Lap and Replay Time of incident: 3:00:20-30 replay time, lap 143 (last lap), before final chicane
Car(s) involved: #22, #12
Brief description of incident: #12 pushed #22 on grass which resulted in lose of position.
Another admin-initiated investigation while reviewing the mpr some:
Lap and replay timecode: Lap 33, 41m30s
Cars Involved: 00 and 09
Brief Description: Car 00 is approaching in the slipstream of Car 09, to lap it. 09 brakes slightly on the racing line, catching 00 off guard. Car 00 and 09 contact, 00 runs into the red/whites at the chicane and goes out of bounds.
Car 14 gets a bad run through turn 5 coming onto the backstretch. Car 03 shows patience and works to overtake on the outside. As the kink is approached, both cars touch sides causing #14 to slide. We deem this as a racing incident, but wish to caution all competitors to be mindful of their surroundings.
Car 12 exits pitlane, holding to the very right of the track. Car 17 pulls right to prepare for the turn, and runs into #12. Neither car would have been able to see the other without looking, being in a blind spot and the somewhat dodgy exit area. This is deemed a racing incident, with a caution to all competitors to be heads up during pit windows. We expect that no other course will have a pit exit that is this blind.
This protest will have no outcome on the race, and is rejected. Reason below.
The rules to not explicitly require the start to be waved off. They state that Control may wave off, but does not have to.
I was going to, but then decided that more attempts would have been more problematic than that, without spending an excessive time under safety car. When I made the mental decision to throw the green, I saw what to my mind was an acceptable formation in the first several cars - the decision made about 1.5 seconds before the green flag was called - the 1.5 seconds was me calling the control panel up and clicking the green flag.
On review of the entire start, the difficulty seems to be largely down to the track design. Driving actions also played a part. The forming into double-file could potentially have been done before the chicane, requiring all drivers to hold generally in double-file through the chicane and last turn (at 80 kph, it should have been plenty wide enough).
Some cautions from what I noticed while watching the start mpr:
- You MUST stop ANY weaving/tyre warming actions once the "SC IN THIS LAP" message appears.
- You MUST maintain a consistent pace once the "SC IN THIS LAP" message appears.
- The Front Row MUST be on pitlimiter from the "SC IN THIS LAP" message OR Whatever point we specify - NO EXCEPTIONS.
The problems, as we see it, under pacing conditions come from unpredictable, erratic moves. Wild side-to-side weaving can be dodgy - evidenced by a Dinamo near-spin doing so.
We anticipate that the remaining circuits will not have this lack of formation issue, with more space to form up. The only remaining concern circuit is Fern Bay, but we expect that the track leading up to the main straight is wide enough for an early formation.
There will be some updates to the SC regulations for clarity and assigning of who needs to worry about what.
On braking for T1, #08 starts to slide and scrub off more speed, and #21 is boxed in with nowhere to go. No fault to either car assignable, just unfortunate luck on the start. Racing Incident.
Car 06 is found to have caused an avoidable incident in both of these, where a simple backing off and not stuffing the nose of the car in would have sufficed to avoid the incident. DT for each, two +30s penalties, total of 60 seconds will be added to the race time of Car 06.
Car 12 sticks its nose in where there is no space, in a place where no overtake would really work. Car 05 turns to prepare for the right hander, not expecting #12 to be there, and gets pitched into the wall. +30s for Car 12 for causing an avoidable incident.
Car 09 brakes on the racing line quite a distance back from the braking zone with Car 00 just behind it to let it by. This move is considered a brake test, and if Car 00 was not quick to react, could have lead to a larger incident. The contact 00 makes with 09 is due to him expecting that 09 is far enough back, but can also be attributed to the suddenness of the situation.
Car 09 receives a 1-Lap Penalty for the braking on the racing line - equivalent to a brake checking, also can be considered undue impedance of a blue flagging car. EDIT: Might as well just call it also causing an avoidable incident as well
No penalty will be served to 00, but a caution to all competitors to not be so eager to return to the racing line.
Car 04 brakes late, but as Car 11 turns in, contact is made, and both bang doors throughout the turn. We see no need to issue a time penalty for this, but a WARNING is issued to Car 04 to be less aggressive on overtaking maneuvers.
The start of Car 27 is not a jump start. He was on the throttle accelerating and then lifted as he caught up to the cars ahead, but just after he lifted was when the green flag came out and he nailed it, taking advantage. This is not a jump start by the letter of the law, as he did not advance his position before the green flag. However, there is a spirit of the rules violation, as we hope that no one would gain advantage from a situation like this. We'll let it get through this time, but we do not wish for someone to get that sort of advantage again and will be amending the rules accordingly to include a penalty for doing such a "jump"
The incident in turn 1 is a divebomb-style maneuver - Car 27 brakes when starting the left hand turn, but then gets back on the accelerator for a short bit before braking again, where other cars around brake at the same place he does and keep slowing constantly. If Car 27 had stayed on the binders when he first got on them, he would have been behind the grouping of cars ahead and clean sailing for himself and others.
The actions led to a major avoidable incident - we are giving the post-race equivalent to a stop-go penalty, 45 seconds added to Car 27's time. Also, driver of Car 27 at the time, z-ro 8 is placed on 90 day probation for all NDR events, which could result in more severe penalties for rule transgressions in that window.
Car #11 accelerates onto the racing line at the last apex of the chicane after a spin. he sees cars coming and stomps on the brakes, but is stopped squarely on the racing path, causing a massive shunt. The other, more logical path for Car 11 to take would have been to reverse onto the short straight between the chicane and the final turn (the car had it's rear end facing the final turn) then turn around in the extra space afforded there.
A 45 second penalty (equivalent to a Stop-Go) is issued for this incident - unsafe rejoin from an incident.
Car 12 makes an overtake between Cars 22 and 17 on the backstretch. On approach to the chicane, Car 12 is alongside and about 75% ahead of Car 22. Car 12 appears to move right and push #22 off. Car 12 was not actively turning right, the car was drifting to the right, and there was some car jitter observed, perhaps causing the rightward movement impression. We are declaring this a racing incident, but issuing another reminder to competitors to be careful with distances between cars.
Please send an EMAIL ONLY to [email protected] with the subject line "GTAL Round 1 Penalty Appeal" explaining your appeal, and linking us to the protest response you are appealing. You have 24 hours from now, until 07:00 UTC on Thursday. Official results will be generated after this time has elapsed.