RD GP Championship 2017 I

Lorenzo Bonder · Mar 10, 2017

Introduction
Welcome to the newest installation of our premier open-wheel championship: RaceDepartment Grand Prix Championship! Three months of pure high octane action through the best circuits around the world!

The Series Features
This season, our fifth season, we are moving from the Formula-3 cars in Assetto Corsa and going with something more spicy, more aerodynamic, faster, most specifically with the Dallara's DW12 Indycar single seater in rFactor 2.

The fifth season will feature tracks from all around the world, just not from the American continent, with appearances from tracks that were present in previous Indycar or Indy related (CART, Champ Car) seasons, such as Road America, Barber Motorsports Park and the infamous Lausitzring, home of Alex Zanardi near-fatal accident in the CART 2001 Season. So we'll have not only Road tracks but ovals as well. An all-around challenge to all drivers.

In total, the league will play out in a total of six rounds, with a small break in between round 2 and 3 because of RDLMS Round #3. Two ovals + four roads tracks will ensemble our league schedule, ranging from locations such as Japan, Germany, England and of course, United States. Twenty-eight drivers (with the possibility of up to 33 total) will take helm of the Dallara and fight and very fierce battles through the circuits, hoping to become RDGPC Season 5 Drivers Champion and be featured in the future RD Race of Champions at the end of the year. Also the best team will eventually be named RDGPC Season 5 Teams Champion.

Of course, all races will be livestreamed here at RaceDepartment, by our RD Broadcasting team.

Quick Links

Lorenzo Bonder · Mar 10, 2017

It's coming sooner than you might think....

Nick Gregory · Mar 10, 2017

Joseph Wright · Mar 10, 2017

Azure Flare said:

Text to speech of Fifty Shades of Grey

Lorenzo Bonder · Mar 11, 2017

Do you think you have what it takes to be the newest GP Champion here at RaceDepartment? Sign up to the league then!

The Sign-Up Procedure

Signing up
Please note that signing up requires you to know:

the contents of the General Information thread
You'll partake every event and if you sign up you can do with at least 12 hs notice
Signing out of the league prematurely will carry in a long league ban
NEW but not that new actually: Only 2 drivers per team is allowed, not 3 like we had in RDIWS.

You can now sign up by replying to this thread using the following template:

Code:

Driver name:
Team:
Car Number:
Country:
Do you agree with RD Leagues Rule Set and will follow it accordingly? Yes/No

The car number can be from #0 to #999, except for the #1 where only the series champion (Charles Baccio) can use.

SIGN UPS CLOSE ON THURSDAY 29TH JUNE AT 23:59GMT

The Entry List

Entry List Status: OPEN TO ALL [Drivers with an (R) are only racing at Indianapolis]

Daryl Russell | United Kingdom | DR Motorsport #21
Dan Long | United Kingdom | MK Simsport #24
Sherwin van der Sloot | Netherlands | SimTech Motorsport #11
Jayme Brooks | USA | Brooks Motorsport #44
Christopher Beavis | United Kingdom | SSKM #69
Kreshnik Halili | Albania | Blauweke Racing #22
Joseph Wright | United Kingdom | RaceDepartment Motorsport #16
Steve Le Gallez | Guernsey | LG Motorsport #18
Matt Le Gallez | Guernsey | LG Motorsport #19
Aintor Sintes | Spain | Push Rod Racing #17
Ryan Seltzer | USA | The Mighty Forth #35
Eneric Andre | France | Drillers Motorsport #4
Tom Watts | United Kingdom | SSKM #27
Shane Burke (R) | Ireland | SimTech Motorsport #77
Tobi Kederer (R) | Germany | BRT #3
Sam Carmichael (R) | United Kingdom | Rubber Soul #9
Oli McGown (R) | United Kingdom | SpeedyMite Racing #113
Miguel Muñiz (R) | Spain | McLaren Honda Andretti #29
Mateusz Bogusz (R) | Poland | SimTech International #38
Standa Sehnal (R) | Czech Republic | SimTech International #39
Tjeerd Feddema (R) | Netherlands | SimTech Netherlands #147
Matej Šurhaňák (R) | Slovakia | Duck Tape Racing #7
Ken Hunter (R) | South Africa | Independant #48
Thomas Hinss (R) | Australia | SpeedMite Racing #10

Absentees For Round 5:

Campbell Wallis | Scotland | Kaibutsu Racing #9
Christian Moreau | Canada | Racers In Pyjamas #98
Douglas Simonelli | Brazil | DAL Racing #111
Mike Davies | Canada | Racers In Pyjamas #97
Allie Ferrie | United Kingdom | Kaibutsu Racing #66
Matt Beavis | Great Britain | MK Simsport #5
John Nelson | USA | DR Motorsport #23
Matt Wright | United Kingdom | RaceDepartment Motorsport #717
Charles Baccio | France | Talking Door Racing #4
Tom Lombaerts | Belgium | Blauweke Racing #88
Tobias Röhner | Germany | Talking Door Racing #33

Drivers marked with an asterisk (*) means Premium membership is still pending.

Lorenzo Bonder · Mar 11, 2017

All racing incidents will will be reviewed by an independent group of staff who hold no affiliation to this league in any way, shape or form. All incidents will be viewed on their merits, and the decisions made by the stewards will be respected even if you disagree with the outcome.

Submitting a Report:
Reports are submitted to @Ole Marius Myrvold or @Joseph Wright via Personal Message, who will then forward them to the stewards. Reports must be submitted within 48 hours of the conclusion of the race. If you would like a racing incident to be looked at, then please make sure you conform to the procedure and standards that are expected of an incident report. This means:

Your name, who else is involved, the round number, and the lap of the race on which it occurred.
Clear video evidence of the events leading up to, during and proceeding the incident (total length should be ~1 minute or more if necessary).
A variety of camera angles from both your opponents, and your own perspective.
A text description of the events.

In race penalties (live-stewarding):
There will be a Steward during the races. The steward will watch the race and apply penalties to rule infractions as needed. The penalties can range from a drive-through to a total disqualification from the race.
All the penalties applied will be announced on Teamspeak, therefore making TS mandatory for every driver.
Crashes will also be penalized as follows:

Racing Incident = No warning, just a notification
Minor incident = Warning
Moderate incident = Drive through
Major incident = 30s Stop and Go
Double incident = 60s Stop and Go
Intentional wreck or third consecutive = Disqualification

Post race penalties:
The race stewards will have many different penalties at their disposal. For racing incidents there are time penalties and point penalties that can be issued depending on the severity of the incident(s). If the incident has already been penalized during the race, the post-race penalty won't be considered unless specified by the stewards.

If a time penalty is not deemed fitting, Point penalties will be applied as follows:

Minor incident = 5 points penalty
Moderate incident = 10 points penalty
Major incident = 15 points penalty

As a means of achieving consistent officiating, track cutting during the race (more than two wheels leaving the white/yellow lines and gaining an advantage) will be systematically judged. Drivers who breach Rule 6.1 without 100% throttle lift off for at least 1 second, will be penalised.

Track cuts will be handled by rFactor 2 anti cut system they have. But if you witness excessive cutting that benefit an opponent but not you, please report to the organizers as an incident report.

Once a report is handled we'll verify with the other driver(s) for their side(s) of the story and upon that, come with a conclusion ASAP.

Important note: Remember that not all incidents are ill intended, some of them might be accidental and the driver eventually will apologize either on the forums or through a PM or on Teamspeak. Just send a report if sure that neither happened and you felt prejiduced by it.

Lorenzo Bonder · Mar 11, 2017

Use this thread to find a seat or a driver.

If you are a driver, please announce when you are available and what your prefered class is.

If you are a team driver already and is representing the team, please announce what team you represent and that you are looking for an additional driver. Only 2 drivers per team, don't forget.

Do not use this thread to make arrangement. Please use private messages for those.

Lorenzo Bonder · Mar 11, 2017

The Dallara DW12 Single Seater

The Dallara DW12 is the current chassis used by all Indycar teams. The DW12 naming is first an homage to Dan Wheldon, former Indycar champion and one of the most popular drivers in Indycar during his tenure and unfortunately was killed during an Indycar race in Las Vegas during the 2011 season. Wheldon tested the car and worked on it two days prior to his death.

This chassis was introduced in the 2012 season (hence the 12 number on the car name) as an effort of Indycar updating their chassis every nine years as a measurement for their cars look modern and safe at the same time. This was also the first car implemented by the new Indycar ICONIC (Innovative, Competitive, Open-wheel, New, Industry-relevant, Cost-effective) Project.

The version in rFactor 2 is the first iteration of the current DW12 chassis, without the new packages on the wings that you see in the current Indy race cars. Nevertheless the car still possesses a great amount of downforce and is very nimble on corners, with different combinations of engine powers. When unveiled, the car possessed a weight between 1,545 (701 kg) and 1,575 (714 kg) lbs, this excluiding the driver weight equivalency or fuel. Also in place of the V8 engines that were in the previous Dallara IR-05 chassi, the DW12 now has either a V6 Honda or Chevrolet engine, varying between 575 to 675 hp (dependent on the type of track driven) + 60 hp with the push-to-pass feature. The fuel used is a mixture of E85 Sunoco Ethanol + 15% petrol gasoline, measure to make the cars more environment friendly without losing performance.

A 6-speed Xtrac 1011 + 1 reverse gear semi-automatic paddle shift gear is used on the car. High performance Brembo brakes pads and discs are used in the car, with the option of 4-piston for oval races and the 6-piston for road/street courses and finally the tires are now traditional Firestone Firehawk tyres (red band or plain) with O.Z or BBS wheels beautifying the car.

Drivers and teams praise the car handling and the improvability of the chassis, with manufacturers like Chevrolet, Lotus and wanted to work on Aero Kits during the DW12 conception, only for those plans to be delayed to 2015, when the kits came out. This year marks the last year with the different aero kits before Dallara unveils the Universal Aero Kit Dallara DW12 for the 2018 Season.

Lorenzo Bonder · Mar 11, 2017

The Schedule

Want to know a bit more of tracks well use for the league? Check it out below:

Round 1 - Barber Motorsports Park - Barber Motorsports Park is located in Birmingham, Alabama and is host of the Indycar GP of Alabama since 2010 and it's one of America most recent tracks, opening in 2003 and also harbors the Barber Vintage Motorspots Museum, home of the largest motorcycle collection in the whole world. The track itself is a 2.38 mi (3.83 km) very twisty, bending road course and can prove to be the most technical track in the whole calendar. Drivers need a good setup with a balance of car stability, mobility and acceleration, speed here does not matter much compared to the next track in the calendar, which would be Road America. Patience is required here if you're looking to make moves due to the nature of the track.

Round 2 - Road America - Home of one of most traditional races in CART history, the site located in the sorrounding of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Road America is a 4.048 mi (6.315 km) road track with a good mixture of medium to high speed, pacy curves with slow, heavy braking sessions. Drivers will obtain success with a setup that benefits high speed cornering downforce with good acceleration and a reasonable top speed. Also the track elevation can easily throw the best of the drivers off due to the car shifting and blind apexes. The section combined with the main straight, turn 1, Stratton & Briggs Tunnel and turn 2 and the second long straight is the main overtaking spots on the track, specially on the end of the second long straight. This track favours aggressiveness, but with ultra high risks.

Round 3 - Lausitzring - The infamous track of CART. Most simply reason is the near-fatal accident with Alex Zanardi and Alex Tagliani. Story? During the final laps of the 2001 American Memorial race, Zanardi went for a late pitstop and upon rejoining the track his car spun "right in front" Patrick Carpentier's line. Luckily the Canadian driver managed to avoid Zanardi, but that can't be said for his fellow Italian driver, damaging the side and front of Zanardi's car. That resulted in the amputation of both Alex Zanardi's legs. Fortunately, he recovered and drove in WTCC and several other events and became also a Paralympic champion in cycling. Back to the track, this 2.023 m (3.256 km) tri-superspeedway resembles quite a lot the oval layout seen at Pocono Raceway. Top speed and acceleration matters here and also good turn in. And this is the double points race, so...yeah.

Round 4 - Silverstone GP - What can be said about Silverstone that hasn't been said? The 3.194 mi (5.141 km) circuit, home of the F1 UK GP and the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Silverstone will be home of the Indy European GP here in RDGPC. Here what matters: High Speed Downforce, Acceleration, Pace & Speed are the keys for success here. Overtaking spots? Hangar straight, Stowe, Copse, Vale, and Brooklands. Wanna risk in Maggots, Becketts & Chapel? Sure, high risk, high rewards right? Other than that, patience and fair aggressiveness is needed.

Round 5 - Indianapolis - The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, (an enclave suburb of Indianapolis) in the United States. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and formerly the home of the United States Grand Prix. It is located on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, approximately six miles (10 km) west of Downtown Indianapolis. Considered relatively flat by American standards, the track is a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its construction. It has two 5⁄8-mile-long (1,000 m) straightaways, four geometrically identical 1⁄4-mile (400 m) turns, connected by two 1⁄8-mile (200 m) short straightaways, termed "short chutes", between turns 1 and 2, and between turns 3 and 4.

Weekend schedule: As usual, RDGPC S5 races will run on a Saturday with the following weekend race schedule:

Practice: 17:45 GMT (1 hour)
Qualify 18:45 GMT (10 minutes or 4 laps, counting in and out lap)
Warm-up: 18:55 GMT (5 minutes, dedicated for resting and last minute info)
Race: 19:00 GMT

And the race will be in a rolling start format, as usual in American sports and also seen in RDLMS and RDIWS.

Lorenzo Bonder · Mar 11, 2017

The Regulations

Core Regulations
Season 5 of the RDGPC will operate in accordance with the 2017 RD League Regulations unless specifically outlined otherwise below.

Additional Regulations for RDGPC Season 5
The rules stated in this section act as a championship season specific appendix to the 2017 RD League Regulation as linked above. In case the rules in this section conflict with the 2017 RD League Regulations, the rules stated here override those linked above.

Race start procedure. At the beginning of each race a safety car shall move from the rear to the front of the grid, and lead the cars for a single formation lap, before a double-file rolling start. The safety car will be predominantly responsible for controlling the pace (this shall be approximately pit-lane speed). At the end of the formation lap the safety car shall move aside, and the lead car will be instructed to control the pace. No overtaking is permitted before the start / finish line. Race control will call GREEN FLAG! at this point all overtaking is permitted
First lap incidents. First lap infringements and first lap after restart infringements will be looked hard upon. First lap and first lap after restarts all drivers are urged to be careful to avoid and minimize pile-up risks.
Other Infringements Any other infringements (such as software cheating or illegal drivers) can be reported to the stewards up to 48 hours after a the race. Incident reports can be sent to @Ole Marius Myrvold
Full-course yellow. For this league, the full-course yellow under oval racing will be rFactor2's yellow flag procedure, that thrown by the stewards. You'll be warned by Race Control that a full course yellow is in effect and it is to follow the game pace car time effectively. During the yellow a pit stop window will be open for cars to pit stop, that predetermined by the game itself, not by the stewards and all oval rules during this period will be enforced. During road races, a Virtual Safety Car will be enforced in case of a full course yellow if needed, that called by Race Control with an effective countdown starting "Full Course Yellow in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Track is on full-course yellow". No overtaking shall be permitted except when a car has spun or is moving slowly due to potential damage. During the VSC FCY, drivers will remain at pit-limiter speed until race restart. During this period, pits will be open for all drivers and note: the FCY will remain under green in-game, because of technical reasons.

Re-entering the circuit under a full-course yellow. A driver exiting the pits or returning to the track after an incident must always surrender their position to a car already on track. If a car not "on track" rejoins the circuit alongside a car already on track then the latter (on track) car has the right of way.
Real names on TeamSpeak & RDGPC server(s). All drivers are required to use their real name on TeamSpeak and the rF2 server(s) for the RDGPC, so that staff members are able to easily identify participants. An abbreviated first name is permitted, but you may be asked to change this if it clashes with the name of another person. (Please note that this is a general requirement as per the rules when racing at RaceDepartment, in any club event or league.)
Team Sign-up procedure: All drivers can register as a single independent driver, but teams that sign up can only do 2 drivers per team. Also mid season team change is allowed, but all team points conquered for the previous team won't be carried over to the new team, those are reset. Individual scoring remains the same so it will be carried over.

Championship Scoring System
The GP Championship will use the same scoring system used during the IndyCar season. The scoring system is as it follows:

Also 2 additional points will be awarded to the driver with most lead laps and 1 additional point to whoever finishes a lap in the lead. This rule is used in all American sports so logically this is put in place here too.

Double Points Event: The Indianapolis 250 - the last round of the season, will feature double points, as well as the unofficial Indy 250 Champion.

Championship standings are determined by:

Highest amount of championship points
If 1. does not suffice: Highest amount of first places, then second places, etc.
If 1. and 2. do not suffice: Best result in the longest race

TobiasR · Mar 11, 2017

No more Brazilian green flags please.

Sherwin van der Sloot · Mar 11, 2017

Is that... IndyCars?! *Faint*

Matheus Machado · Mar 11, 2017

~~RDIWS S2~~ RDGPC S5, yay!

Y no Love for sebring tho

Ir the dates fit, I'll join TDR guys in it

Lorenzo Bonder · Mar 11, 2017

The RaceDepartment Grand Prix Championship is right around the corner, read on for more details and how you can get involved in the opening round at Miami Speedway on April 15th.

The highly competitive RDGPC returns to RaceDepartment with Round 1 at Miami Speedway, Saturday April 15th. With teams duelling it out on the track with the Dallara DW12 car against a field of competitive and motivated rivals, the action out on track is sure to be fierce throughout the duration of the upcoming season.

We have places available for the fifth running of this open-wheeler epic, and you could join in the action and be crowned the best open wheel driver in RaceDepartment.

If you are a team or driver looking to take part in the upcoming season you can sign yourself or your team in here.

The Driver
If you are a driver looking for a ride during the season just pop along and leave your details in the appropriate section for our series teams to review your details (Premium membership required). Remember you don't need to be the next A.J. Foyt or Dario Franchitti to race here, although open wheel racing demands a small mixture between speed, skills, tad bit of luck and an analytical racing brain. And ah, pace is a must. Don't forget that open-wheel racing is also a team sport, and only a true team can hope to come home in first place at the end of the season. All you need to do is leave a post here with your availability and maybe a little about your sim racing history.

The Prizes
For now we are looking at options to bring something not only for drivers but our audience as well. The League winner will nevertheless qualify for the RD Race of Champions at the end of the year and be entered into the race to become the coveted Champion of Champions at RaceDepartment.

The Goal
To have fun, to race clean, to experience the ultimate sim racing experience. It's really that simple.

Whoever ends up as champion will no doubt have earned the distinction of becoming the ultimate open wheel racing driver of the RaceDepartment Grand Prix Championship.

RDGPC is going to be an absolutely cracking season and we quite simply can't wait to get the action under green flag at Miami Speedway on the 15th of April. Good luck and see you on track!

The RaceDepartment Grand Prix Championship begins with the first oval race at Miami Speedway on Saturday 15th April. Drivers and teams can register for the league here and find out all you need to know about the series here.

Still sat on the fence about joining in with the RDGPC Season 5? Well wait no-longer and get yourself in on the action today! All we ask is you practice, stay safe out on track and have fun! Simples!

Lorenzo Bonder · Mar 12, 2017

It's happening yo!

Yusuf Macit · Mar 12, 2017

Sounds great. Although i personally am still desperate for a championship in Assetto Corsa game. I will be looking for this one nonetheless, should contain great action.

TobiasR · Mar 12, 2017

Driver name: Tobias Roehner
Team: Talking Door Racing
Car Number: 33
Do you agree with RD Leagues Rule Set and will follow it accordingly? Yes

Bring it

Sherwin van der Sloot · Mar 12, 2017

Not sure this is the correct place to post it, but I just cried (well, nearly

) when I noticed round 1 is in the same weekend as the FIA WEC Silverstone, and since I'm attending that, round 1 would be a no-go

.

So now, is it even possible/allowed to sign-up and miss round 1, or even better,

@Lorenzo Bonder , can anything be done about the race 1 date? Pretty please with puppy eyes?

Lorenzo Bonder · Mar 12, 2017

Sherwin van der Sloot said:
Not sure this is the correct place to post it, but I just cried (well, nearly ) when I noticed round 1 is in the same weekend as the FIA WEC Silverstone, and since I'm attending that, round 1 would be a no-go .

So now, is it even possible/allowed to sign-up and miss round 1, or even better,

@Lorenzo Bonder , can anything be done about the race 1 date? Pretty please with puppy eyes?