2013 Kyoto 500: Practice Session Protests and Penalties
Please file your protests regarding practice session incidents here. You have 12 hours following a Practice Session to file a protest.
For each protest, provide ALL of the following:
Session Number and Session Type (Free Practice, Qualifying, Race)
Lap AND MPR timecode OR Time Of Day (In UTC) of incident
Cars involved
Brief description of incident
Practice Sessions 1, 2 and 3 Deadline: 09:00 UTC Thursday, 13 June 2013
The following Incidents were automatically investigated after the race:
Car 21 unfairly forced Car 73 onto the apron on the run to Turn 2, Car 73 did not back off when returning to the track, and was squeezed by Car 21, causing the avoidable contact. Car 21 - Warning for excessive blocking. Car 73 - Warning for avoidable contact.
On the cool down lap, Cars 73, 21, and 56 had a coming together at Turn 3. Car 21 is found to have caused excessive contact with Car 73, which sent him up into Car 56, causing 56 to spin, and 73 to run into the grass. Car 21 - Previous warning upgraded to Stop-Go Penalty for causing an avoidable incident on the cool-down lap.
Cars 10 and 25 come together in the middle of Turn 2, sending both spinning. Racing incident. Both cars were headed towards the same piece of real estate, and collision was caused. All drivers are reminded to still be aware of the situation and avoid contact.
Car 56 heads full-throttle on the outside of Turn 3 heading towards the pitlane after completion of the race, and runs into the haystacks at the end of pitlane. Once in pitlane, Car 56 runs into the red/white barriers, flipping him across the pitlane. This behaviour is not tolerated during any official session. Regulations instruct a slow and calm inlap, then selecting a pit garage to enter. Car 56 excluded from session.
Car 25 pulls the handbrake and executes a handbrake turn at the pitlane commitment line, causing a blockage of pit entry with Car 21 stopped because of haystacks scattered across the entry, and Car 25 sideways across the entry. Car 25 then engages reverse gear and applies full throttle, backing into the barrier and into Car 73's path. Car 25 then enters pitlane, and rides the wall in pitlane. For this behaviour in the cool-down lap, Car 25 is excluded from the session.
Session Number and Session Type (Free Practice, Qualifying, Race): Race
Lap AND MPR timecode OR Time Of Day (In UTC) of incident: MPR 44:05
Cars involved: 32 and 37
Brief description of incident: On last lap after T3 Car 32 takes inside line and then changes his line twice to keep me away from his draft. I don't want any penalties for him and I actually think that was nice move, but I wanna know if that was legal?
Session Number and Session Type (Free Practice, Qualifying, Race) session 6 race
Lap AND MPR timecode OR Time Of Day (In UTC) of incident: lap 4/62 timecode 5:15
Cars involved: 55 21
Brief description of incident: 55 goes onto apron to pit it appears then rejoins track entering t3 causing contact with 21.
Session Number and Session Type (Free Practice, Qualifying, Race): Session 6 race
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Lap AND MPR timecode OR Time Of Day (In UTC) of incident: lap 6 @ 6;30
Cars involved:21 and 55
Brief description of incident: Mr. Ulrich turns into the 21 on the exit of turn 2
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Lap AND MPR timecode: 17 @ 16 mins
Cars: 25 and 55
brief description of incident: Mr. Ulrich sand bags the start and then STARTS his left hand turn and gets alongside of me before the GREENFLAG message. I did not know he was there until we make contact and he magically goes spinning
(not sure who is at fault, but if it is me then I can learn from this)
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Lap AND MPR timecode: 39-43 to @ about 34 minutes onwards
Cars: 25 and 55
brief description of incident: Mr. Ulrich continuously pulls alongside of me when I am tire warming as he is doing some weird start and stop tire warming and makes contact with me a few times as he dodges to my side randomly.
Specific incidents that should be mentioned from my view:
lap 41 turn 2 and again in turn 3 and exit of 3 @ 37 mins
lap 42 turn 1 and the front stretch
lap 42 EXIT of turn 1 more contact is made
lap 42 in turn 3 car 55 makes a full overtake on me and is sandbagging of pace, no contact however
lap 43 turn 1 CONTACT made again
lap 43 turn 3 overtakes me again on the outside
I was leaving a decent gap to account for the accordion effect while maintain consistent 80 mph.
(55 continues tire warming after 1 to go, aswell)
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lap and time code in mpr: 47 @ 43 mins in turn 2
cars: 25, 5, 55
brief description: 55, 5, 25 engaged in 3 way draft with 5 being the middle car. 5 jumps down to execute draft properly and 25 follows making it 3 wide as is proper. Ulrich decides he will not allow for a 3 car draft and pinches the 5 and the 25 causing contact between the three cars.
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lap and time code in mpr: 51 @ 46 mins in turn 1
cars: 25, 78
brief description: 78 cuts across the 25's nose causing contact and time loss.
(not sure who is at fault, but if it is me then I can learn from this)
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lap and time code in mpr: 56 in turn 2 and 3 @ 49 minutes
cars: 25, 8
brief description: 8 slams into the 25 under caution without slowing down, 25 was decelerating with about 25% brake pressure. 08 does the same thing again into turn 3
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lap and time code in mpr: 58 into turn 1 after the line at 51 minutes
cars: 25, 5
brief description: 5 pulls out of the 78's draft and clips the 25
(not sure who is at fault, but if it is me then I can learn from this)
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Practice Session 6: Race
Lap 23 (Leaders 24) @ 21 minutes in T3
Cars: 25, 69
In the final corner, car #25 who is following #69 drops a wheel on to the apron, which causes him to slide up and spin #69 car, contacting him in the left rear tyre. Incident was avoidable if car #25 lifted after clipping the apron.
I do take partial responsibility as midway through the corner, I break loose a bit and slide up, then upon recovery come down the track slightly. However on corner entry, I've committed myself to the low line, and even after I slide up, #25 has the ability to lift for a fraction of a second to avoid contact.
The side-to-side movement in this instance is legal. The "blocking" rules don't necessarily apply as strictly here as to changing lanes. On the oval, it ends up being a matter of "Is it safe to have done that move at that time?" Swinging your car from left to right and back left to try and prevent a trailing car from getting a draft is a legitimate defense tactic in oval racing. In fact, in the same spread on a road course, it would likely be termed the same way. Drivers are allowed to attempt to break the slipstream of a trailing car.
Had car 37 been in the act of making a pass, then it would fall under the standard blocking realm. The general interpretation of the rules would require a move to be in progress, or a reasonable expectation of a move to be started. Essentially, if there is forward progress from the trailing car, the leading car gets one move away from their line and one move back to try and arrest that forward progress. Since in this case there wasn't any real forward progress, it's simply a ploy to break the slipstream.
Also, in the last laps of an oval race, some extra leeway is given even in the blocking area because of the way overtaking on the oval is. The leeway is always reasonable, the judgement is usually taking into account the stress and stakes of the final laps.
Incident did not involve protestor's car, protest ignored.
Car 55 was approximately one-half car length away from acheving overlap at the moment of green. Car 55 slightly moves up at a reasonable corner exit point, Car 25 is continuing to turn left, causing the collision. Warning to Car 25.
Cars 25 and 55 both exhibit unsafe behaviour under SC whilst tyre warming.
Car 25 falls off the racing surface several times, and slows to a below satisfactory pace at times.
Car 55 repeatedly accelerates to alongside Car 25, and during one of those episodes, Car 25 makes contact with Car 55.
Both drivers are WARNED to do the following during SC: Gentle tyrewarming maneuvers; gradual acceleration and slowing; maintain reasonable gaps (at least 5 car lengths, no more than 20); avoid contact
Warning to Car 55 for avoidable contact. ALL drivers must be aware of their surroundings and utilize the look left & look right features in LFS. Awareness of the current situation and quantity of cars also helps know what room to leave.
Car 78 makes no such turn into the path of Car 25. Car 25 drifts up into the left causing the avoidable contact. Warning to Car 25.
Warning to Car 8 - two rapid-fire instances of failure to maintain enough room to the car ahead.
Warning to Car 5 for avoidable contact. Misjudgement of available room / distance to Car 25 causes avoidable contact.
Drivers of Cars 25 and 78 are officially given praise for excellent control and recovery of the slides.
Warning to Car 25 for causing an avoidable incident. Car 25 fails to keep the car inside even after recovering from the apron snag.
After observing the number of incidents involving both Cars 25 and 55 during this session, both will be refused credit for Session 6.