6.1 – Protests
6.1.1 – Stewards investigate incidents post-race and distribute penalties which are appealed by drivers via the penalty submission form available in Discord
6.1.2 – Protests must be submitted by 23:59 GMT on the Wednesday after the race. Protests submitted after this 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
6.2 – Additional Lap 1 Rules
6.2.1 – All incidents on lap 1 are reviewed by the stewards regardless of protests submitted
6.2.2 – Any penalties accrued during lap 1 will be upgraded by 1 level
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 – Blue Flags
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
6.4 – Penalty Levels
6.4.1 – Incidents can be judged to be a level 1, 2, 3 or 4 penalty
6.4.2 – A level 1 penalty yields 1 license point and 5 penalty points
6.4.3 – A level 2 penalty yields 2 license points and 5 penalty points
6.4.4 – A level 3 penalty yields 3 license points and 10 penalty points
6.4.5 – A level 4 penalty yields 4 license points and 10 penalty points
6.4.6 – A level 1 penalty can be awarded for blocking in qualifying or a small error that causes contact when racing alongside another driver
6.4.7 – A level 2 penalty can be awarded for driving into the rear of another driver, being judged to have little control when making contact with a another driver when racing, blocking in reaction to an attempted move or causing contact or a driver to change their line by moving before or in the braking area
6.4.8 – A level 3 penalty can be awarded for attempting a reckless overtake, re-joining the track in an unsafe manner, deliberately defending against a driver who is attempting to lap you, brake checking, causing a collision due to attempting to drive an excessively damaged car or not escaping back to the pits when stationary in a dangerous part of the track
6.4.9 – A level 4 penalty is awarded when a driver has caused a level 3 offence on the first lap
6.4.10 – 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.
6.4.11 – Voice and text abuse sent from drivers can yield any penalty the stewards deem appropriate
6.4.12 – Apex Racing League reserves the right to apply any penalty they deem necessary for a specific incident regardless of the guidelines laid out above
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 – An appealed penalty can be upgraded
6.5.3 – A driver can request an appeal of an incident within 24 hours of the announcement in discord that all incidents have been reviewed
6.5.4 – Drivers have 1 unsuccessful appeal at their disposal. If they appeal an incident that is overturned (removed or downgraded), they will still have an appeal available for future rounds
6.6 – Penalty Points
6.6.1 – Penalty points will count, even if the incident was at a meeting the driver drops
6.6.2 – Penalty points count towards the teams championship as well as the drivers
6.6.3 – For every 2 license points a driver has at the end of the season, they will receive 20 penalty points
6.7 – Pit Lane Starts
6.7.1 – If a driver has 2 or more 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 take part in qualifying when they are serving their pit lane start. If a driver does take part in qualifying (enters the circuit) when serving their pit lane start, they will still have 2 points subtracted from their license but also be penalised with a level 1 offence
6.7.4 – 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
6.7.5 – 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
6.7.6 – 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 6.7.5
6.7.7 – 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 6.7.5
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
6.9 – Driver Conduct
6.9.1 – Drivers will be 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 – The iRacing sporting code applies to anything not mentioned in this document
6.10 – Car Change Penalty
6.10.1 – Drivers may only change cars once during the season
6.10.2 – If a driver changes car during the season they will receive a 50 point penalty
6.11 – Brake Dragging
6.11.1 – 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
6.11.2 – Stewards will only look at brake dragging instances that are protested by other drivers
6.11.3 – Brake dragging yields a level 4 penalty