5.5 Series Penalty Point Structure

5.5.1.
In addition to race based penalties provided by race stewards, drivers may also receive penalty points across the season. These penalty points are designed to ensure that there is fair competition across the series, and ensure that continued poor driving standards are discouraged, especially where they may not alone warrant a race based penalty.
Specific instances where penalty points may be awarded in place of a race based penalty include:

• Consistent abuse of track limits. This may include practice and qualifying sessions where a driver would not otherwise receive an in race review.
• Use of in game communication despite rules in this rulebook not permitting it.
• Not following rules and procedures in this rulebook, which do not alone constitute a penalty.
• Aggressive driving, unsafe re-joins, and contact with another driver on a consistent basis which has the potential to cause a more serious incident.
  

5.5.2.
Penalty points DO NOT reset after a penalty has been served. For example, a driver whom has accumulated 10 penalty points and therefore has received a qualifying ban will remain on 10 penalty points served.

5.5.3.
The following structure will be used for determining if a penalty point should be issued, and the requisite number of penalty points to be issued for specific types of incidents.
Note, that stewards reserve the right to issue penalty points for incidents not listed below, if they are of the opinion that there is just cause

Incident	Description	Penalty Points Issued
Fair Competition	A ‘Catch all’ penalty review for a non racing penalty, where a driver has violated this rulebook, or the spirit of it.	0 – 10, depending on severity.
Text / Voice Violation	Not following rules pertaining to the use of text / voice chat in sim / on Discord	1 – 2 per race.
Track Limit Abuses	Consistent violation of track limits either in Practise & Qual, or in races, but below the race penalty threshold	1 – 2 per race
Failure to Return To Pits	Not following rules and procedures for returning to the pit lane after qualifying / the race.	1 per violation
P1 Penalt	Driver provided a warning	0 – 1
P2 Penalt	Driver required to give back a position to another driver	0 – 1
P3 Penalt	5 Second Penalty	1
P4 Penalt	10 Second Penalty	2
P5 Penalt	Drive Through Penalty	3
P6 Penalt	Race DQ	6

5.5.4.
After the accumulation of 10 incident points, a driver will be prohibited from qualifying for the first race of the next event, and therefore will start at the rear for that race. If multiple drivers have qualifying penalties in the same race, they will be gridded as per iRacing procedure, which at time of writing is based on the iRating of a driver, with the higher iRated driver being placed at the front of those who have failed to qualify.

5.5.5.
If other drivers fail to qualify for a race, due to either not setting a valid lap time or not attempting to set a lap, they will be grouped with any drivers who have received a qualifying penalty.
No changes to the grid will be made, as all non qualified drivers are, at the point of gridding viewed to be equal.

5.5.6.
At the accumulation of 15 penalty points, a driver will not be permitted to take part in the next race on the schedule, and therefore will receive 0 points for that race.
In addition, the driver will be barred from taking part in practice and qualifying, however MUST still join the server, so that their penalty can be issued, in the form of a disqualification from the server.
This is to avoid a potential conflict where a driver is assessed as taking a penalty when they had no desire to participate in the race in the first place.

5.5.7.
At the accumulation of 20 penalty points, a driver will be disqualified from the series, and will earn a total of zero points for the series, therefore forfeiting any prize money earned.
Note that in this case, points WILL NOT be re-allocated to drivers.