Series Overview

The CMS iRacing Team Endurance Series (iRTES) is modelled after the FIA World Endurance Championship, with teams using prototypes or GT3 cars. At each race cars must use either 2 or 3 drivers, drawn from their previously-registered roster. All races will feature lone qualifying sessions before a race lasting a minimum of 3 hours. The organisers will limit the number of entries in each class, and some classes of car may be subdivided into PRO and AM championships. Such items will be mentioned in the league sign-up information.

Teams entering iRTES must pick a particular class and vehicle to use for the entire season.

A team may enter several cars under the same or similar titles, in any combination of classes. Each car entered by a team will grant them 6 roster slots but just 2 driver replacement opportunities during the season. At each race a team may freely select from their driver roster to create the 2- or 3-man squad for each of their cars, except for the limitations of any AM championships.

Teams can nominate drivers to their roster up to 24 hours before each race (i.e. no last-minute additions).

As a team nominates its drivers, Admins from the league will subjectively assign PRO [professional] or AM [amateur] status to each person based upon a combination of previous performances by that driver (both in iRTES and elsewhere) and their iRating history.  Where a class includes a PRO/AM split, team managers will be informed of the status assigned to their drivers, and they will be able to withdraw nominations before they are officially registered.

Any team which uses a PRO driver in a car that is participating in AM class will see that car excluded from the results of that race. If Admins notice the mistake during the race, they may remove the car from the event immediately.

Eligible Cars

Other important documents

All participants must read and follow the CMS General Competition Rules (GCR), which are in effect for all races at CMS.

This document (iRTES Sporting Code) supplemental rules specific to the iRTES competition.

The GCR and this iRTES Sporting Code are enforced by the CMS Race Review Committee (RRC)—on track incidents, and Admin staff—team eligibility, classification, championship points/scoring, etc.

The latest published version of the iRacing Sporting Code is also jointly in effect on all iRacing sessions, as enforced by iRacing.

Server Schedule (all times GMT)

15:30 › Practice (75 minutes)
16:30 › Mandatory Drivers Meeting
16:45 › Solo Qualifying (15 minutes, 3 laps)
17:00 › Race (3 to 6 hours)

Server Settings

Only registered members of the iRTES league will be able to join the race server as a driver or crew. Spectating should be available to anyone.

One Fast Repair will be allowed to teams at each race. iRacing’s realistic and dynamic ‘Forecasted weather’ mode will be active at each race, although Admins may specifically prevent or guarantee the chance of rain. The Race Briefing will draw attention to any expectation of rain or fog.

Incident limits for all races, regardless of length, will be 20/16x. That is, a first drive-through penalty at 20x, then another drive-through every 16x beyond that. There will be no disqualification through incident points.

Practice, Qualifying and the Race will be set to follow closely after each other in virtual time. If conditions are damp or wet there may be a longer gap between qualifying and the race.

The driver that qualifies the car must start the race.

iRacing ‘Fair Share’ requirements for driving time will be in place. Teams must use at least two, but no more than three drivers per event. If a team is knowingly unable to meet the minimum driver requirement, that team must not take part in the race. Of course, unforeseen circumstances may occur occasionally, but if it becomes certain by 50% race distance that a team will be unable to meet this requirement, the team should retire their entry and withdraw from the race. Failure to do so may incur additional penalties at the next race or other sanctions.

Tire and Fuel Limits

Fuel and tire set limits for each class of car will be communicated within each event’s Race Briefing. If conditions are expected to include any damp or wet running, there will be no tire limits at all.

Championship points

(All classes and Gold Cup)

Tie breakers

In the event of a tie at the series conclusion, a countback of class finishing positions will be used to break any ties. The first tiebreaker will be the number of first place finishes; if a tie remains, then second place finishes; then third place finishes, etc., until the tie is broken. If this method fails to break the tie, the team with the better finish in the final race will win the tiebreaker.

Gold Cup

There will be a stand-alone individual drivers’ championship for drivers aged 50 and over at the start of the championship. Participation is optional for those eligible.

Starts

All events will use a rolling start with a designated Acceleration Zone (AZ), which will be highlighted in each event’s Race Briefing. The AZ is an area around the start/finish line during which all cars must hold formation and pace speed until their respective class polesitter decides to begin accelerating. All drivers in every class must ignore the green flags and/or lights displayed within the game and wait for their polesitter to accelerate.

It is expected that the polesitter should be the first car in each class to cross the starting line. A penalty may be issued to cars that beat the polesitter to the line except in the following circumstances:

1. Polesitter starts to accelerate but then slows
2. Wheelspin and/or crash by the polesitter
3. Mis-shifts or other issues slowing the polesitter’s acceleration

Excepting the front row as noted above, either car within each row may be first to the starting line without penalty, but may not pass cars from other rows before the starting line, unless those drivers fall back in the order due to a crash or other clear issue.

All drivers must maintain position until the start, with no ‘laying back’ or other attempts made to “game” or jump the start. No tire warming or weaving is allowed, however dragging the brakes is deemed acceptable.

If different to the marked Start Line, the point at which passing can commence during a race start will also be noted in the Race Briefing.

Orange Zone

Each race will use an Orange Zone (OZ). Orange Zones will be marked on a track map in the Race Briefing. All drivers are expected to be more cautious within the OZ to help avoid early race-ending incidents. Penalties arising from Orange Zone incidents are almost always more severe.

Race Control & Communications

Race Control instructions, communications, penalties, and the pre-race briefing will be conducted using iRacing voice and text chat, utilizing the @RACECONTROL channel. During race and qualifying, voice and text communications/macros should be avoided. Abusive language in the iRacing voice and text chat, or Discord voice and text channels, may lead to probation, suspension or banning from the league.

Public discussion of incidents in any CMS or iRacing channel, including the “calling out” of other drivers, is against CMS rules. Take your discussions to DMs, and/or file an Incident Review Request with the stewards.

Blue Flags

In accordance with the CMS General Rules, blue flags are advisory in nature. It is the responsibility of all drivers and teams participating in iRTES to read and comply with the GCR Blue Flag rules. Please see this link for details.

Team Rules

Team managers are responsible for ensuring their drivers are members of the correct team within iRacing, as well as registering them to their iRTES roster via the league Admins.

Teams are also responsible for correctly registering their vehicle (including allocated car number) and their drivers to the server at each race. Mistakes in that process cannot be rectified by league Admins.

Drivers will be sent invites to the league after the team manager registers them. These are not always obvious to the user so drivers are encouraged to search for the iRTES league and look to accept their invitation there.

If a team changes to a different car during the season, all previous points will be forfeited.

Red Flag Conditions

If the race must be stopped for any reason (e.g., mass disconnects, etc.) the following procedures shall apply at the discretion of Race Control:

Less than 50% race duration completed

If less than half of the scheduled duration has been covered), Race Control will announce that the race will be restarted. A new race server will be started, and the race will begin anew. At the discretion of Race Control, the length of the race may be decreased. A race that completes more than 25% but less than 50% of the scheduled duration will award half- points.

More than 50% race duration completed

If more than half of the scheduled duration has been covered, Race Control will direct the remaining cars to drive back to the pits and line up at the pit lane exit in order entered. As drivers rejoin the session, Race Control will initiate a SC period and give further instructions.

If Race Control determines the race cannot be restarted (e.g., insufficient remaining time or laps), the race finishing order will be determined using the last ‘good’ lap before the manifestation of the circumstance(s) necessitating the race stoppage. Full points will be awarded.

Penalties

Penalties can be applied one of two ways:

1. iRacing automated Race Control penalties (including but not limited to; slow-downs, black flags, incident limits, )
2. Penalties assigned by the steward team based on Incident Review Requests (IRRs) submitted by team managers or, in exceptional cases, series admins.

Penalties will be at the discretion of the CMS Race Review Committee (“stewards”).

Any penalties arising from stewards’ decisions post-race will be applied to the race results. Therefore results are not final until all open investigations are closed.

These league-wide rules can be found at CMS General Rules & Regulations.

Reporting Of Incidents

For links to all relevant resources, such as Incident Review Requests, please visit the iRTES Race Review Committee (RRC) portal.

We only review incidents that are submitted.

During an event, teams may submit Incident Review Requests (IRRs) for live stewards to review via the IRR form linked above. Once an IRR is submitted, it will be reviewed by the stewards, and visible (in terse form) in the published incident list. Results are published at the same link, and will usually be visible on the official race broadcast as well.

If a team is unable to submit an IRR during the race, teams will 24 hours from the time the official race replay is posted to submit an IRR using the same form. In addition, IRRs that are submitted very near the end of the race, or those which require more detailed analysis, may be Deferred to be reviewed after the race, at the discretion of the Lead Steward.

All incident decisions will have been reviewed by at least two experienced stewards, and are final. However, team managers are welcome to contact the Lead Steward via Direct Message for clarification or explanation. Please do not discuss incidents in public channels.

CMS Golden Rule (GR)

The CMS Golden Rule is simple: Treat others as you would like others to treat you. If you cause someone else difficulties and you gain unfairly as a result, give the position back.

Performing the GR is completely up to drivers and doing so does not guarantee the reduction of any potential penalties. However, the stewards may (at their discretion) show leniency in applying penalties if all of the following are true:

• It is performed immediately at the scene of the incident,
• It is done in a safe manner and without impeding other drivers on track, and
• Damage to the other driver(s) is minimal and he/she did not suffer any position loss or receive heavy damage.

Attendance Policy

Our events are the most fun and immersive when we have a full grid.  Also, with sponsors and partners involved in iRTES it is important that we show a robust event. Team owners are asked to advise iRTES administration if they will miss an upcoming race.

We realize that there are times when it is necessary to have to miss gridding. By providing iRTES administration with advance notice we can make appropriate plans should we need to allow a team on “waiting list” to attend the event.

If teams fail to let iRTES admins know ahead of time, the team manager will subsequently be contacted post-race. The team manager will have up to 48 hours to provide confidence on attending future races, else the entry may be removed from the league and replaced with the next available team on the “waiting list”.

Additionally, any unpaid teams will need to have paid their fees prior to 72 hours of race start or are subject to be replaced on grid by a waiting list team.