Le Mans Cup to penalize Bronze drivers for going too fast

Le Mans out does NASCAR in the wild rules department

When we’re talking silly rules in racing, we’re usually talking NASCAR’s caution clock. But, Le Mans just said, “Hold my beer.”

For 2021, the sports car sanction will penalize drivers for going to fast. They’re doing it with the idea of leveling the playing field.

This is a developmental series that leads drivers into WEC, ASLMS and ELM. To better understand the justification (if there is one), Le Mans has classifications for racing drivers such as Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze.

Platinum: Professional racing drivers with wins in big races in LM P1 and/or GTE and/or factory supported racers.

Gold: Drivers who meet one of but not two of the criteria for platinum status.

Silver: Amateur racers. Any driver under the age of 20 is at least silver.

Bronze: New drivers, drivers without results or drivers over the age of 60.

With that out of the way, Le Mans is an endurance racing series where each car has to have at least one Bronze rated driver in the crew. This promotes the future of the sport to bring in new faces.

Motorsports is defined as “any of several sports involving the racing or competitive driving of motor vehicles.” But, you can’t go too fast or they’ll slow you way down…

Le Mans announces rules for Bronze drivers that go too fast

The Le Mans Cup has a new rule in place for the 2021 racing season:

“During the past few seasons, it has been noted that some bronze rated drivers have been posting times as quick as, or even quicker, than those set by the silver rated drivers, gaining an unfair advantage over their fellow amateur racers.”

In 2021, the series will have new rules in place that label the faster Bronze drivers and then penalize them for going too fast, to level the playing field.

“The new system is designed to penalize bronze drivers that are as fast as silver drivers. This will be done by determining the silver drivers’ pace, identify the bronze drivers that are in that range and then penalize them based on their performance.”

Le Mans rule
Le Mans rule

The Penalty:

Here’s the penalty from the Le Mans rulebook for Bronze drivers that run too fast of a lap time:

“Bronze+ drivers whose lap times just fall into the first quarter of the silver driver’s performance range would have 20 seconds added to their pitstop time.”

“Drivers that fall into the second quarter, which is the area that is close to the average of the silver drivers, would have 50 seconds added to their pitstop time.”

“The bronze drivers that fall into the third quarter would have 80 seconds added, with the final quarter having a 120 second penalty.”

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