Motorsports including SUPER GT is a competition, obviously. In order to carry out the competition fairly and properly, there are predefined strict regulations, just like other sports. This enables increased safety and fair race operation. GTA reviews and revises the regulations almost on a yearly basis by considering the various conditions of the previous year as well as the new season in an effort to make SUPER GT more attractive.
GT500 and GT300 classes running together, high-speed battles by multiple cars, pit stop involving driver change, etc., are all attractions of SUPER GT. There could be violations against the regulations committed during the battle sometimes because the contention can become fierce. In such cases, a judgment would be given for the violation based on the regulations and a penalty would be imposed. Time penalty has been added to the category of penalties in SUPER GT from this season. In this article, the objective of newly added time penalty will be explained in detail based on the comment made by GTA President & CEO Bandoh during the regular press conference of GTA held at the Round 2 Fuji event. *Photos posted do not directly represent the contents of the article.
Penalties for violations that occurred during the race are defined in the SUPER GT Sporting Regulations (SpR). In the previous years, there were only two types of penalty defined in SpR: ‘Drive-through penalty’ (driver must enter the pit lane and re-join the race from the pit exit without stopping in the pits) and ‘Penalty stop’ (driver must enter the pit lane, stop at the penalty stop area for the penalty time given, and then rejoin the race from the pit exit). Also, for any drivers who commit unsportsmanlike conduct through dangerous driving conduct, a warning would be given by showing a ‘Black and White’ flag. If a driver were given a judgment of dangerous driving conduct more than once in the same event, the driver would be subject to penalty.
In another words, there were only either Black and White flag presentation or drive-through penalty for contacts. The newly introduced ‘Time penalty’ penalizes violations by adding a specified time (number of seconds) to the result of competition, which is intended to improve the drastic penalty structure that only provided a choice of either ‘1’ or ’10’, for example. It is simply a type of penalty that will fill in the gap between the Black and White flag and drive-through penalty. There had been numerous contacting incidents that were in between the Black and White flag and drive-through penalty in the past, but most of them were concluded with a Black and White flag if judged not severe enough for a drive-though penalty. With the introduction of time penalty from this season, there will be more granular level of penalties, from ‘1’ to ’10’, depending on the severity of the conduct of contact. This will enable stricter control of contacts that could unavoidably occur during the race.
Obviously, contacts are not the only violations that could occur during the race. For example, a violation can be committed during a pit stop. Drive-through or stricter penalty was given to such violation until last year, and it meant that the team or driver who was imposed the penalty would immediately drop out from the contention for the win. However, the introduction of time penalty can be a solution to stay in contention for a relatively minor violation committed during a pit stop. The time added by a time penalty could be recoverable by the effort put in by the team or driver afterward. Of course, serious violations, such as dropping of wheel nut, etc., would continue to be subject to a drive-through or severer penalty.
The revision of regulations is intended to make the race more tense and fierce by making the penalty for contacts stricter and relaxing the penalty for minor violations during a pit stop. SUPER GT continues to evolve to become a more attractive series to provide excitement for the fans to enjoy.
