I'm having the same issues, Steam version - I moved to America for 2 days...according to my IP. It didn't ask me for my RaceNet login either, so I'm not sure it's because RaceNet is having issues or simply because it can't authenticate my game.
Oh, right. The website knows about my Steam account, so it's surely connected through that - especially since I got that helmet, silly me. I'm getting the exact same error message tho, so it's possibly not an issue on your side.