RD Le Mans Series Season 6 (rFactor 2)

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Dennis

RedShift Racing
Regarding the final standings for round 4 and overall standings

After looking at the situation at hand, we believe that the rules deal clearly enough with the issue of a restart.

For your convenience we quote the relevant section below.
Start and restarts
A race start or restart always begins with all teams in their garage. Race control will then load the correct qualification order, or in case of a restart, the saved game state which is a combination of laps driven and the restart order.

However since the admins are competitors, and to remove any possibility of a credible accusation of bias, we have involved 2 senior admins and asked them to interpret the rules.

They will do so and announce a decision.
 
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Dave Stephenson

RaceDepartment Technical Administrator
Staff
Premium
RDVSC2 2014 - Round 4 - Red Flag Incident Audit

Prelude:

Given the concern by some participants about the handling of the scoring issues, and their concerns over the impartiality of the leagues directors, myself and @Andrew James have been asked to audit and ratify the decisions made on race day.

We are both outsiders to the league and it's processors. We are involved neither directly or indirectly in the preparation, planning, or running of the series and are therefore impartial in judging the events at face value.

We have read through the rules for the first time and interpreted them as we see them, which hopefully is somewhere close to how a competitor would on first reading too. I have also read through the thread to see the thoughts of the entrants.

After doing this I formulated my opinion of what I would expect to happen in the event of a server issue, followed by quizzing the race directors on what took place, what they did, and any grey areas I felt there where in the process.

Below is included that information as much to get it clear in my own mind than to reiterate what the drivers likely already know. Feel free to skip directly to the Summary/Conclusion section.

Relevant Facts:

1) The league operates a team license system. The TOLA (Team Owner License Agreement) in which the team owner in return for his car(s) starting position agrees that he and his fellow team mates agree to and will respect the rules as set out in the same thread (Driver Conduct / Livescoring & Software Documentation - Start and restarts section).

2) The rules clearly state that in the event of a server or scoring system crash a restart will be effected.


3) This is further expanded in the software documentation, starts & restarts section to say that the restart order will be the result of the saved game-state. More specifically laps driven.

4) Races are run in an rF2 practice session and timing, rankings, and results functions are deferred entirely to the leagues accompanying software. As a result a race can only take place with this software and any issue with the software ranks along with a server crash in it's impact on the race outcome.

5) All forms of motorsport suffer in the event of force majeure/act of god. Some are common to sim racing and real motorsport, others are not. No sim race will bump into unplanned monsoon weather for instance, nor will the next round of the F1 season suffer a server crash which disconnects drivers or insta-dumps them to the pits. In either case, it's just a situation that has to be dealt with within the boundaries set out by the physical world of sim software.

Events:

During the race an issue occurred with the timing software which crashed, and as a result stopped collecting data.

There was a delay of approximately 10 minutes between the crash and the race directors becoming fully aware of the situation.

Given that the event relies on the software the race directors red flagged the race in order to deal with the situation.

The last output logged output was secured from the timing software and used to build the starting order for the restart (attached below).

The restart procedure as detailed in the rules was put into effect using the running order from the file. The lap count continued from those in the file.

A remaining race time was calculated to be 1 hour and forty minutes. This was based on the time remaining in the race, minus the time taken to resolve the server issues and effect the required gridding process for the restart. A further few minutes were then removed from that calculation to arrive at a round number and ensure that all cars could comfortably achieve reaching the end with two stints, and therefore avoid the chance of someone needed to stop a few laps from the end and be severely disadvantaged unnecessarily.

Summary:

I think given the above that the race directors operated in accordance with the the series rules and that their actions fall in line with would I would reasonably expect to happen based on reading them. I don't believe that they chose a course of action to gain an advantage for themselves.

It is unfotunate that there was some time between the software crash and the red flag. This and the fact that the start finish line intersects the pits means some people who are effectively bumper to bumper on track but pit together can end up being one lap ahead or behind of each other based on the location of their pitbox. This led to some drivers (including Red Shift) to lose some race progress, but in almost all race series real or virtual a red flag results in a count back, the side effect being that positions may change.

This can be addressed to some extent by moving the timing line to a point after the pit exit though in this instance it would not have made any changes to the required course of action, as this system relies on catching the error before anyone completes a lap and allowing everyone or no one to complete a lap before returning to the pits to level the standings before the restart. In this instance 3-4 laps of live racing took place between the software crash and the red flag so the only viable action in my opinion is a count-back.

The software writes a log file as the leader completes each lap. This file contains the data as it stood in the millisecond prior to actually crossing the line which means it acurrately portrays any completed laps of all drivers since he last crossed the line, ie if the leader is about to cross the line to start lap 20 his last completed lap at the log time was lap 19. Anyone else starting lap 19 before he begins lap 20 are accurately shown as being on the lead lap. Anyone who started lap 18 before he begins lap 20 are 1 lap down and so on. This data from the last recorded lap was used as the countback point.

With regard to issuing a red flag or a full course yellow and simply relaunching the timeing software (if this is indeed possible without a restart of the server), I feel that because the internal state of the data cannot be easily proved to be fit and healthy beyond the last recorded full lap, any race results based on that potential fouled data could never be deemed reliable, meaning a countback to the last recorded point is required and a full course yellow would not be viable.

Conclusion

In my opinion no adjustment of the race result should take place, The race directors dealt with the situation in the fairest available way and within the series rules. Some people get unlucky in these situations, others the oposite. This is the nature of racing. Most people seem happy overall with the results and the handling of the restart. There's no perfect way to handle these things but what this does do if offer up an oppertunity to strengthen the procedures that are in place to avoid any confusion in future seasons.

I'd also like to add my congratulations to all drivers for completing a great season. I enjoyed the streams I saw and the action on offer and look forward to you all going wheel to wheel again next season!
 

Dave Stephenson

RaceDepartment Technical Administrator
Staff
Premium
This is a quote from Andrew James regarding

====================================

Wow, that was a lot of reading, and the other threads :D I don't have permission to reply to the News and Announcements thread, but here is my "statement' after having read your report, checked the rules.

--
By signing up for this league, all members agreed to respect and abide to the rules laid out, regardless of whether it would advantage or disadvantage them. It would be inappropriate to reconsider rules and make changes due to the outcry of drivers after an incident has occurred. While I understand that not everyone can be happy with the final standings, the rules will be maintained and followed in this instance, namely:

Start and restarts
A race start or restart always begins with all teams in their garage. Race control will then load the correct qualification order, or in case of a restart, the saved game state which is a combination of laps driven and the restart order.


Therefore it is my opinion that as this procedure was carried out, the race results stand (pending any necessary standard incident reports/penalties). Experience and further discussion may lead to reconsidering rules for future leagues, however changes will not be made to races already completed.

Another reminder that members need to respect the final decisions made by staff. Throwing around unfounded accusations of cheating, personal insults and the like will not be tolerated.
 

Daiman Patel

rFactor 2 Technical Assistant
So who won the championship in each class ? :O_o:
The official results haven't yet been announced. As has been the standard procedure throughout the course of the season, they shall be published 1 week after the race, once the window for reporting incidents has closed - not to mention that the statement has only just been released to explain the way in which the results shall be handled due to the red flag situation.
 
The official results haven't yet been announced. As has been the standard procedure throughout the course of the season, they shall be published 1 week after the race, once the window for reporting incidents has closed - not to mention that the statement has only just been released to explain the way in which the results shall be handled due to the red flag situation.
Thank you. Just for the record (I know texts can be misinterpreted ) I was in no way complaining...just curious . My life has been very hectic lately so I often scan the forums rather than having time to read the minute details . I look forward to the results and the next series
 

Daiman Patel

rFactor 2 Technical Assistant
So we have come to the end of the season, and what an incredible championship it has been. A battle fought to the very end; it came down to the wire. And we could not have done it without all of you - I would like to say a big thanks to all of the participants who helped to make this season a success, in spite of the issues.

This was the first league that Dennis and I, with the help of Frank van Oeveren, have organised, and we believe that all in all it went pretty well. There were some mistakes and cracks that can be easily resolved and rectified as a result of the invaluable experience that we have gained from running this league. We hope that all of you have enjoyed yourselves as much as we have, and that you will join us again for Season 2 which we plan to run at around the same time next year - be sure to pencil it in the calendar you'll be sure to receive this Christmas. ;) In the meantime, if you have any questions or suggestions be sure to let Dennis or I know, and we'll get back to you.

Be sure to join us for the club races that shall be starting up again soon. We've got some real surprises in store for you all over the coming months. ;)

Finally, I would like to say thank you to everyone that helped make this league happen:
@Dennis Coufal (organiser & colleague), @Frank van Oeveren (safety car driver, race control & broadcasting), @Ricardo Edelmann (safety car driver, media, broadcasting & commentary), @Roy Magnes (broadcasting & commentary), @David O'Reilly (safety car driver & commentary), @Tapio Rinneaho (commentary), @Ole Marius Myrvold (commentary), @Gijs van Elderen (safety car driver), @Stefan Woudenberg (Lola developer), @Frederic Schornstein (testing), @Marcel Offermans (live scoring software developer), @Dave Stephenson & @Andrew James (senior administrators), other RD staff who let us run the league, and all other organisers. :D
Apologies if I have missed anyone out.
 

Daiman Patel

rFactor 2 Technical Assistant
OFFICIAL RESULTS & STANDINGS (after Round 4 - Spa Francorchamps)

The final results, for Round 4 - Spa Francorchamps (with amendments having been applied), are as follows:

Final Results.PNG



Divided per class, for clarity, with points awarded displayed, as well as clarification of the penalties that have been applied and other information, the final race results are as fallows:

Final Results (per Class).PNG



Therefore, the final scores and official standings at the end of the season are as follows:

Standings.PNG



Where there are teams (in the same class) on an equal number of points, the final standings of the teams involved has been decided based on which has completed the most number of laps throughout the season (in all 4 rounds of the championship).


Thus at the end of the season the top 3 cars, in each class, are as follows:

LMP

  1. #15 - TXL Racing - Frederic Schornstein, Mark Aalberts, Matt Horst, Dino Paolini [111 points]
  2. #17 - MC Racing - Simon Christmann, Christian Michel [108 points]
  3. #13 - RedShift Racing - Aleksi Kivela, Yuri Kasdorp [105 points]
GTE
  1. #111 - Ajira Racing - Daniel Almeida, Kalle Kouri, Tero Dahlberg [89 points]
  2. #125 - Team virtualracing.org - Jonas Steffans, Robert Worm, Mike Hartmann, Daniel Scheuerle [87 points]
  3. #119 - Radicals Online - Jeremy Bouteloup, Aj Roselli [84 points]
GTC
  1. #216 - SimRace Vereniging Nederland - Giel de Haan, Rudy van Buren, Aaron Gortemulder, Yoeri Gijsen [114 points]
  2. #214 - TXl Racing - Frederic Schornstein, Miroslav Davidovic, Matt Horst, Daniel Faber, David Gronvalls, Marius Bert [108 points]
  3. #212 - RedShift Racing - Dennis Coufal, Frank van Oeveren, Pär Öqvist [72 points]
Congratulations to you all! :D
 
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Daiman Patel

rFactor 2 Technical Assistant
The official, final results from Round 4 - Spa Francorchamps, and the current standings, have been posted - these can be found here. Apologies this has taken longer than usual - due to the red flag incident that occurred during the event, we have had to await the official decision from the 'senior administrators' and verify the results before they could be published.

At the end of the season, after 4 rounds of fun yet competitive racing, the top 3 cars in each class are as follows:

LMP

  1. #15 - TXL Racing - Frederic Schornstein, Mark Aalberts, Matt Horst, Dino Paolini [111 points]
  2. #17 - MC Racing - Simon Christmann, Christian Michel [108 points]
  3. #13 - RedShift Racing - Aleksi Kivela, Yuri Kasdorp [105 points]
GTE

  1. #111 - Ajira Racing - Daniel Almeida, Kalle Kouri, Tero Dahlberg [89 points]
  2. #125 - Team virtualracing.org - Jonas Steffans, Robert Worm, Mike Hartmann, Daniel Scheuerle [87 points]
  3. #119 - Radicals Online - Jeremy Bouteloup, Aj Roselli [84 points]
GTC
  1. #216 - SimRace Vereniging Nederland - Giel de Haan, Rudy van Buren, Aaron Gortemulder, Yoeri Gijsen [114 points]
  2. #214 - TXl Racing - Frederic Schornstein, Miroslav Davidovic, Matt Horst, Daniel Faber, David Gronvalls, Marius Bert [108 points]
  3. #212 - RedShift Racing - Dennis Coufal, Frank van Oeveren, Pär Öqvist [72 points]
Congratulations to you all! :D

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for a great race. We would like to apologise for the issues that occurred during the race - we did our best to resolve it as quickly and fairly as possible, in accordance with the regulations. Nonetheless, we hope that on the whole you all enjoyed the event.

Thanks to everyone that helped out: @Frank van Oeveren (race control), @Tapio Rinneaho, @Ole Marius Myrvold, @David O'Reilly, @Roy Magnes (commentary and broadcasting), and of course @Dennis Coufal (organiser). :D Sorry if I have missed out anyone.

Thanks you to all of the participants - the event wouldn't have been what it was without you. ;)Congratulations to the winners and podium finishers in each class. Finally I would like to say that we are grateful for your patience, understanding and feedback - it has been incredibly helpful. :thumbsup:

An article summarising the event, shall be posted soon. And we would also like to invite you all to post videos of your team's season highlights in this thread.

Hopefully we'll see you all again for the next instalment of the VSC2; we hope Season 2 will run at a similar time next year. In the meantime, be sure to join us for the vast array of club races (rFactor 2 or otherwise) hosted by RaceDepartment.

Regarding the red flag situation, we would like to say that whilst decisions may not always seem fair please understand that these will have been carefully considered and made after much deliberation. If you have any questions then please ask, and we would be more than happy to help. Thank you. :)

A couple of quick points to end on:
  • Apologies to any teams affected by the re-join penalty system, in particular Team Comet. There was a bug in the software which meant that the penalty time only started to count down once the team had re-entered the server; however, the clock should actually have started ticking as soon as the disconnect occurred. This unfortunately meant that the penalties were much harsher than they otherwise should have been. As much as we would have liked to reduce these penalties accordingly, during a race, the calculation would effectively have been a guess, and since this problem affected everyone who suffered a disconnect we decided to against manually (and potentially unfairly) adjusting penalties. We only noticed this problem as of the race at Sebring, and thought it was a one-off glitch, but the issue also occurred at Spa, therefore we shall look into and attempt to fix the cause.
  • If anybody has any feedback regarding the league, if you could please send that to either myself or Dennis it would be incredibly helpful. Meanwhile, feedback about the Lola should be sent to @Stefan Woudenberg.
  • @Amedeo Fiorella & @Nicolò Fabbri: no worries about the bump - it was a mistake. My apologies for getting a bit close and feisty with you on a couple of occasions. We were both running our own races - both of us trying to catch up with the cars in front of us, whilst trying to keep cars behind us - and things were getting a little bit tense. In the heat of the moment you become a different person, and you're focussed purely on achieving your goal - you can become easily frustrated by things, which is why we both ended up flashing at each other on a couple of occasions.
 
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