[Racer Duck]

I know there was a post some time back that spoke of the new racing league being created. If you want more info on the league itself, check out their website: Home - Superleague Formula

One of the things I am intrigued with is their race format or, more specifically, their total qualifying to trophy presentation format. Here's a brief description of their process:

Qualifying on Saturday:

• A drawing to form 2 groups of 10 cars each for separate individual 15 minute qualifying sessions.
• The 4 fastest cars of each group qualify to final round.
• The 8 finalists compete in a time attack format. They will queue in pit lane and the first 2 cars will be sent off as a pair. A pre-determined gap will be maintained on the warm-up lap- close enough to entertain the crowds, far away enough so the following car is not impacted by aerodynamic factor.
• The cars will complete a single flying lap, the fastest of the pair going on to race in the semi final. This is repeated three more times with 4 cars qualifying for the semi final.
• Two semi-final shoot-outs then take place to decide the the final 2 cars who will then do battle for pole position.

No refueling or tyre changing can take place during the session.

Sunday Race:

• First race as per qualifying on Saturday
• Second race with “complete reverse grid”

The winner of qualifying will, of course, take pole position for Race 1, but the grid for Race Two will be completely reversed. This means that, for example, if a car goes off at the first corner in the Race 1, they will be on pole for Race 2… with the winner of Race One at the back.

For both races, points will be awarded from 50 for the winner to 1 point for last place.

To stop any potential ‘engineering’ of a result, we will do two things:
1) the real prize money will awarded to the highest points winner from the weekend overall
2) the differential of points between places will be greater at the front than at the back. In other words, 19th to 20th will be two points or one point, whereas first to second place will see a difference of five (i.e. 50 points to 45).

The aim, therefore, is to encourage the drivers to get as many points as possible in the Race 1, and then battle their way through the field as far as possible in Race 2.

To meet this objective and to promote ambitious, exciting driving, Superleague Formula will add an extra motivation, with prize money and points awarded for ‘fastest laps’, ‘most cars overtaken in race two’ and, of course, ‘pole position’ in the first race.

In addition, every time a driver overtakes, this will also represent an increase in prize money (the smallest amount being 1000€ difference from 20th to 19th) so they have a tangible reason to move up through the grid and fight to the bitter end.

We believe that the Reverse Grids format - where the fastest driver in the fastest car in Race 1 is asked to make his way up the grid (and thereby encourage overtaking and a real battle on the racetrack) in Race 2 - will create a new degree of excitement that will help to underline SF’s unique appeal.

The above is taken directly from their website and, in case you didn't catch it, they expect a field of 20 cars, max. The points thing is built on the 20 car field, and appears to be a standard arrangement where points value and position gap is decreased as you go down the finishing order.

However, it's their concept that has piqued my interest. They claim 1 million euros in prize money for every race.

What do you think of their concept and whether it will work as planned or not?

[simple simon]

i love racing of most all forms ... cars, boats, RV's .... but this seems a little much just for a race weekend

is 20 cars a sent number and they wont allow more to try and qualify ... or is that just a number up in the air ?

[BringBackWilkesboro]

It is intriguing anytime a brand new racing series is formed, but this doesn't seem like my cup of tea. It has the confusing look of a series that wants to be number 1 in open wheel, but tries to do too much while at the same time doing too little.

[Bob Tanner]

Interesting, Duck. Interesting.

The first thing that struck me was that the qualifying reminds me of a mixture of F1 qualifying and the way WoO qualifies cars for its A Main. A gutsy, if not confusing approach.

Extra money for passing cars? I hope they limit one team per owner. I can see where a four team organization could milk that rule for a lot of euros.

I'm still waiting to see the quality of the racing itself. I still have memories of the TRAC Series (remember that fiasco?) they were talking about starting here in the US. It never got off the ground?

I wonder how the Europeans would feel about a format where a goodly number of points are awarded to ensure everyone qualifies as fast as they can, then having an inverted start? That would add a dimension of change, wouldn't it?

[Racer Duck]

Seems to me having 2 races with the 2nd being the inverted start of the finish of the first race fixes (as much as is possible from the sanctioning side) what we have been moaning about for so long in Cup: follow the leader racing. Since the individual races don't "pay" anything but points, it's important to gather as many points as possible in both races in order to get the big check.

I guess you could call that "points racing", but it puts a whole different complexion on it. Very similar to the way V8 Supercars awards prizes.

Also, qualifying provides a bit of drama in that to get the pole you have to be fastest every "race"! No slacking off! No "lucky" laps! AND no throwaways!

I suspect 20 cars is an arbitrary number. As the series grows, they probably have plans to allow for larger fields. But looking at the other popular open wheel series, 20+ car fields are not all that common. And this series is not a "beginner" or "feeder" series.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

Seems to me having 2 races with the 2nd being the inverted start of the finish of the first race fixes (as much as is possible from the sanctioning side) what we have been moaning about for so long in Cup: follow the leader racing. Since the individual races don't "pay" anything but points, it's important to gather as many points as possible in both races in order to get the big check.

I guess you could call that "points racing", but it puts a whole different complexion on it. Very similar to the way V8 Supercars awards prizes.

Also, qualifying provides a bit of drama in that to get the pole you have to be fastest every "race"! No slacking off! No "lucky" laps! AND no throwaways!

I suspect 20 cars is an arbitrary number. As the series grows, they probably have plans to allow for larger fields. But looking at the other popular open wheel series, 20+ car fields are not all that common. And this series is not a "beginner" or "feeder" series.

Hmmm...? Two races? That has some possibilities I'll have to think about.

No slacking off. No "Lucky laps." No throwaways. No owner and sponsor welfare (a.k.a The Chosen 35) system. A premium on performance and not consistancy. Damn, man! Sounds like auto racing to me!