Formula NRD 2023 Regulations

* In orange: Changes compared to Formula NRD 2022 regulations

1.- Initial Considerations

2.- Introductions and Registrations

3.- Calendar and Schedules

4.- Important Information about GPs

5.- Allowed Aids

6.- Race Conditions

7.- GP Attendance

8.- Points system

9.- Qualifying

10.- Warmup and Warm-up lap

11.- Race

12.- Complaints and penalties

13.- About The Server

14.- Game Optimization

15.- Pre-qualification

16.- Driving License

17.- Final Considerations

1.- Initial Considerations

1.1 – NRD League Members

We consider a member of this league all drivers registered in our forum. Members constitute NRD Community. Everybody has the right to belong to this Community unless the Organization revokes acceptance. NRD Members are divided into the following groups:

– Regular Members

– Drivers: all members registered into a Championship

– Press: They work actively in the press department

– Collaborators: they help Organizers in specific areas

– Marshals: The review complaints and decide penalties

– Organizers: They administer NRD League at multiple levels: website, simulator, championship, community...

1.2 – Simulator: Formula NRD uses rFactor2 and Formula NRD car, created specifically for this championship.

To participate in this league you need a legal copy of rFactor2.

1.3 – Calendar: Formula NRD 2022 consists of 22 Grand Prix. More information in section 3 (Calendar and Schedule)

1.4 – About regulations and official communications: All drivers must read the regulations in their entirety and obey the rules contained in them to participate in this league. They must also read any modification to it made during the season. Any official communication made in the forum is also a must-read for all drivers. If there's any contradiction between forum communications and the regulations, forum will take priority.

2.- Introductions and Registrations

2.1 – Introducing Formula NRD

It's the most important category in NRD League, in which we race Formula 1-like cars. The grid is composed of a maximum of 22 official drivers divided in 11 teams and a maximum total of 24 drivers. Organization reserves the rights to ban drivers out of the league because of their behaviour both in track and the forum.

2.2 – Registrations and other details

Before season starts, a pre-registration period will be open. All drivers wanting to participate in formula NRD 2023 must pre-register in the forum thread created for that matter.

Once the registration period is finished, a list containing all drivers and their numbers will be published. Teams can register 2 of these drivers. The rest if the drivers will be considered drivers without team. These drivers will take the seats created by official drivers absences. There are 2 grid spots always reserved for drivers without teams, even if they're not replacing an official driver

Teams must have a manager, who doesn't need to be an official driver and will represent the team when talking to organizers. Managers are responsible for recruiting drivers for the team (subject to organization's approval), no-attendance of drivers, finding a replacement for absent official drivers and following the regulations.

Once teams have been created, managers will register the team in the adequate time period, announcing all drivers. During this period, more detailed information will be given by Organization.
For image reasons, it's not allowed that 2 or more teams have similar names. For example, there can't be 2 Peugeot teams (like "Peugeot 1" and "Peugeot 2"). There can be 2 associated teams but names must be different (like "Red Bull" and "Toro Rosso")

It's mandatory for a team to have a distinctive livery and for image reasons, livery must include the NRD logo in a visible place. Driver number must be clearly visible and placed in the car nose. It could also be repeated in some other places, at the team discretion. More information about liveries can be found in the forum.

As soon as possible after car release, organizers will give templates to paint the car. Liveries must be sent as soon as possible within the alotted time.

If an official driver wants to switch team at any time in the season, both team's managers should inform organization. Organizarion reserves rights to remove any team from the league if they fail to follow regulations repeatedly.
A manager can replace his official drivers at any time of the season after notifying the organization. If a manager knows that an official driver can't attend a GP, he must look for a replacement among pre-qualified, teamless drivers. There is more information about absences, replacements and teamless drivers in point 7. 

3.- Calendar and Schedule

Formula NRD 2023 will be, as in previous years similar to Formula 1 calendar. There can be variations for exceptional situations. Before each race, local race time will be published so that drivers can check the weather forecast

Schedule: Sundays at 21:45 CET

Formula NRD full schedule can be verified in the "calendar" section of the website.
Some races can take place in a date other than real-life F1 for any reason the organization decides it's relevant. That's why it's important to verify race dates in the forum and the website.

4.- Important Information about GPs

4.1 – Detailed Schedule for Formula NRD

21:45 – Briefing: Drivers must be in Discord channel to receive last-minute instructions (if any) and ask any questions.

21:50 – Practice server starts (it can happen a few minutes before this time)

22:00 – Q1 starts (12 minutes)

22:13 – Q2 starts (10 minutes).

22:24 – Warm-up starts (7 minutes)

22:32 – Grand Prix starts.

23:47 – Race Ends

• All times are Central European Time (CET). Times are also approximate.

4.2 – Important Considerations

4.2.1 – Schedule will be followed as strictly as possible. Race server sill be password-protected, which will be sent via e-mal a few hours before the Grand Prix, along with weather forecast and some other important informations. If any driver doesn't receive the email containing the password, he should get in touch with the organization, preferably through Discord or Whatsapp. Attending the pre-race briefing is not mandatory, but strongly recommended.

Important: standard way to provide race passwords is email. Participants shouldn't use other methods (like Whatsapp) in a regular basis. That method is intended for urgent cases only.

4.2.2 – If any participant can't attend the GP at the scheduled time, he should notify organizers, so they will tell him when to enter.

4.2.3 – Race passwords are for exclusive use of NRD League Drivers. If any driver gives passwords to other people without organizers permission, he could be banned from the league immediately.

5- Allowed Aids

The Following Driving Aids Are Allowed:
– Automatic Clutch

Any other driving aid is disabled

6.- Race Conditions

6.1 – Simulation conditions in Formula NRD

Total length: 70% real-life F1 total race distance

Real-Life F1 races hace a minimum distance of 305 Km. 70% of that distance is 213.5 Km. (with the only exception of the Monaco GP).

Organizers will adjust technical features of the car, like tyres or fuel consumption to race length. Race length is specified in the "Calendar" section of the website.

So, these are the simulator settings for our races:

– Tyre consumption: normal
– Fuel Consumption: normal
– Mechanical failures: normal
– Damage multiplier: 100%
– Multiplicador de RealRoad: 2x

As an example, if Spanish GP distance is 66 laps, (307,2 km.), Formula NRD race distance will be 46 laps (215,0 km.) . About weather, drivers should be aware that, as we get a rain chance % from our weather provider, it could happen that there's rain in real life but not in our race (or the other way around).

6.2 – Grand Prix Weather Conditions

All Grand Prix sessions will take place under realistic weather conditions at real-life race time (usually 14:10 or 15:10 CET). We use percentages of rain chance, so unless the percentage is 0 or 100, there's no guarantee if it's going to rain or not. Weather conditions are automatically captured on the server from «www.accuweather.com» website. Weather forecast will be sent along the race password by email a few hours before the race.

Weather forecast will be taken 2 hours before each session and will be published automatically in the website as it's being downloaded by the provider. This is the correspondence between real-life sessions and simulator sessions:

– Practice: Saturday, 3 hours before real-life Q1.
– Q1: Saturday, same time as real-life Q1
– Q2: Saturday, 1 hour after real-time Q1 starts
– Warmup: Sunday, 3 hours before real-life race
- Race (1st half). Sunday, real-life race start time
- Race (2nd half). Sunday, 1 hour after real-life race start time

In the case of the pratice and warmup sessions, forecast from the previous hour will also be taken, and depending on predictions and server calculations, these sessions could start with wet track even if it's not raining at the start.

From a weather point of view, sessions are divided into sections whose durations are partially random. Weather can change in the transition beween sections. Server will do it automatically. Practice sessions is divided into 8-minute sections, Qualifying section is divided into 2 sections, Warmup section has only 1 section and race has 8 sections each one with a random duration beween 6 and 14 minutes.

Variables impacting weather conditions are rain chance %, max and minimum amount of rain, cloud cover % and ambient temperature in ºC. Track temperature is automatically calculated by RF2 depending on those variables.

6.3 – In-track rubber and wetness (Realroad)

Rubber will be accumulating on track along the sessions, with realroad multiplier set to x2. Practice session will start with an small amount of rubber and it will start evolving: rubber accumulation in dry conditions and wetness in case of rain. There's only 1 case in wich track state is not carried into the next session: Beginning of warmup, as it depends on the weather forecast of the hour before session start.

6.4 – About using the chat during races

Using the chat is strictly forbidden during qualifying and race sessions. Any driver doing it will receive a penalty, as it can distract drivers on track. If possible, organizers will warn him and could be removed from Grand Prix if he repeats his behaviour.
Previous paragraph applies also to voice chat. It's strictly forbidden that a driver enters other team's channel to discuss any incident during qualifying or race. Organizers could do it under exceptional circumstances.

As chat is the main in-race method to receive organization messages, all drivers should pay attention into it.

7.- Absences, replacements and teamless drivers

The organization asks the official drivers and all pre-classified drivers to notify their absences in the "pre-race" forum post, and specify if they will be one-time, repeated or permanent.

If the missing is an official driver for a team, the manager of that team must select a teamless driver who is pre-qualified to cover the absence of an official driver. This driver will use the third car, with the number "S", will share the box and will score points for that team in that GP. It may be the case that a team participates with two "S" cars if both official drivers are replaced.

This is entirely manager's responsibility, and the organization will not assign teamless drivers to empty spots on teams. The deadline to make the substitution is the end of the GP practice session. By the time Q1 starts, you can no longer make driver changes from one car to another.

No team can participate with more than two drivers, so there can be no more than two cars from the same team on the server on the day of the GP.

If all the official driver places are occupied, or the drivers without a team have not been invited to any team, these drivers may have 2 places to participate using the generic car.

8.- Points system

8.1 – Points by position in Formula NRD

1st position: 25 points

2nd position: 18 points

3rd position: 15 points

4th position: 12 points

4th position: 10 points

6th position: 8 points

7th position: 6 points

8th position: 4 points

9th position: 2 points

10th position: 1 point

Fastest Lap: 1 point

8.2 – Things to keep in mind:

– Points will only be given to drivers completing 90% of laps completed by the race winner
– Drivers using the "generic" car won't score any points for Teams Championship
– To score the fastest lap point, the driver must finish the race in positions 1st to 10th.
– If driver with the fastest race lap finishes the race in positions 11th or higher, or doesn't complete 90% of race winner laps, the fastest lap point will not be given to any driver.

9.- About Qualifying

9.1 – Qualifying is composed of 2 sessions:

– Q1. Duration: 12 minutes.

– Q2. Tiene una duración de 10 minutos.

10 best drivers in Q1 advance to Q2. There's no limit in the number of laps.

9.2 – Parc Fermé: Car setup will be locked after the first timed lap. Only these parameters can be modified after Qualifying:

– Amount of fuel, tyre compound, front wing and brake bias.

9.3 – DRS can be used anytime in the allowed zones. This is valid for free practice, qualifying and warmup.

9.4 – Parc Ferme will apply for all drivers blocking setup until the race. If a driver breaks parc ferme (it can be done exiting the multiplayer session and changing a setting in the "Upgrades" menu) all qualifying times will be invalidated and should start the race from the pit lane. If a driver decides to break parc ferme to change setup freely after qualifying, it can be done in warmup, preferably informing organization about it.

9.5 – During qualifying it is not allowed to press ESC to return to the pits and go back to the track in the same session, unless the driver is in his pit stop box, in his garage or in the space between the exit of your garage and the pitlane finish line. If the driver presses ESC or disconnects from the session anywhere on the track outside the pitlane and returns to the track, he will be automatically disqualified from the session and his times will be deleted. If he presses ESC inside the pitlane but without going back to his pit box and then goes back out on the track, he will receive a penalty of 2 points + 10 seconds after the Grand Prix.

9.6 – Drivers not in timed lap must allow drivers in timed lap to pass without losing any time. If a driver not in timed lap block others in timed lap intentionally, will receive a penalty after the race with same severity as a race incident. The blocked driver must ask for a steward review after the race.

9.7 – It's strictly forbidden to stop or drive too slow in the racing line in last sector of the track to leave space with preceding driver. You can drive slow, but not to stop outside of the racing line. It is also not allowed to stop voluntarily to press ESC from the finish line until after the apex of the first corner to avoid yellow flags in the last sector.

9.8 – If a driver has an accident or mechanical problem and the car can be repaired, it's allowed to get back to the pits driving outside the racing line. If the car has no rear wing or has lost some wheel, driver must retire immediately pressing ESC. It's not allowed to get back on track again in that session, as instructed by point 9.5. Non-compliance of this rule will mean the driver will be disqualified.

9.9 – Cut track in qualifying

During Qualifying session, we'll use same criteria for track-cuts described in article 11.7. Only difference is deciding if it's critical cut or not, which will be decided by the marshalls. Cuts during a qualy flying lap will receive a penalty of 5 seconds if small or 10 grid places for next GP in case of serious cut.

9.10 – Drivers receiving a "start from pitlane" penalty

Drivers with a "start from pitlane" penalty can't participate in the qualifying session. If they do, they will be disqualified.

10.- Warmup and Warm-up lap

10.1 – Warmup and start tests

Warmup session is meant for drivers to prepare their cars for race start. Participation is optional.
During this session, start tests are allowed. To avoid incidents, tests must be done keeping the race line clear. That is, you can use main straight for it, but don't use grid positions in the race line. As in any other session, it's forbidden to stop the car in any other place into the track.

10.2 – Warm-Up Lap

10.2.1 – Warm Up Lap is mandatory for all drivers starting from the grid. Driver in pole position must be the first one to start moving. All others must follow him without overtaking any other driver.
If there's a driver not completing this lap, can receive a penalty after race. If a driver see any other driver doing strange movements during the lap, must inform marshalls.
At the end of warm-up lap, all drivers must return to right position in the grid. If you're slightly out of position, you can use reverse, given it's no risk for other drivers. It's strictly forbidden to drive slower than usual to make drivers already in the grid have engine overheating. In case 2 or more drivers blow up engine before lights-out, organizers can decide to restart the race. Drivers blowing up can rereive a penalty after race.

10.2.2 – If some driver loses control of the car and does out of track, other drivers should overtake him if the out-of-track driver can't get into the track again in approximately 5 seconds. If a driver can't recover his position, he'll have to let all other drivers pass and then reach his position in the grid.

10.2.3 – It's totally forbidden to touch or collide with any other driver. If there's a collision and a car suffers damage, the driver in the damaged car must press ESC and start the race from the pitlane. If there's no damage, warm-up lap will be completed normally.

10.2.4 – It's totally forbidden to stop the car in the racing line to slow down other drivers or to heat tyres. If there's any incident because of this, the driver can receive a penalty after race.

10.2.5 – If a driver sees any error in grid order during formation lap, he can send a message to organization asking for revision. Typically, organization will red-flag the race to get back to the warmup, review and correct grid order if needed, and then restarting the race. If grid order was initially correct and red flag was requested unnecessarily or for a reason different than checking the grid order, the requesting driver can receive a penalty.

10.2.6 – If driver wants to go to pits at the end of the formation lap, he can do it going back to his pit position and pressing ESC. Then he must start the race from pit lane according to procedure described in 10.3. Rfactor2 doesn't allow a pit stop until race has started, so stopping at pit position and not pressing ESC is considered a rule infringement and driver can receive a penalty for that.

10.3 – Starting from pit lane

To start from pit lane, driver must stay in the garage until pre-race countdown is over. When formation lap has started, he can exit the garage at any time. During formation lap, pit exit light will stay red and pit exit line can't be crossed until light goes green. That happens after race start and after all drivers have surpassed pit exit.

If a driver decides to start from pitlane and decision is made before race session start (warmup, for example), he should inform organization about it using the in-game chat so grid can be adjusted to avoid any gaps in it.

11.- Race

11.1 – Anticheat

Anticheat software "Simracingtools" is mandatory during GP. If a driver races with anticheat disabled, will be disqualified from GP.

Anticheat software is currently disabled because it's a know reason for lag. We could resume using it at any time if it's safe.

11.2 – Race start

Drivers are requested to be very careful at the start, because it'a a high-risk moment. Drivers shouldn't try any actions that could result in multi-car collisions or retirement of other drivers.

In case of heavy rain, organizers can decide to perform a start behind the Safety Car. In that case, drivers will perform a warm-up lap and start will be a rolling one, without stopping in the grid.

Organization reccomends to take special care in avoiding spins in race start. These incidents could receive a penalty because of its danger.

First 10 drivers in the grid (before applying penalties), that is, drivers advancing to Q2 must start the race with same tyre compound used in Q1 best lap. There are exceptions to this rule: if they start the race with a wet compound or the best time in q1 was done with wet tyres and race start with dry weather. Any driver not following this rule will be disqualified.
If any driver causes a collision or retirement of other driver could be disqualified if organizers estimate it's intentional.
It's also strictly forbidden to use pit limiter at race starts. That kind of pit limiter usage can lead to driver disqualification and even a grid penalty for next GP.

11.3 – Direction Changes at Start

There can be only 2 changes of diretion at race start. If a driver moves more than 2 times, can receive a penalty and if it creates a multi-car incident it could be disqualified.

11.4 – Overtaking

Overtakings are critical times at any race. 2 changes of direction are allowed in that manouver: One by the overtaking driver to get out of the slipstream of the preceding driver and a second one by the defending driver to defend his position. Those direction changes must be done in the acceleration phase. It's strictly forbidden to change direction during braking.
Como norma general: si el piloto que adelanta (A) sitúa su rueda delantera a la altura de la rueda trasera del piloto que es adelantado (B), se considera que están rodando en paralelo y el piloto que es adelantado (B) no podrá realizar un cambio de dirección para cerrar la puerta al piloto que le está adelantando (A). Esta maniobra únicamente está permitida cuando el piloto que adelanta (A) aun no está en paralelo, es decir, no ha llegado a la altura de la rueda trasera del piloto que es adelantado (B).
When 2 drivers are running in parallel, they must drive a "Double Lane" (or triple if they are 3 drivers) in parallel to track limits. A driver being in parallel to others, not following this rule and invading other driver's space, colliding with him or forcing him out of the track could receive a penalty, as this manouver is considered illegal.

11.5 – Mechanical problems, damage and retirement

If a driver has any type of mechanichal problem and drives at an abnormally reduced speed, will keep himself out of the racing line. If the problem can't be repaired and the driver is going to retire, he must drive back to pits out of the racing line or stopping out of track and pressing ESC.

It's strictly forbidden to finish the race with a seriously damaged car, with one exception: the damage happened in the last 3 laps of the race. In case of not-so-serious damage, like a bent suspension, the driver can finish the race as long as he doesn't pose any danger to other participants.

If a damaged car can't moved and it's stopped inside the white lines defining track limits, driver should press ESC to abandon the race before 30 seconds. If the car going to abandon the race can move outside of the white lines, the car should be stopped out of the track and driver should wait a maximum of 90 seconds (we recommend a minimum of 60). Drivers breaking this time limit can receive a penalty.

11.6 – Track Cuts

Avoiding a part of the track and rejoining it is considered a track cut if stewards see it's been done intentionally to gain laptime. Drivers cutting track can receive a penalty both by Rfactor2 in real time and the stewards after the race.
A cut gaining less than 1 second it's considered small. If gain is more than 1 second it's considered a serious cut.
Drivers have no limit to use the track, always inside the limits, of course . Organizers can edit tracks to add obstacles to avoid track cuts, either on the inside or the outside of the corners. Se habilitará también el sistema de detección de recortes del simulador, que invalidará automáticamente el tiempo por vuelta actual en caso de recorte, y podrá imponer un Drive Thru al piloto en caso de efectuar más de 3 recortes en carrera. Tras la actualización en Agosto, el nuevo sistema de recortes podrá imponer un Drive Thru al piloto en caso de superar 5 puntos acumulados.
These are some basic rules to decide what can be considered a track cut or not:
There must always be 2 wheels into the track. We consider "track" the tarmac area in the middle of 2 white lines, each one at one side of the track.
Kerbs, grass areas, tarmac outside the white lines, or astroturf are not part of the track.
It's not allowed to put 4 wheels out of the track in a corner to gain time, no matter it's on the inside (apex) or the outside of the track.
If a driver does a one-time cut at some point of the race, it doesn't deserve a penalty because it can be a driving mistake. If adriver realizes it's cutting and thinks it can be penalized, must reduce speed to avoid gaining time. This is not valid for continued cuts, but it's suggested for one-time cuts like missing the braking point. If a driver gains any position by cutting, must return the gained positions and wait 1 more corner before attacking again.

11.7 – Going Out of track and yellow flags

In case a driver goes out of track, must rejoin the track as near as possible to the poing he went out. Apart from this, he must be careful to avoid incidents with other drivers. If a driver cuts a corner to avoid an accident, it's allowed as long as he doesn't get an advantage from the action.
When Rfactor 2 shows a yellow flag as a result of an incident, it's strictly forbidden to overtake. If a driver overtakes any other under yellow flags, will receive a penalty for it. Drivers must drive carefully in yellow flag areas. In case a driver creates another incident in a yellow flag area, will receive a bigger penalty for not driving carefully.

11.8 – Safety Car & Full Course Yellow

Safety Car is a vehicle activated and controlled by the simulator that can enter the track in case there's a serious accident in the race session. In case of SC activation, this is the protocol to follow:

11.8.1 –Full Course Yellow raised and Safety Car enters the track

Everytime there's a collision, simulator will measure the seriousness of the incident and will decide if SC is needed. That calculation is automated and the result is not decided by organizers. If accident is serious enough, procedure will start by showing Full Course Yellow.

During the entire Full Course Yellow, overtaking is totally prohibited throughout the circuit except the pitlane and the use of blue flags is suspended. If at the start of the procedure two or more drivers are parallel as defined in point 11.4 and there is no speed differential between them that clearly places one car in front of another, the driver who is on the inside of the next corner should be in front.

Therefore, once the procedure has started and after a reasonable reaction time, all drivers must follow the one in front without overtaking, with no drivers in parallel and point 11.8 being strictly applied throughout the circuit, with the following exceptions.

Overtaking is allowed only in these cases:

– Driver in front is out of the track, with 4 wheels out of the white lines.
– Driver in front has any wheel inside the track but is stopped or spun.
– Driver in front has any wheel inside white lines, going back to track at a slow speed, which makes more dangerous braking than overtaking. In case of doubt, race direction reccommends not to overtake.
– Overtaking is allowed from pitlane entry line until pitlane exit line.

Drivers can follow onscreen instructions, which will inform them which driver to follow until the end of SC procedure. However, this information is orientative and it's driver's responsibility to know who's in front in race standing.

Safety Car will get to track in front of race leader, and this must be the first car behind Safety Car. If there are other cars between the leader and the Safety Car, all of those drivers must overtake the Safety Car even if on-screen messages don't say that.

Drivers must group behind the Safety Car and can enter pits at anytime.

11.8.2 – Re-grouping after the Safety Car and Unlapping

Once grouped, drivers must keep a maximum distance of 10 cars with car in front and can drive "zig-zag" to warm tyres up same way they do during formation lap, except a car behind them is unlapping.

Once the whole pack is grouped, the server will indicate by means of a message that unlapping is starting. Drivers who are not lapped must leave the racing line to make room for lapped ones to pass. The lapped drivers will be able to overtake with the utmost caution all the vehicles in front of them, except the vehicle that precedes them in the classification, to to unlap and catch up with the pack again on the next lap. Once the message "SC in this lap" has been issued, during the last lap of the safety car, overtaking due to unlapping is forbidden again until the end of the lap.

Server Messages indicating the car to be followed or overtaken are indicative and may be wrong. It is the pilot who, with the HUD indication of which pilot is ahead and who is ahead, must know if the pilot in front of him can be overtaken or not to unlap. The safety car is non-collideable (it is not possible to hit it and it can be crossed) to facilitate unlapping maneuvers.

11.8.3 – Penalties during SC period

From the beginning of the procedure and until the green flag, penalties such as "Drive Thru" or "Stop and Go" cannot be fulfilled, whatever the moment in which they are received. It is not allowed to perform the voluntary DT either. The remaining laps to perform them will not be discounted until the green flag, from which moment the pending penalties or the voluntary Drive Thru can be fulfilled.

11.8.4 – Green Flag

During the last Safety Car lap, the end of Full Course Yellow will be announced using on-screen messages, as well as in the server chat. The Safety Car vehicle will turn off its lights in the last sector of the circuit, and will enter the pits, displaying the “Green Flag” warning. At this time, the green flag will be launched and the race will be relaunched. Overtakings due to position fighting or unlapping are not allowed until after crossing the finish line. Lapping is allowed, provided that the lapped drivers have been shown a blue flag. The SC procedure ends when the finish line is crossed after the green flag.

11.9 – Pit stops

Pitstops are free, a driver can stop as many times as needed, without a mandatory minimum. However, the following rules regarding tyre compounds must be obeyed.

In each GP, drivers will have 3 dry compounds (Soft, Medium and Hard) and 2 wet compounds (Intermediate and Full Wet). It's mandatory to use at least 2 dry compounds during the race, except in the case any wet compound is used. Obeying this rule is a must, no matter what the track wetness is, and "using a compound" means completing at least 1 lap with it.

Drivers advancing to Q2 must start the race with the same compound they obtained their best time in Q1, but only if that best time was obtained with a dry compound and they decide to start the race with a dry compound too. If best time in Q1 was obtained with a wet compound, or the driver decides to start the race with a wet compound, this rule doesn't apply.

Drivers not advancing to Q2 and drivers starting from pit lane can freely choose their race-start compound.

You can't refuel in pitstops.

11.9.1 – Pitstop rules

In all official sessions of a GP it is prohibited and penalized to exceed the maximum speed allowed in the pitlane, which will generally be 80 km / h in all sessions, although this limit may be lower in some specific tracks. If in the race a driver exceeds the maximum speed allowed in the pits, he may be penalized for the game with a DT or Stop & Go, and if he exceeds it in any other session of a Grand Prix, he may be penalized by the stewards with license points, time or even exclusion from the race.
The pitlane exit line cannot be passed in the Qualifying and Race sessions of a GP. Stepping on the line may mean a penalty and the driver who passes it can be severely penalized, because of endangering the rest of the participants. The penalty may be license points, time, disqualification or any other type that the stewards could decide.
The lines that mark the separation between the pitlane and the pitbox zone of each participant may be exceeded as long as it is not to obstruct another driver. Within the area called "pitwork" there are some marks that delimit the stopping areas of the different cars or teams. Drivers are prohibited from driving on these marks, being an illegal action to step on more than 3 pitwork marks (not including their own).

11.10 – Blue Flags. Lapped Drivers

Lapped drivers must be overtaken by lapping driversrivers. They have to do it in the cleanest possible way and without causing loss of time or disruption for the lapping driver. The lapped driver has a maximum of four corners to allow passing.
The driver who overtakes him must exercise caution, since even if he is a lapped driver, he will have to wait for the driver to show signs of facilitating the maneuver. The overtaking driver will always be able to find the position to overtake the lapped one, but without compromising other driver's race. In the case a driver causes a collision, he may be penalized (Regardless it's lapped or unlapping).
If a lapped driver wants to unlap from the driver in front, he's allowed to do it given he doesn't put the driver in front into risk and pace difference is enough to quickly get out of the blue flag distance once he's unlapped. In case there's any trouble created to any of the drivers involved, action will be taken by stewards as an accident during a normal overtake.

11.11 – Red Flag. Session stopped.

In any session of the Grand Prix, the organizer can raise the red flag using server chat. If the message "BANDERA ROJA / RED FLAG" appears in the server chat, the session will be considered suspended and it will be up to the Grand Prix organizer to restart or permanently suspend the session for any organizational reason of force majeure. The drivers must be listening to the instructions received by the server chat. The reasons for which a red flag can be thrown will also be indicated in the server chat, and can be due, for example, to organizational problems of any kind, such as server configuration problems, connection problems, risk situations during formationlap in which more than half of the drivers are at risk of blowing up engines, or problems of any other nature that affect the general interest of all drivers.

11.12 – Illegal actions

During the course of a Grand Prix it is completely forbidden to perform "donuts" off the track or inside itit intentionally, voluntarily colliding with the walls, going in the opposite direction or colliding with another participant and intentionally stopping the car on the track. Any of these actions are taken as very serious (especially if they are carried out during the race) and can result in the expulsion of the driver.
The first time he will be penalized with a GP without participating and if there is a second time, he will be immediately expelled from the competition.

It is also strictly forbidden to drive the car trying to get to the pits with less than 4 wheels or without the rear wing. If any participant has these damages in the car, he must abandon the session immediately. Failure to comply with this rule will be penalized with disqualification, and in the event of a repeat offense, license points will be added.

It is forbidden to stop the car before the first corner after finishing the race. The reason is that this generates a yellow flag in the last corner for the drivers who are still competing.

11.13 – Maximum duration

Maximum duration for a race will be 84 minutes. If this time passes before completing the established number of laps, race will finish by time.

11.14 – Finishing the race

If a driver is not able to complete 90% of leader laps, his race is not considered finished, which means he can't receive points not time penalties, converting these into grid places penalties.

12.- Complaints and penalties

The Grand Prix are recorded in replays so we can later watch them to examine driver complaints, or in some cases, in search of any illegal action from any driver.

12.1– Stewards group

It is made up of a group of people who will be in charge of reviewing any action claimed by a driver and may act ex officio in any specific action that has occurred in a GP and they deem it appropriate to penalize.
Each action can be reviewed by any steward or organizer, who has no obligation to reveal his identity. If the action claimed directly involves a steward or organizer, he will not be able to review it or participate in the penalty. In case of conflict, the decision of the organizers will prevail over that of the stewards.

12.2 – Factors taken into account to decide a penalty

There's no specific pattern to examine all actions, but factors like these are taken into account:

– Time lost in the action
– Damage created
– Driver aggresivity
– Driver's incident history

Each action is unique and comparisons with other previous penalties are not allowed. The stewards will take into account recidivism when penalizing the guilty driver with a penalty that the committee deems appropriate and whose highest penalty is to propose to the organization the loss of the NRD Driver License or the definitive expulsion of the driver.
As a general rule, only the actions that have been claimed will be reviewed. On specific occasions or when you want to insist on compliance with a rule, the stewards may act ex officio.

These regulations try to cover all the situations that can occur during a Grand Prix, but real life has shown us that it is almost impossible. From section 17 it can be inferred that the team of stewards has full powers to apply sanctions in cases that are not described here if they believe it is just for the good of the competition.

12.3 – How to create a claim

All drivers must claim any illegal action they see by another driver even if they have not been involved in the action, for the good of the competition.
Once the Grand Prix has concluded, the drivers who want to make a claim (via email to the organization) will have 48 hours to file a claim with the organizing committee.
In said claim, only the fact, the moment and the pilot against whom the claim is made should be stated.
The committee of stewards has a period of up to 72 hours (3 days) before the next GP to publish its verdict on said claim along with the rest of the Grand Prix sanctions (if any) and the penalized drivers will have a period of 24 hours to provide evidence. and appeal the penalty. In the event that a driver appeals the penalty, the stewards committee will have a deadline to respond to the appeal until 9:30 p.m. of the day the next Grand Prix takes place.
Appeals will not be accepted by the drivers who have claimed to request an increase or change in the penalty.
In the event that a serious action is taken ex officio and one or more of the pilots harmed or who have seen said action does not present a claim, these pilots can also be penalized with the sanction that the stewards or the organization deem appropriate, since it is considered that the work of the stewards is not being facilitated and the cleanliness in the competition is being harmed.

12.4 – Sample schedule for publishing penalties

Grand Prix finishes Sunday at 23:40

– Deadlime for filing any claims: Tuesday at 23:59

– Penalties published no later than: Thursday before next GP at 21:30

– Appeals must be filed no later than Friday before next GP at 21:30

– Final penalties must be published before Sunday next GP at 21:30

12.5 – Method for claiming and appealing

In the event that a driver must file a claim or appeal, it may be done by sending an email to the address "organizacion@nrdleague.es".
To claim any action from another driver or appeal a penalty, you will have to provide the following information in the e-mail: name of the claiming driver, name of the offending driver, track in which the action occurred, second in which the action has taken place and its description.
Insults or disrespect to any participant in claims or appeals will not be accepted. If the committee of stewards considers that the claim is not correctly formulated, it may not admit it for processing.

12.6 – About organizers and stewards committee

The organization of the NRD League may take part in the decision of any type of penalty, and its decision will prevail over that of the stewards. They can review the penalties coming from the stewards at any time, either to increase or reduce a penalty and they retain the right to directly penalize a driver if his action has been serious enough. Any decision of the organization in this area will be immediate and irrevocable.

12.7 – Replays

The NRD League organization may ask any NRD League driver race replay at any time in order to examine illegal actions, irregularities or incidents. The drivers of the NRD League must save the replay and provide it to the organization when it is required. In the event that the pilot does not have the replay required by the organization or refuses to facilitate it, he could receive any type of penalty from the organization.

12.8 – Automatic penalties imposed by the simulator

Rfactor 2 may automatically penalize the driver when he cuts excessively, exceeds the maximum speed in the pitlane, exits the pitlane under red light or performs a jumpstart. This penalty can be a Drive-Thru, which consists of going through the pit lane without stopping and leaving again (obviously respecting the speed limits). It can also be a STOP & GO, which consists of making a 10-second pit stop without changing tyres. Finally there is the disqualification, in cases such as going in the opposite direction. The penalties are cumulative (several can be received at the same time, and they must all be met), and must be met within a maximum period of 5 laps. In the event that a driver does not serve the corresponding penalty, he will be automatically irrevocably disqualified.

If a driver finishes the race with a pending penalty, the simulator will automatically apply a time penalty to the driver, usually consisting of 25 seconds. If the penalty occurs within the last 5 laps and the driver believes that it is an unfair penalty, due for example to a "bug" on the circuit, he has the option to complete the race and have it reviewed later by the stewards to decide whether to keep it. or remove it.

12.9 – Voluntary Drive-Thru after doing something penalizable

If, during the course of the race, a driver realizes that he has committed a clearly punishable action, and knows that he has unintentionally harmed another driver in an incident, he can perform a voluntary Drive-Thru that will reduce the penalty applied by the stewards as follows:

– Possible time penalty will be reduced by 30 seconds.

– Possible license points penalty will be reduced by 4 points, recovering license points if the penalty amount is less than 4.

The DT must be carried out on the lap following the one in which the incident occurred. If the driver has to change tyres or repair the car on the same lap as the DT, he may pit that lap and perform the DT on the following lap. During the SC period, penalties cannot be served either, so the voluntary DT must be done after the SC period ends and the green flag is displayed.

It is totally forbidden to wait for another driver anywhere on the track to return the position, due to the danger and problems associated with these maneuvers. If a driver waits for another, he may be penalized for it and it will not serve in any case to reduce the applicable penalty.

12.10 – Reprimands

For actions that are not correct, but also do not deserve a penalty, the stewards can impose a reprimand on the pilot. The reprimands are cumulative within the same season, and if a driver accumulates 4 reprimands throughout the season, a penalty of 10 grid places will be imposed for the next Grand Prix.

12.11 – Types of applicable penalties

The stewards will classify each action reviewed and will have the following references of penalties to be applied, depending on the seriousness of the action, with the freedom to tighten or soften the penalty at their discretion. The applicable penalties may be time to be added in the race, grid positions in the next GP, license points or disqualification, according to the following references:

12.11.1 - Light collisions, which do not make the hit driver lose his position or damage his car.

Will be considered as race incidents, except in these cases:
– Same action is constantly repeated
- Fight for position by changing trajectory more than once (example: if we leave a corner on the left side of the tract, and go to the right on the straight, we will have to stay in that position until braking. If the driver behind is very close at braking time, we will have to stay in that position)
– Not driving a "double lane" when there's another driver in parallel, both in the inner or outer side of the corner.

If the action is not considered a race incident, will be considered a caused accident (12.11.3).

12.11.2 – Light collisions gaining a position, without creating any damage.

The driver who has overtaken must let pass before the end of the lap, or in the case of being the last sector, do it as soon as possible, as long as the hit pilot has remained just behind. If the driver does not return the position, it may be treated as a caused accident (12.11.3).

12.11.3 – Serious hits, creating spins and going out of track. Caused Incidents.

The hitting driver is totally prohibited from waiting, and may do a voluntary DT, as indicated in point 12.9.
No damage on the other car: 3 points + 0-30 seconds
Front wing detached: 4 points + 10-40 seconds
Rear wing detached, suspension damage or any other damage forcing the other driver to retire: 5 points + 20-50 seconds
Waiting for another driver: 3 points

12.11.4 – Other penalties

- Not obeying yellow flags (local or Full-Course yellow)

Not reducing speed: 1 point
Overtaking: 2 points + 30 seconds

- Not obeying blue flags: 3 points

- During formation lap or SC period

Not leaving safe distance: 1 point
Overtaking: 2 points
Driving erratically or excessively slowing down at any time during the SC procedure: 10-30 seconds. License points can be added if intentionality is appreciated.

– Track Cuts
Small Cut: 1 second
Big Cut: 5 seconds
Every 5 small cuts: 1 point
Every 3 big cuts: 2 points

- Using the chat
In qualifying: 2 points
In race: 3 points
Entering another team's Discord channel to speak during qualifying or race: 4 points

– Pitlane (all sessions)
Exceeding speed limit: 2 points
Crossing pit exit line: 3 seconds
Driving over the pitwork: 10 seconds

– Misbehaving on track
Driving a seriously damaged car, failing to pit for repair and causing an accident: Disqualification
Trying to get to the pits with less than 4 wheels or without a rear wing: Disqualification (Regardless of whether it occurs in qualifying or in the race)

– Waiting for another driver after an accident: 3 points

– Dangerous return to track:
Without Incident: 1 point + 5 seconds
With Incident: 2 points will be added to corresponding penalty.

– Impeding another driver during qualifying, disobeying point 9.6 of regulations: 2 points + 3 grid positions penalty for the next race.

– Stop the car before 1st corner after finishing the race: Reprimand

– Not answering 3 interviews from NRD Press: Reprimand

12.12 – IMPORTANT ELEMENTS AND ADDITIONAL DETAILS

– Time penalties that can't be applied to drivers who didn't finish the race will be converted into grid position penalties for the next race.

Calculation of grid positions penalty: It will be done by dividing the penalty seconds by 3, obtaining a whole number (discarding the decimal) that will be the number of positions on the penalty grid.

Example: 20 seconds penalty is converted into 6 grid positions for next race (20/3=6,67).

– If a driver gets a 20 position or more grid penalty, driver will start the race from pitlane in next GP.

- If serious collisions occur during the first laps (up to 5 laps included), the penalties may be hardened.

13.- About The Server

In the event that problems with the server appear during the Grand Prix, all participants will have to return to the "General" channel of the Discord server, to await instructions from the corresponding organizer. In the event that the server cannot be repaired, the organizer will notify the postponement of the Grand Prix. In normal situations and when the server can be reset for a few minutes, it will act as follows:

13.1 – Problems before qualifying
If issues appear before qualifying, the session may be delayed long enough to start qualifying smoothly.

13.2 – Problems during qualifying
If problems appear during one of the qualifying sessions, the current session will be fully restarted and the times recorded before the crash will not be taken into account. The setup and fueling will also restart.

13.3 – Problems during warmup or formation lap
If problems arise during the warmup session or the formation lap, the warmup session will be restarted so that the organization has time to reposition the starting grid according to the order obtained in qualifying.

13.4 – Problems during the race
If there's a massive driver disconnection during the race or a server crash occurs, the organization will raise a red flag. After the server is restored, a new warmup session of a maximum duration of 7 minutes will begin, and the race will resume starting a new formation lap and standing start. The race order of the drivers and the completed laps of each one will be restored automatically. In this case, there will be no Parc Ferme and setups will be free. In case it's not possible to restart the race, points will be given according to following rules:

If the leader has completed more than two laps but less than 25% of the scheduled race distance, the top five finishers will receive points as follows:

1st – 6 points
2nd – 4 points
3rd – 3 points
4th – 2 points
5th – 1 point

If the leader has completed more than 25% but less than 50% of the race's scheduled distance, points will be awarded as follows:

1st – 13 points
2nd – 10 points
3rd – 8 points
4th – 6 points
5th – 5 points
6th – 4 points
7th – 3 points
8th – 2 points
9th – 1 point

If the leader has completed at least 50% but less than 75% of the race's scheduled distance, points will be awarded as follows:

1st – 19 points
2nd – 14 points
3rd – 12 points
4th – 9 points
5th – 8 points
6th – 6 points
7th – 5 points
8th – 3 points
9th – 2 points
10th – 1 point

If the leader has completed more than 75% of the race scheduled distance, full points will be awarded.

13.5 – Massive disconnections
A massive driver disconnection occurs when at least 30% of participating drivers lose connection to the server within 30 seconds (6 drivers out of 20). If the case occurs in the Qualifying or Race session, it will be acted as if it were a total connection problem (Points 13.2, 13.3, 13.4).

13.6 – Individual disconnections
In the case of individual disconnections, the driver must immediately return to the server. The organization will wait a maximum of 3 minutes in the event that it is necessary to proceed to the qualifying session or race once the time for the current session has expired. Server has race rejoin activated, so if a driver gets disconnected, will be able to rejoin the race starting from the pit lane.

14.- Performance, simulator and connection optimization

Drivers are responsible for the proper functioning of their simulator, for the graphic performance and for having a configuration that allows them to have fluid FPS, a simulation without screen freezes, as well as having a sufficiently reliable connection, without cuts and without lags that allow them to compete without endangering the race of other participants. If a driver has any of these problems and the rest of the drivers see his car lagging, "warping" or performing unpredictable movements due to these causes, he must leave the session and correct these problems so as not to endanger the rest of the grid.

Full game optimization is not required, but highly recommended. We will have to configure the game so that our computer can move it amply, even without setting it to the highest quality, since in races with many vehicles on the track or in the rain, performance can drop considerably.

15.- Pre-qualification

All drivers who want to participate in a Grand Prix will first have to go through a pre-qualification system. In order to qualify, drivers must complete a minimum number of timed laps on the practice server, as well as set a lap time lower than the cut-off time. The organization will publish in the forum a post prior to the race indicating the cut-off time, as well as the minimum number of laps to complete.

15.1 – Pre-qualifying deadline

The time limit to pre-qualify is 9:30 p.m. CET on the day of the Grand Prix. From that moment on, any driver who has not fulfilled the two requirements will be considered not pre-classified.

15.2 – Non-prequalifed drivers

If a driver has not completed the minimum number of laps within the deadline, but has fulfilled the cut-off laptime, he may participate in the GP but must start the race from the pitlaneand without participating in the qualifying session.

If a driver has not completed the minimum number of laps within the deadline, nor he has fulfilled the cut-off laptime, he can't participate in the GP except he is considered a "trust driver". In that case he'll be allowed to race, but starting the race from the pit lane and without participating in the qualifying session. A "trust driver" can't race this way if grid is already full with drivers meeting the pre-qualifying prerequisites.

15.3 – Maximum number of drivers in the grid

Si se preclasifican más de 24 pilotos en un Gran Premio, las plazas se asignarán por este orden:

1. Official drivers.

2. Teamless drivers replacing an official one.

3. Remaining drivers ordered by pre-qualifying time until grid is full.

15.4 – Cut-off time

Cut-off time will be automatically calculated, multiplying the best lap time from league participants by 1.07. That is, cut-off time will be 107% of the best one. This cut-off time will evolve as best lap time improves, but will be frozen at 23:59 CET of the Friday before the GP. From that time, cut-off time will remain the same even if best lap time improves.

15.5 – Trust Drivers

Any driver who has finished a minimum of 20 Grand Prix in the NRD with the rFactor2 simulator (since the 2014 season) and holds the first point-based license (Green License) will be considered a trusted driver. These drivers will be able to participate in the GP without being pre-classified but without taking part in the classification and taking the start from the pits. Trusted drivers can only use this privilege if the grid is not full. In another words, they cannot remove from the grid someone who has the laps and the time to participate. The Trusted Drivers list will be updated only once at the start of each season.

16.- Driving License

Each driver is assigned a points-based license. Every time a driver performs an action that is reflected in the list of penalties, he will lose the amount of points marked for said action.
Each pilot starts with a first license that can have a maximum of 10 points (Green License). If on any occasion that license reaches 0 points, the driver will lose the first license and will have a penalty consisting of starting the race from the pitlane the next GP in which he participates. Then you will be given a second license that will have a maximum of 6 points (Yellow License). If the six points of this license are lost, you will be penalized with a 1-GP exclusion, and you will have a third license with a maximum of 6 points (Red License). In the event that the driver loses those six points again, he will have lost the NRD Driver License or the right to participate in the category.
Penalty points are cumulative, so if a dfriver is penalized with more points than he has in his current license, not only will he lose all the points of the current license, but the corresponding points will be subtracted from the following licenses.
A driver completing a GP without penalties will recover 2 points of his current license, up to the maximum points of it. In order to recover the previous license lost during the season, it is necessary for the driver to have the maximum number of points from their current license, and also complete 3 GPs without penalties.

At the beginning of a new season, 6 license points will be added to all drivers from the previous season, including in this case the recovery of lost licenses.

17.- Final Considerations

Any decision made by a participant in a private way or by a team manager that could affect their performance in the competition or that may cause an advantageous situation with respect to the rest of the participants may be subject to judgment by the organization and in case considering that it is an inadmissible application decision, the execution of this decision will be irreversibly prohibited, even though it is an issue not dealt with in all points of the regulation and setting a precedent in the latter case.

17.1 – Modifying the regulations
The organization may modify the regulations without prior notice taking into consideration the situation at each moment of the competition and being able to cover possible gaps that may be found or the adherence of new regulations, it may also penalize everything it deems appropriate, regardless of whether it is reflected in the regulation.

NRD League Organization