As requested, significant changes in the rules in this iteration:
A1) Changed the confirmation deadline to 48 hours prior to race time (aka 19:00UTC on Thursday). Accordingly, changed the time of the confirmation thread being posted to no later than 7 days (from 5) prior to the event.
Removed privateer team info from section B.
Added rules B5 and B5.1.
C1) Added "Skins must also use the provided IGTC sunstrip." This was previously missing and seemed somewhat ambiguous.
Removed the old rule C3.1 regarding cars serving penalties under SC periods, as the procedure described in it was moved to K3.2.
E1) Changed the timeframe for submitting post-race protests from 12 hours to 48 hours.
G2) Redesigned start procedure, in which the SC speeds away from the field in the final sector leading to the green flag. The leader/pole car gradually accelerates and takes the green flag at his chosen pace, but should not brake excessively once acceleration has begun.
Removed blue flag-related information from section H.
H7.1) Changed to require podium finishers to return to the start/finish line for a podium shot at the end of the race. All other drivers proceed to pit lane and park in a pit stall.
Section I is entirely new. Blue flag rules.
Subsequent sections have been bumped up a letter as a result.
J2) Added DT for failure to leave the server after a driver change.
K1) Added "incident involving a majority of teams" to criteria for a SC deployment.
K1.3) Added C1 penalty for spectating before instructed to do so following a flip.
K3.1) Under a SC period, pit exit is closed once the SC passes it and stays closed until the last on-track car passes.
To clarify the final change there, the intent is that the pit exit closes when the SC passes it on the track. In other words, the SC leaving the pits to collect the field does not equal "passing the pit exit."
Also, one note I forgot to mention:
During round 1, there was at least one incident in which a car was severely damaged (to the point of impacting the stability of the car) and continued to race.
In order to protect the safety of other cars on track, in the future the marshals may direct cars with this sort of damage to pit and repair. In such a case, the standard "must serve in 3 laps" rule for penalties applies. Affected drivers will be notified by private RCM so as not to disturb the other drivers.
Several more small rules changes and clarifications. Ones that are new or significantly edited:
B5.2) A team failing to post its confirmed race roster by the posted deadline will have its qualifying time disallowed and start from the rear of the field. If more than one team misses the deadline, these teams will be gridded in order of points standings.
H7) Cars that are significantly damaged or damaged in such a way that they lack control and pose a threat to other cars on-track may be called to the pits for repairs by the marshals. In such cases, drivers will have 3 laps to comply with the order, after which they will be DQ'd.
K3.1) Once the SC has exited the pits, collected the field, and passed the pit exit on-track, the pit exit is closed. The pit exit re-opens once the last on-track car in the SC queue has passed. Pitting drivers must form a queue at pit exit and wait until the exit status indicator at the bottom middle of the screen changes to “OPEN.” They may then exit the pits and join the SC queue. Exiting the pit lane while the indicator reads "CLOSED" will result in a DT penalty. As prescribed by rule K2, you may not pass another car after exiting the pits. If successfully protested post-race, this infraction will receive a C1 penalty.
Rules on website and .doc files in the OP have been updated.
Rule H7 above has been edited to remove the bit about RCMs. Marshals will use normal chat messages to call damaged cars into the pits. This is so that having done so will appear in the server log, and so that other drivers can be informed of a potential hazard.
Don't you think a drive-through is a little soft for someone exiting the pits under red? I mean you could quite easily break that rule and gain a lap out of it. Surely the penalty should be worth at least a lap?
i mean if someone arrives at the pit exit just after the safety car has passed it, they could exit the pits to overtake the safety car and gain a lap. But I guess that might be classed as a different penalty?
All pre-race infractions will now result in rear-of-grid penalties rather than DTs. To wit:
The SC/Panic Button will be introduced for this round. To wit:
Teams causing major lag will now be given a limited period in order to fix their problem, after which the team will no longer be scored. This is done for the safety of the other teams. To wit:
The rules have been revised somewhat substantially in advance of Round 5, in part to respond to issues raised during and after Round 4, and in part to clarify sections that were previously misleading or outdated.
A summary of major changes is as follows:
Event time has been changed to reflect the new 18:00 UTC start time.
Post-race penalty scale has been reduced to 2/5/10 points.
Time to complete a penalty has been changed from 3 laps to 10 minutes. This is easier for marshals to keep track of, and gives teams a little more time to work with.
Added rule D5: penalties for infractions committed by drivers who have joined the server but not taken over the car will not be given to active drivers, but will be given to the incoming driver once he has taken over.
Section E has been restructured to more accurately describe the objections/protests system in use this season.
Section G has been repurposed to cover both race starts and restarts.
Rules G2.1-2.3 have been rewritten. Starting in round 5, passing before the S/F line is forbidden, except in situations where a car has spun or is drastically off the pace.
Furthermore, drivers who are judged to have lagged back and subsequently gained a significant speed advantage on a start or restart may be punished with a DT even if they do not complete a pass before the S/F line.
Drivers who spin during a SC lap must blend into the SC queue where they recover and reattain SC speed. Drivers in the queue should accommodate these drivers.
For each round, a minimum number of laps per SC period will be announced along with wind conditions and other vital info, in the drivers' meeting thread. This number of laps will be scaled to the length of the track with the goal being to strike a balance between tire cooling and allowing drivers time to pit if necessary.
We ask that all drivers and teams closely examine the newly-posted rules. They have been posted in the OP normal and tracked changes format, so that you may directly view the changes that have been made.
As always, suggestions and comments are welcome. However, if you are unclear on a rule after reading the above summary, please read the actual rule in question before posting your comments. And as always, let's keep the discussion civil.
Could you explain rule D5 please? Maybe its just me but I'm finding it difficult to understand what you are refering to.
Also, with regards to the "lagging back" rule, could you perhaps do something about drivers who jump the green flag? I saw this a lot at Aston, people tried to anticipate the restart and accelerated long before the green flag, then found they had to hit the brakes as the whole field concertinaed up. This caused a few completely unnecessary wrecks, but I'm also worried that people like myself who retained the pace speed until the green flag might be judged to have been "lagging back".
Dave, you will not get the penalty, but the next driver to take over will
Edit: And it's about infractions by the driver that will take over (ie chat), like what happened to Alias last round... Drive joined the server and chatted, so they couldn't pit because they had a DT, then ran out of fuel