NARS 2026 Championships
In 2026, NARS will be supporting 3 year-long championship series that will be running parallel to premier real world North American racing series.
The first two series to start will be the paired series of the Virtual Modern Sportscar Championship, featuring the SGS WSC 2026 mod (Hypercars and GT3s), and the supporting series of the Virtual Super Trofeo Cup, featuring the SGS 2025 Lamborghini Evo2 mod. Drivers will challenge themselves in single class then multiclass races on some of the best known and loved tracks in North America.
Our third series will bring open wheel action back to NARS with an Indycar road course championship and then a stand alone ovals series later in the year. For those of you that can’t get enough of Laguna Seca, Long Beach or Daytona, you’ll get another chance to indulge yourself plus test your skills in even more top tier North American racing venues.
THE CARS
NARS Super Trofeo Cup: SGS 2025 Lamborghini Huracan Evo2 GT3
VMSC: all SGS WSC 2026 Hypercars and GT3 cars
NARS Indycar Championship: S397 DLC Dallara IR18 as modified for the series
Drivers will need to be subscribed to the NARS and SGS WSC 2025 Steam Workshop items in order to race the STC and VMSC, and the S397 Indycar DLC for the Indycar Road and Oval series. Detailed instructions are in the NARS and VWSC channels of the CMS Discord.
We will also be using the CMS Safety Car, which is freely available at https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2965432751
‘Default’ car liveries will be available in the mods for each series; templates for custom liveries will be listed in the NARS or VWSC channel for this purpose on the CMS Discord.
THE CONSOLIDATED CALENDAR
The three championships are interweaved throughout the year, with driver having several preliminary events for each to get comfortable with their car before the racing starts in earnest.
|
Date |
Super Trofeo Cup |
VMSC |
Indycar Championship |
Other |
|
January |
||||
|
8 |
Prelim Event |
|||
|
15 |
Prelim Event |
|||
|
22 |
Prelim Event |
|||
|
29 |
Daytona Road |
|||
|
February |
||||
|
5 |
Daytona Road |
|||
|
12 |
Prelim Road Event |
|||
|
19 |
Prelim Road Event |
|||
|
26 |
Prelim Oval Event |
|||
|
March |
||||
|
5 |
Sebring |
|||
|
12 |
Sebring |
|||
|
19 |
Las Vegas |
|||
|
26 |
Barber Motorsports Park |
|||
|
April |
||||
|
2 |
Long Beach |
|||
|
9 |
Long Beach |
|||
|
16 |
Long Beach |
|||
|
23 |
Laguna Seca |
|||
|
30 |
Laguna Seca |
|||
|
May |
||||
|
7 |
Indianapolis Road |
|||
|
14 |
Detroit |
|||
|
21 |
“Indy 500″ Special Event |
|||
|
28 |
Detroit |
|||
|
June |
||||
|
4 |
Detroit |
|||
|
11 |
Watkins Glen |
|||
|
18 |
Watkins Glen |
|||
|
25 |
Road America |
|||
|
July |
||||
|
2 |
Mid-Ohio |
|||
|
9 |
Mosport |
|||
|
16 |
Mosport |
|||
|
23 |
Portland |
|||
|
30 |
Road America |
|||
|
August |
||||
|
6 |
Road America |
|||
|
13 |
Toronto |
|||
|
20 |
VIR |
|||
|
29 |
VIR |
|||
|
September |
||||
|
3 |
Laguna Seca |
|||
|
10 |
Indianapolis Road |
|||
|
17 |
Indianapolis Road |
|||
|
24 |
TBA |
|||
|
October |
||||
|
1 |
Road Atlanta |
|||
|
8 |
Road Atlanta |
|||
|
15 |
Oval Practice |
|||
|
22 |
Phoenix Oval |
|||
|
29 |
Indianapolis Speedway |
|||
|
November |
||||
|
5 |
WWT |
|||
|
12 |
Nashville |
|||
|
19 |
Milwaukee Mile |
|||
|
26 |
US Thanksgiving! |
|||
|
December |
||||
|
3 |
TBA |
|||
|
10 |
TBA |
|||
|
17 |
TBA |
|||
|
24 |
Christmas Eve! |
|||
|
31 |
NYE! |
Series Overview
NOTE: Detailed instructions for each race will be posted in the NARS Discord channels at least 5 days before the event.
Super Trofeo Cup
Drivers will compete head-to-head in two 30 minute sprints, standing start after a double file formation lap controlled by rF2. A 15 minute qualifying session will determine the starting order for R1 while gridding for R2 will be a modified reverse order of the R1 finishing positions.
In addition to the driver championships, drivers will also compete for the Hard Charger Cup (greatest number of positions gained in the first race) as well as the In the Groove Cup (most consistent driver compared to their own fastest lap) in both races.
VMSC
Drivers will compete individually or in teams of 2. Race events will be 20 minutes qualifying (10 minutes GT3s, 10 minutes Hypercars) followed by a 90 minute race. Rolling start, double file controlled by rF2.
There will be driver championships in addition to team championships for the two car classes (each team composed of a driver from each of the driver championships). Teams must announce themselves on the #26-teams channel and will count points as a team from that point forward, using their individual standings (drop rounds will be in effect) for a team total. Driver changes of car, class or championship will result in the recalculation of team points and possibly the dissolution of the team as determined by the series admin.
Drivers will also compete for the Hard Charger Cup (greatest number of positions gained in the first race) as well as the In the Groove Cup (most consistent driver compared to their own fastest lap).
Indycar Championship (Road and Oval)
Drivers will compete head-to-head in a fixed lap race with a rolling start, double file controlled by rF2. For the road events, the starting grid will be determined by a 15 minute qualifying session. For the oval events, qualifying will also be 15 minutes however drivers will have 2 laps to set their fastest lap in a 4 lap qualifying window that includes out and in laps.
There will be separate championships for the road and oval series. There will be two (PRO and AM) driver championships for each.
Drivers will also compete for the Hard Charger Cup (greatest number of positions gained in the first race) as well as the In the Groove Cup (most consistent driver compared to their own fastest lap).
Event Schedule (VMSC and Indycar)
7pm/1900 Eastern – Server Reboot / Practice
8:50pm/2050 Eastern – Driver Brief/Announcements
9:00pm/2100 Eastern – Qualifying
9:20 pm/2120 Eastern – Warm-up
9:30 pm/2130 Eastern – Call to Grid
Event Schedule (Super Trofeo)
7pm/1900 Eastern – Server Reboot / Practice
8:50pm/2050 Eastern – Driver Brief/Announcements
9:00pm/2100 Eastern – Qualification
9:20 pm/2120 Eastern – Warm-up
9:25 pm/2125 Eastern – Call to Grid Race 1 (30 minutes)
10:10 pm/2210 Eastern (approx) – Call to Grid Race 2 (30 minutes)
Orange Zone (OZ)
There will be an OZ designated for each race in the driver notes that will be posted to the NARS #race-info channel and noted again in the pre-race brief. There will be an automatic review of the OZ post-race by the series admin for incidents that will be submitted by IRR to the RRC.
Registration and Driver Classes
There is no pre-registration for the championship or races and drivers are free to join the series at any point. There will be, however, a pre-season call of interest as well as preliminary races for each series to aid in determining split of the paddock for the driver championships.
Regardless of driver class, each driver showing up on race night are expected to have completed all their preparations, including reading the series and race instructions, d/l and installation of the required mods, confirmation that their system and connection are working properly plus have completed enough single player and online practice on the CMS server to race competently and safely.
NARS will follow the same driver championship programme as the VWSC and so there will be two driver championships (PRO and AM) for all series – driver championship placement is determined by CMS stratification at the beginning of series based on the drivers that have expressed interest. This list is hosted and maintained in the CMS Discord. Note that depending on the drivers and their classification, there may be only ONE driver championship in any given series, at the decision of the series admin.
Drivers without a stable placement in the CMS stratification will join the series in the highest championship and may be reassigned once they have completed enough races to assess their actual competitive standing through the stratification site.
Drivers are free to pick the class and make of car of those available for each series. Changes of class (Hypercar to GT3 or vice versa) will always result in the forfeiture of points scored to that point. Change of car model may be made without penalty once only, before the third race in which the driver competes. After this point, changes of car model will result in full forfeiture of points scored to that point. A driver may change their championship (ie PRO or AM) only with the concurrence (voluntary) or direction (obligatory) of the series admin. In the case of a voluntary change, it is at the series admin discretion to recalculate points scored in the new championship.
Points will be awarded each race for championship standings with two ‘drop’ races for each driver over the course of the Super Trofeo, VMSC and Indycar road series. There will be no drop races for the Indycar oval series.
Details on how to follow championship results are provided at the NARS Discord channel.
Points
Super Trofeo Cup
20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 point thereafter
Pole in each driver championship receives 1 additional point in R1
Points will be awarded according to overall finishing position
Drivers must complete 70% race distance AND take the checkered flag under own power to be classified for race points
VMSC
25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 point for each car placing 10th or lower, scored by driver championship
Pole in each driver championship receives 1 additional point
Drivers must complete 70% race distance in their class AND take the checkered flag under own power to be classified for race points.
Indycar
50-40-35-32-30-28-26-24-22-20-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10 points thereafter
Pole in each class receives 1 additional point
Points will be awarded according to overall finishing position
Drivers must complete 70% race distance AND take the checkered flag under own power to be classified for race points.
In the Groove Cup(All series)
Points are gained by drivers driving the most consistently in the race compared to their own fastest race lap as follows: 10-9-8-7-65-4-3-2-1.
Only drivers that classify for race points are eligible to score points.
Hard Charger Trophy (All series)
Top 3 drivers gaining the most positions from their starting grid will score points as follows: 5-3-1. Drivers who are NQ will not be allowed to compete for points in that race. Reverse grid races will not score points for this Cup.
Only drivers that classify for race points are eligible to score points.
Custom Liveries and Numbers
CMS standard liveries are provided and drivers are encouraged to paint their own custom liveries. Links to templates can be found in the #links-nars-read-first channel. Submission dates for the VMSC and STC will be as announced for the VWSC. Submission date for the Indycar road series will be announced in the NARS Discord Channel.
If you miss the submission date for the start of the season and still want to run your livery, custom skin uploading is welcome and encouraged, but please log onto the server a couple of days before to mitigate server load from skin transfers on race day. Admins reserve the right to refuse liveries that they judge are unsuitable/inappropriate.
The use of the NARS numbering system is required for custom liveries and drivers not yet holding a NARS racing number may choose from those available. Simply follow the directions contained in the spreadsheet that you can access through the #links-nars-read-first channel in the CMS Discord.
Settings
We will use the latest stable build of rFactor 2.
The damage setting is 75%.
Crash Recovery is off. Drive carefully!
Driving View is open.
Auto Clutch, Blip, Lift and Brakes/Clutch are the only rF2 global aids available.
2x fuel on all cars except when specifically noted in the pre-race notes.
Pitting will be at the discretion of the drivers for all series. For the Indycar road and oval series, drivers will be required to use both tire choices at least once in each race. This requirement will be lifted in the event of a wet race and rain tires are used.
Weather will always be live weather conditions.
The server name will be “CMS [series] [track name]”.
The server race password will be provided when the server is rebooted on race day.
All races will be live-streamed on YouTube at our channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Kdp07PvIeW47f0_sM0emw
Race Communications
We will use the CMS Discord rFactor 2 voice channel for race communications.
CMS Discord is available at https://discord.com/invite/4ckmjPX
The voice channel is only required to monitor race control during the event. You do not need a microphone if you do not want to speak.
If you have a microphone, please set it to “push to talk”. If that just doesn’t work for you, PLEASE set the voice-activated audio level up considerably so your coughing, wheezing or sim controls grinding isn’t “shared” with everyone else. Don’t be “that guy/girl”.
Chatter during free practice is permitted and encouraged! For qualification and races, please be brief in your communication on Discord and talk only if absolutely necessary. One sentence then quiet is requested. No text chat AT ALL during qualification or race.
Abusive and/or profane in-game chat, Discord, or forum post language may lead to that driver receiving a sanction up to and including a ban from CMS.
Should a driver join the event server without being in the Discord channel, they will be reminded in rFactor 2 text chat to join the CMS Discord server. if they have not joined the voicechat at the start of the driver brief, they will be removed from the race server by race control until they rejoin with Discord active and monitoring the voice channel.
Competition Rules and Stewarding
This series will conform to the CMS General Competition Rules that may be found on the CMS Discord Server. All drivers are expected to know the GCR and shall be required to abide by them. Additional track-specific instructions will be provided via a drivers race brief that will be posted on in the applicable NARS Discord channel and summarized prior to the start of the qualifying session on race night.
Pit Entry/Exit Lines: On circuits that a white line is drawn at the pit road entry or/and exit, crossing this white line to entry or/end exit the pit is prohibited unless specifically permitted in a pre-race brief. Otherwise, it is permissible for tires to step on the white line, but crossing the line with one tire completely will result in a post-race Incident Review Request and penalty.
There are no live stewards. A post-race Incident Review Request may be submitted for adjudication with any resultant penalties to be added retroactively as a time penalty to the finishing time of the driver(s) at fault. The IRR form may be found at https://cmsracing.com/incident-report/.
rFactor 2 system assigned penalties during races must be served. The Race Director will only have the capability to clear penalties and driver DQ during practice on the race server and then AFTER qualification but before the race.
Connection Notes
Drivers are strongly advised to reboot their computer just before joining the server on race night.
Don’t use a WiFi connection. Only Ethernet cable connections are permitted for NARS events.