer the best possible experience to all participants, we require a basic understanding of simracing standards. Therefore, our ranking system applies.

SimRacing Republic reserves the right to amend this rulebook as deemed necessary to promote the interests of fair competition. Changes will be shown in green text.

In the event of any discrepancies between the Sporting Regulations and the Drivers’ Briefing Document, the provisions defined during the official Drivers’ Briefing and documented in the corresponding Briefing Document shall prevail.

§1 Organisation

§1.1 Promoter

All official sessions are hosted through SimRacing Republic (SR). Any session not hosted according to the briefing document is not listed as official.

§1.2 Cars & Grid

The maximum grid size is set to 60.

LMP2: Dallara P217 (WSC 2017 / 600 hp; 8700 rpm; -30 kg)

LMP3: Ligier JS P320 (+5% Power)

GT3 PRO and GT3 PRO/AM: Mercedes AMG GT3, BMW M4 GT3, Porsche 992 GT3R, Ferrari 296 GT3, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, Ford Mustang GT3, McLaren 720S GT3, Acura NSX GT3 EVO 22, Chevrolet Corvette Z.06 GT3R, Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO

§1.2.1 Car Number Ranges

Car numbers are assigned by SimRacing Republic according to class and must be used in all official sessions. The respective x01 number in each class range is reserved exclusively for the reigning champion of that class. If the reigning class champion does not enter the following season, the reserved number will remain unassigned.

§1.3 Classes rating

LMP2: Minimum Silver-ranked drivers (min. 3000 iRating & B-class Safety Rating or above).

LMP3: Minimum Bronze-ranked drivers (min. 2000 iRating & C-class Safety Rating or above).

GT3 PRO: Minimum Bronze-ranked drivers (min. 2000 iRating & C-class Safety Rating or above).

GT3 PRO/AM: A minimum of one Bronze- or Silver-ranked driver must be declared as the AM driver. No more than one Gold- or Platinum-ranked driver is permitted. Diamond- and Iridium-ranked drivers are not permitted in this class. Qualification and the race start must be completed by an AM driver (min. 2000 iRating, max. 6000 iRating & B-class Safety Rating or above).

§1.4 Team organization & Drive time requirements

A. A team consists of a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 drivers.

B. Teams must declare the driver lineup for each car through the official team backend by 23:59 UTC on the day before the race.

C. The maximum drive time per driver is 66% of the class winner’s total completed laps. Any fractional result is rounded down.

D. In GT3 PRO/AM, a Pro-rated driver (Gold or Platinum) may not exceed 55% of the class winner’s total completed laps. Any fractional result is rounded down.

§1.5 Entry Fee

A. The entry fee for this season is 100 € per car.

B. Once registration has closed, SimRacing Republic will issue invoices. Invoices are due within 48 hours. If a team fails to pay by the deadline, it will be moved to the end of the reserve list. Replacement teams will be admitted in reserve-list order.

C. If a team misses the 48-hour payment deadline, the next team on the reserve list will receive a new 48-hour payment window.

§1.6 Car Switch

A. A one-time car switch in class before the initial BOP release of round 1 of the season can be made.

B. Any car switch afterwards is prohibited. Once the first BOP of the season is revealed, you are bound to the car on the nomination list.

§1.7 Pre-Qualification

A. In case more than 60 teams register for the full season (including Wildcards), a Pre-Qualification will take place.

B. The format will follow the schedule defined in §3.1, shortened to a race distance of 120 minutes.

C. For Pre-Qualification, a team may select any eligible car from the class for which it registered, regardless of the car nominated in its season entry. The car selected for Pre-Qualification does not change the nominated season car and does not count as, consume or otherwise affect the team’s one-time car-switch allowance under §1.6.

D. Teams will be split into two or more groups (depending on the number of entries).

E. Each group will run on a separate server, with all servers operating simultaneously.

F. During the race session, Race Control will initiate a random Caution/Safety Car Procedure.

G. Damage is turned off for this event.

H. Teams may file protests as they see fit. These protests will be investigated after the race.

I. Parameters that will be taken into consideration (not ordered by importance): Final positioning, individual racecraft, understanding of the Rulebook, understanding of the Safety Car Procedure, potential penalty outcomes, off-track conduct.

J. The race date of Pre-Qualification for the 2026/2027 Season will be September 19th 2026.

§1.8 Registration

A. Registration opens August 1st.

B. Registration closes August 31st.

§1.9 Unsubscribing of an Event

A. If it is foreseeable that a team will not be able to participate in an event, the team must withdraw from the event no later than 72 hours before the race.

B. The withdrawal must be submitted through the team backend on the SimRacing Republic website.

C. If a team misses the withdrawal deadline and is absent from the event, the team's one-time joker will be used. If this happens again, the respective team will be moved to the waiting list and another competitor may take its place.

§2 Championship

§2.1 Definition of Champion

The champion in each class is the team that scores the most points throughout the season. In the event of a tie, the team with the better highest individual race result will be ranked ahead. If this is also tied, the number of results at that position will be compared, followed by the next-best finishing position, and so on.

§2.2 Events

The events endure either 4 or 6 hours.

§2.2.1 Calendar

§2.3 Championship points

A. The below chart shows points accommodated for 4 & 6 hr rounds.

B. 6 hour rounds to receive half-way points. The half way mark is defined by the first lap completed from the overall leader after the 3 hour mark.

C. Half way points are accommodated as per the table below:

§3 Race Events

§3.1 Schedule

All times in UTC

Thursday
18:00 – 20:00 Free practice 1.1

Friday
01:00 – 03:00 Free practice 1.2
18:00 – 20:00 Free practice 2.1

Saturday

01:00 – 03:00 Free practice 2.2

11:00 – 13:00 Free practice 3 (separate server)
13:00 – 14:00 Free practice 4 (60 minutes)
14:00 – 14:20 Drivers Briefing (mandatory for all drivers)
14:30 – 15:25 Qualification (~55 minutes)
– 14:30 Pit lane opens GT3
– 14:45 Checkered Flag GT3
– 14:47 Pit lane opens LMP3
– 15:02 Checkered Flag LMP3
– 15:04 Pit lane opens LMP2
– 15:19 Checkered Flag LMP2
15:25 – 15:35 Warm Up
15:35 – 15:40 Gridding
15:40 – Race

§3.2 Event Hosted Sessions

A. All sessions will be password protected hosted sessions on EU servers.

B. Entries must register with the correct car, car number and TeamID to official sessions.

C. All races will have rolling starts.

D. All sessions will have dynamic weather.

E. Sun acceleration multiplier will be set to 1x (real time).

F. Starting track state will be set to 0% when the race server is launched and to 30% when a Free Practice session is launched. During the race event, the track state will carry over between sessions, with marbles and dust cleaned between sessions.

G. Autoclutch will be the only assist allowed.

§3.3 Practice

Practice sessions are to be treated with the same quality of procedure as a race. To that effect, drivers will be expected to follow the rules and regulations in practice as though it was a race session. Race Control reserves the right to penalize drivers who are disruptive or unsportsmanlike in practice sessions. Explicitly: “Trying a move” that results in a crash which could have been avoided may be considered for penalty, as it is a) disruptive to the other driver's session for any testing being done and b) promotes poor passing behaviors that are strongly discouraged in this league. Penalties that are issued by Race Control for incidents during a practice session will be applied to the race that the practice session pertains to.

§3.4 Qualification

A. The driver who qualifies the car must start the race. 

B. As soon as a car has left its stall, a car’s qualifying session will be concluded if a car has been towed back to the pits for any reason, including towing in the pit lane. Cars are allowed to be driven back to the pits and to take service. Cars may be reset if they are in their pit stall.

C. If a car tows back to pit lane during qualification and leaves its stall again, it will have to start the race from pit road.

D. Each class will be announced green & checkered flag via in-game text-chat.

E. With each class’s checkered flag announcement, the next class according to the Q-order is allowed to line up at the end of pit road.

§3.5 Race Start

A. All races will have a rolling start.

B. All classes form one overall pacing queue but start in separate class groups. Each class leader must leave a gap of approximately five seconds to the preceding class group. A class pole sitter who fails to maintain this gap may be penalized.

C. If any class pole sitter is gridded on the wrong side, Race Control will instruct the affected class through the @RACECONTROL channel to switch sides on the pace lap.

D. Once the pace car pulls into the pit lane, the pole sitter for each group is in control of their group until the start of the race. Pole sitters must maintain a consistent pace car speed until starting the race for their group. Increasing speed before the start to spread the grid or overly slowing while the grid is approaching the start zone can be cause for investigation by Race Control; advantage gained or incidents resulting from these actions may be penalized.

E. An “acceleration zone” for the start of each race is defined in each Drivers Briefing Document. Each group's pole sitter will ignore the iRacing green flag and must accelerate within the area of this zone.

F.  Cars starting from pit lane will be released by iRacing. Jump starts, defined for this circumstance by crossing the cones at the end of pit lane with any part of the vehicle at any speed, will result in an automated penalty.

G. During the starting process both lanes need to hold their corridors, as shown in the respective briefing document.

H. The lead car of each column is to define where the corridor is to be held.

I. No overlap with the car ahead in the same lane is permitted before the S/F line.

J. If iRacing introduces its new start procedure, SimRacing Republic may consider using it. If adopted, this section of the rulebook will be updated accordingly.

§3.6 Classification

To be classified in a race, a car must have: 

A. used between two and four drivers.

B. completed at least 75% of the laps completed by the winning car in its class.

C. complied with the class driver restrictions.

D. complied with the drive-time requirements under §1.4.

§3.7 Restarts

A. At restarts drivers must maintain SC speed until they reach the starting zone.

B. Each car is only allowed to accelerate as soon as the car ahead accelerates.

C. Drivers are not allowed to overlap the car ahead in their lane until the S/F line.

D. After the class split, each class leader must open a gap of 3–5 seconds to the class group ahead.

§4 On Track Conduct

§4.1 Rejoining Track surface

A. Drivers must use the F3 black box throughout the race or have a spotter available, especially when rejoining the racing surface from a spin, off track, or coming out of the pits. Unsafe rejoins can and will be penalized. A general guideline to a safe rejoin is to make sure your car is parallel to the racing surface prior to rejoining the racing surface. Cars that rejoin the track safely should not attempt to impede the progress of another car, and should maintain a predictable track position until they are up to race pace. It is the driver’s responsibility to control their car when re-entering the racing surface: losing control of the car in the attempt, if it causes an incident, will be considered the fault of the driver attempting to rejoin. Do not cut across the track. Remember you do have a reverse gear!

B. A car which is at race pace but is not fully within track limits must yield to cars on the racing surface when reentering the racing surface.

§4.2 Passing

A. It is the responsibility of both drivers to ensure safe passing.

B. When two cars are reasonably alongside each other, each must permit the other adequate racing room. More detail on how a move is treated can be found in The Driving Standard Guideline.

C. Under normal racing conditions drivers are not allowed to exceed the racing surface to complete a pass.

D. Drivers who are shown blue flags do not have to yield immediately. Once the passing driver has initiated the pass, the driver being passed must aid in facilitating the pass. The rules above still apply.

§4.3 Pit lane

A. It is illegal to circumvent in any way the pit lane speed limit, including but not limited to not using the pit speed limiter and manipulating gears while traveling down pit lane. Any driver found at fault will be issued a Drive Through penalty for pit lane infringement.

B. When entering and exiting their pit stall, drivers have five seconds to travel to and from the fast lane. Any driver found at fault will be issued a penalty for pit lane infringement per the Penalty Matrix.

C. Cars in fast lane have priority use over cars coming from pit stall. If any overlap has been reached by the car in fast lane, the car coming from pit stall has to yield.

§4.4 Towing

A. Any car that is not capable of returning to pits (e.g. due to too much damage) is required to tow back towards pit lane. However, you are not allowed to tow immediately, instead you need to use the /tow command in your team's Discord channel to request a tow-back.

B. If a car requests a tow, Race Control is going to throw a caution.

C. If a car is within the area of a tow-truck cut-out inside the barriers, a so-called safe-space, Race Control won’t throw a caution in case of a tow-request.

D. There is no tow-back requirement in Qualification. However after tow in Q-session you are not allowed to go back out as per §3.4 B.

E. In case a car finds itself in a dangerous position (e.g. on racing-line behind a blind corner), cars are allowed to tow immediately, but must submit a /tow request immediately after.

F. At race starts: In case any grid car is not able to take on the parade lap (e.g. due to technical defects) they may tow immediately, without requesting a tow.

§4.5 Safety Car Procedure

A. As soon as a Safety Car has been deployed, the overall leader is asked to slow down to roughly 200 kph.

B. On the Start/Finish straight (around the area where the S/F-line is placed), the overall leader is asked to slow down to SC speed, as defined in the briefing document.

C. All other drivers are asked to catch up to the queue as fast as possible without crashing.

D. Once the queue has formed, the Race Director sorts the field by class, beginning with each respective class leader and maintaining queue order. Any car trapped between the Safety Car and its class leader will receive a wave-by. Cars performing a wave-by should do so as quickly as they reasonably can (close to full race pace) in order to not delay the opening of the pits. Failure to do so which disadvantages a competitor or forces the extension of the SC period may be penalized.

E. Pit entry is closed the moment the Safety Car is deployed. It may only be reopened by Race Control. Drivers must ignore iRacing system messages.

F. A team entering a closed pit lane will receive a Drive-Through penalty after the race has restarted.

G. Teams are allowed to pit for emergency pit service with a maximum stationary time of 5 seconds. They are to receive an End-of-Class penalty after the class splits and are to fall back to the end of their class’ pacing queue.

H. Once the first wave-by process has concluded, pit lane will be opened.

I. After pit stops have been completed, the field is sorted again as per §4.5 D.

J. After the second wave-by process, the Race Director will proceed with the class splits. For this purpose, first all LMP2 class cars are to safely pull out of the pacing queue and move towards the front of the field, followed by LMP3 class and GT3 PRO. Each leading class car will be asked to safely make space for cars to slot into.

K. After the class split, each class leader must maintain a gap of 3–5 seconds to the preceding class.

L. As soon as each class leader is the first car behind the Safety Car inside the queue, Race Control will announce “One lap to green”.

M. As per each race’s briefing, a “Safety Car Call-Line” will be in place. This is the last chance for Race Control to call “One lap to green”. Once the call has been made, any car that has not caught up to the queue as a whole or its class queue, may not overtake to rejoin its actual class and is to remain behind the last car in line.

N. With 15 minutes to the end of the race, no more SC will be called.

§5 Race Control

§5.1 General

A. All race sessions will have live RC, consisting of multiple stewards monitoring on track activity.

B. RC will hand out penalties to drivers who fail to drive in a clean, fair manner, who act recklessly, or otherwise affect the spirit of competition within the series. 

C. RC may remove drivers from the track if they feel that their speed/lap times are too slow, or if they pose a risk to other drivers due to their driving, car condition, internet connection or equipment condition. In this case, a driver will first be warned and given time to correct this. In the event the issue persists, the driver shall be ordered to pit the car until the issues are resolved (repairs, driver swap for a bad connection, etc.). If the issues persist, the car will be black flagged for the remainder of the race. 

D. Barring exceptions, RC will not reverse automatic penalties issued by iRacing. These penalties must be served according to the set procedure by iRacing.

§5.2 Reporting an incident

A. A team can only report an incident if its car was directly involved. RC may also report incidents. If a driver repeatedly abuses track limits, drives overly aggressively or otherwise causes concern, teams may still notify RC so the issue can be monitored.

B. Reports that cannot be resolved before the final 30 minutes of the race will be converted to post-race reviews.

C. All protests must be submitted through the official iStewards protest form. The link to the protest form will be provided in the pinned post of the respective event. Incidents reported through any other channel or form are ignored.

D. Post-race incident reports must be submitted within one hour after the finish of the race.

§5.3 Review of incidents

A. When RC is actively reviewing an incident, the iStewards live ticker will show it as “Under Review”.

B. RC will inform a team of a penalty in the team’s Discord channel as well as on the #noticeboard Discord channel. Penalties and review outcomes will also be posted to the iStewards live ticker.

C. If the penalty was incorrectly issued (for example, to the wrong car) teams must notify RC ASAP using the /clear command and the penalty will be cleared. Race Control has no method of undoing a penalty once it has been served by a team; please keep this in mind.

D. Any penalty not served during a race because the car was retired before the penalty could be served, may be assessed post-race or in the following race. A team that rejoins the race solely to serve a severe penalty and then retires soon thereafter may also have their penalties carried over to the following race.

E. If any filed incident reports are left unresolved by RC by the end of the race or if any post-race incident reports are filed, the penalties will be converted to equivalent post-race time penalties.

F. If a protest concerns a team member of a Race Control member, the final decision must be made exclusively by Race Control members who are not affiliated with that team.

§5.4 Serving of penalties

A. Penalties below a Drive-Through have to be served at the next pit-stop, which is not under a caution and has passed the appealing time period as per 5.5 B, on the teams own responsibility within the designated Penalty box area.

B. Multiple penalties, which didn’t yet sum-up to a Drive-Through, may be served at once.

C. If a team fails to serve a time penalty on its own responsibility, it will receive a Stop & Hold penalty plus the original time penalty. These penalties will be assessed immediately and cannot be appealed.

D. Drive-Through penalties and higher will be assessed after the appeal window defined in §5.5 B has closed.

E. A Stop & Hold penalty may be served during a pit stop. In this case, iRacing will add time to the imposed penalty according to the pit-lane travel time. This process is automated by iRacing. Race Control cannot clear or change the additional time, and the additional time cannot be appealed.

F. For time penalties, the team must inform Race Control of the timestamp at which the penalty was served by using the bot’s /served command.

§5.5 Appeals

A. To allow for a potential appeal period, penalties will be announced on the noticeboard and in the team's Discord channel initially.

B. After a time span of 5 minutes, the penalty will be announced in-game.

C. If a team wishes to appeal an incident, it may inform RC during this time of the intention to appeal using the /rc command from our Discord Race Control Bot. RC will then put the penalty on hold and will not announce it in-game until further evidence can be reviewed.

D. However the actual appeal needs to be filed within 15 minutes after the initial announcement on the noticeboard was made, using the /rc command.

E. A penalty may only be appealed if a team presents new information previously unknown to RC (such as telemetry or driving inputs) and relevant to the investigation, or arguments which were not evidently considered by RC (mentioned in the iStewards live ticker notes, or necessarily implied by the decision itself).

F. Evidence supporting an appeal relies must be presented as soon as is practical. In the event that a team makes an appeal but is unable to provide evidence during the appeal period (for example, because they need to obtain a replay showing a driver’s inputs), RC may postpone their decision until evidence is received.

G. This procedure does not apply to penalties of Category 1. (see rules §6.1).

H. No voice-chat appeals will be accepted. They must be in written form.

I. Appeals to post-race penalties need to be filed within 30 minutes after the incident outcome was announced on the noticeboard.

§6 Penalty Matrix

§6.1 General

The following is a non-exhaustive list of penalties and reasons for penalties that RC may issue. The penalty amounts and number of PP listed are suggestions; RC may decide to award a different penalty amount or number of PP for any reason. Adjustments to penalty values or PP may be a reflection of: the safety or awareness demonstrated by a driver; mitigating actions taken by a driver to resolve errors; the severity of the outcome of an incident; the sportsmanship demonstrated. Race Control may also issue orders to give back a position or warnings for any of the penalty categories.

§6.2 Definition of the classification of penalty levels

A. Stewards shall assess each incident using the following criteria:

• Was the incident avoidable?
• Was there reasonable expectation of space?
• Was the maneuver in control?
• Did drivers involved follow the Driving Standard Guideline?
• Did any party involved gain a lasting advantage or disadvantage?
• In case applicable: Was the behavior consistent with prior warnings?
• Did the action affect championship integrity?

B. Minor Contact Responsibility

Low level of negligence: Small misjudgment or error in judgment without recklessness. Action was not ideal, but understandable within normal racing conditions, e.g. a driver is going for a reasonable move with expectation of space, however locking up and eventually spinning the opponent around.

C. Moderate Contact Responsibility

Significant level of negligence: clear misjudgment or poor decision-making that could reasonably have been avoided. Driver failed to adequately assess surrounding conditions or situational risk, e.g. a driver is completely out-braking himself or going for a move with a very low expectation of space, causing a collision

D. Major Contact Responsibility

Severe level of negligence: reckless or highly irresponsible action showing a disregard for situational awareness. Driver acts despite clear risk to others, e.g. while boxed in behind a slower class car, the questionable driver decides to force his way out, instead of lifting/braking, causing a multi-car accident.

E. Possibility of Upscaling

If Race Control finds the accused driver guilty of overaggressive driving, a severe lack of situational awareness or gross incompetence, the penalties may be enhanced to a higher category.

In cases where the assessed level of negligence and the resulting impact fall into differing categories, it shall be at the Stewards’ discretion, on a case-by-case basis, to determine the appropriate classification of the penalty.

§6.3 Penalty Points

A. Every penalty given to an entry or driver will be accompanied by Penalty Points (PP). During every race, PP will be tracked for every entry and driver.

B. Any entry that exceeds a total of 12 PP during a single race will be disqualified from that race.

C. If an entry or driver scores championship points and receives no PP in a race, their cumulative PP total will be reduced by three, but never below zero.

D. Once an entry or driver exceeds a cumulative total of 12 PP, the entry or driver will be suspended for one race. Upon returning to the grid, they will start the next race with 6 penalty points.

E. Any entry or driver who accumulates a total of 9 PP during a single race will be suspended for the next race.