Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) is pleased to announce the creation of the Porsche PAYCE & MICHELIN Virtual Cup Australia. The intention of the new virtual Porsche Championship is to provide fun, online race events for Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup and Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge drivers (from the 2019 and 2020 seasons) to race each other on the iRacing platform.
Porsche will also extend invitations to past Carrera Cup legends for guest appearances at each race, allowing current drivers to take on some of the former greats of the series. An International All-Stars car will also be entered for each round to provide guest appearances from a range of Porsche drivers from around the world, while a range of Wild Card cars might be entered in a select range of events.
In addition, a mystery guest driver will compete for the full season in the Geisterfahrer (Ghost Driver) Car with fans invited to guess whom he/she is at the end of the series to stand a chance of winning a range of prizes. To keep the teams involved, each team competing in either Series will also be allocated a 'Team Car' for one of the six rounds. This car provides one team the opportunity to nominate a driver who is part of the working crew as the Team car driver for that event.
As in the real world, the six round virtual championship will be split into two classes: Mobil Pro and Pro-Am, with races taking place every second Monday, commencing 4th May.
While the new Porsche PAYCE & MICHELIN Virtual Cup Championship provides value to drivers, customers and partners alike, it will also provide entertaining content for race fans. A highlights video including post-race coverage of each event will be promoted via Porsche Motorsport Australia social channels and posted to the CarreraCupAus Youtube channel on the Friday evening following the race, with commentary from Carrera Cup series commentator, Richard Craill.
Eligibility
- In order to compete in the Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Australia Championship drivers must have competed in the 2019 or 2020 Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup or Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge.
- Any drivers outside of this will be on an invitational basis only and at the sole discretion of Porsche Cars Australia. The field will be capped to 45 entrants per round with priority provided to competitors who are competing in the whole season.
Guest Drivers
Porsche Motorsport Australia will invite the following Guest drivers to each round of the Championship including:
- Cup Car Legends: This car will have a driver that has formerly raced in Carrera Cup in the past.
- International All Stars: This car will have a driver that currently races overseas.
- Team: This car will have team member (non-driver) compete in one round of the championship with a submission from each current Team competing in either PCCA or PSCA. It is the sole discretion of PCA of which team member will compete.
- Geisterfahrer (Ghost Driver). This will be a mystery guest who will compete in all the rounds with the driver being announced at the end of the Championship
- Wild Card: From time to time a Wild Car driver may be entered by PCA at their discretion.
iRacing Requirements
To be able to compete in the championship each driver will require the following equipment and licenses in-order to compete including:
- All entrants must have an account and ID number with iRacing at the competitor's cost. www.iracing.com
- All levels of iRacing License will be permitted to compete.
- An appropriate simulator and the competitor's cost that is compatible with iRacing including an appropriate Personal Computer.
- Each driver will be required to purchase a Porsche 911 Gen II Cup Car through iRacing at a cost of $11.95.
- Each driver is required to purchase the nominated 8 tracks through iRacing, 8 at $14.95 per track
- Entry fees into the Championship is provided by PCA FOC.
Series Calendar & Event Conditions
The Porsche PAYCE & Michelin Virtual Cup Championship will consist of the following events and conditions:
Round | Date | Circuit | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 4th May | Phillip Island | |
2 | 18th May | Barcelona | Daytona (Night Race) |
3 | 1st June | Monza | |
4 | 15th June | Mount Panorama | |
5 | 29th June | Spa Francorchamps | Le Mans (Night Race) |
6 | 13th July | Silverstone |
- II. The track conditions will follow the four seasons providing varying track conditions through the championship.
- III. The weather for each event will be set to Sunny.
Round Format
The race format for each round will generally follow the following format. This is subject to change and at the discretion of PCA: as follows:
- Practice 30 minutes (all drivers on track)
- Qualifying 20 minutes (all drivers on track)
- Race 1 20 minutes
- Race 2 20 minutes
- Race 3 20 Minutes
Grid Determination
The grid for each Race will be determined by the following procedure:
- The grid for each Race at a round will be a Progressive grid. The grid for the first race of a round will be based on the final qualifying positions of that round.
Championship Pointscore
Finish position | Points | Finish position | Points | Finish position | Points | Finish position | Points | Finish position | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 60 | 10th | 20 | 19th | 7 | 28th | 1 | 37th | 0 |
2nd | 54 | 11th | 18 | 20th | 6 | 29th | 1 | 38th | 0 |
3rd | 48 | 12th | 16 | 21st | 5 | 30th | 1 | 39th | 0 |
4th | 42 | 13th | 14 | 22nd | 4 | 31st | 0 | 40th | 0 |
5th | 36 | 14th | 12 | 22rd | 3 | 32nd | 0 | 41st | 0 |
6th | 32 | 15th | 11 | 24th | 2 | 33rd | 0 | 42nd | 0 |
7th | 29 | 16th | 10 | 25th | 1 | 34th | 0 | 43rd | 0 |
8th | 26 | 17th | 9 | 26th | 1 | 35th | 0 | 44th | 0 |
9th | 23 | 18th | 8 | 27th | 1 | 36th | 0 | 45th | 0 |
- Points shall be allocated for the following classes:
- i. Outright/Mobil Pro
- ii. Pro-Am
- The driver gaining the highest Outright points total over all the rounds will be the winner of the 2020 Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Australia.
- Each driver in the Pro-Am class who is classified as a finisher will be awarded points relative to each other driver in the Pro-Am class classified as a finisher.
- The Pro-Am driver gaining the highest Pro-Am point total over all the rounds will be the winner of the 2020 Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Australia Pro-Am Class.
Driving Standards and Penalties
The following procedure will be conducted to manage driving standards and penalties for the championship including:
- Driver conduct will be judged by the Race Director with penalties potentially being issued in race by the RD at his sole discretion. This decision is final with no right to appeal.
- Other racing incidents will be implemented through the iRacing penalty system to be set to a maximum of 20. If this is exceeded the competitor will be automatically black flagged during the race
- Please refer to the iRacing Official Sporting Code for further details on driver conduct, penalties etc. iRacing Official Sporting Code
- Full course yellow flags (safety Car) will be enabled and may be used at the discretion of the Race Director.
Race Vehicle
1. Eligible Cars
- Only the Porsche 911 Gen II Cup as provided by iRacing may be used in the championship.
2. Branding
All vehicles competing in the championship must comply with the following brand guidelines. Any breaches to these guidelines could result in exclusion from the championship:
- PCA will make available the standard championship series branding on each car in the field. This will be delivered through the iRacing system with nothing for the competitor to action.
- Existing category sponsor protection applies to the Virtual Cup championship including exclusivity to Michelin and Mobil Lubes
3. Vehicle Set Up
- All vehicles set up will be delivered with a fix set up for each race. This will not be the standard iRacing set up and has been developed for each track.
4. Crash Damage
- Crash damage will be set to "No fast repairs" by iRacing.
COMPETITION TIME!
Correctly guess the name of the Geisterfahrer (Ghost driver)
Competing in the 2020 Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Championship and stand a chance to win a 1:43 Porsche 911 RSR scale model.
To enter, followers of the Porsche Motorsport AU Facebook & Instagram Channels must:
- Correctly enter the name of the Geisterfahrer (Ghost driver) competing in Porsche PAYCE and MICHELIN Virtual Cup Championship in the comments section of the Channels; and
- Explain in a creative and accurate manner in the comments section of the Channels in twenty-five (25) words or less why they think he/she is the Geisterfahrer (Ghost driver); and
- post the correct answer and their explanation by 11:00 am on14 July 2020.
Porsche Cars Australia will decide the winner based on the reasons given by the entrant first in time in the comments section. The winning entrant will be contacted via the Channels and win a 1:43 Porsche 911 RSR scale model.
Watch the highlights of each race on the CarreraCupAus Youtube channel on Friday night of the race week at 20:00 (Melbourne time).