Race Format

Superleague Formula employs a race weekend format unique in worldwide motorsport

Super Format

Technically identical cars and engines will see the popular Super Final race, introduced in 2009, again in 2010, where the best 8 drivers of the weekend will do a five lap dash for cash at the end of race two on Sundays.

Drivers will do battle for a weekend purse of €100,000 in prize money going to the winner of each weekend round. Prize money will be awarded to all half-dozen finalists meaning that for the first time, fourth to sixth stand to win a share of €60,000, with second and third receiving €50,000 and €40,000 respectively. Points are awarded on a scale from first to last. Each club accumulates points and the Superleague Formula Champions will be the car with most points at the end of the eight GGPP season.

Qualifying

Qualifiying is carried out on Saturday.

Qualification process

Phase 1: First up is a draw to establish two groups of 8/8 cars for separate, individual 15 minute Qualifying sessions. Drivers will select a letter which will determine whether they are in Group A or Group B: Group A will qualify first followed by Group B (both for 15 minutes duration). Groups A & B Qualifying will normally be separated by five minutes. The four fastest cars of each session (A and B) qualify to the next stage.

Quarter finals: These eight finalists compete in a head-to-head format. They will queue in the pit lane and the first two 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. First car will be released one behind the other and they must maintain that formation/position until they pass the start finish line for a single flying/timed lap.

The cars will complete a single flying lap, the fastest of the pair going on to the semi-final. This is repeated three more times with four cars qualifying for the semis. 

Semi finals: Two semi-final shoot-outs then take place using the same head-to-head system to decide the final two cars, which will then do battle for pole position.

Final: The two semi-final winners then go head-to-head with the fastest claiming pole position for the first of Sunday's two races.

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

The Races

Races are carried out on Sunday.

Starting grid

Race 1: The winner of Saturday's qualifying shot-out will, of course, takes pole position for Race 1 on Sunday alongside the losing finalist on the front row; the two losing semi-finalist will line up on the second row ahead of those clubs eliminated in the quarter finals. Grid positions outside the top eight will be awarded in order of qualifying times with cars from the faster of the sessions lining up in order on same side of the grid as the pole sitter and cars from the slower session on the other side of the grid. So the fifth placed car from the faster of the two groups lines up in ninth position and the fifth placed car from the slower of the two sessions in tenth... The fastest group will be determined by the faster of the two times set by the driver from the group who posts the quickest time regardless of any other times of any other drivers in that group. 

Race 2: One of the great attractions of Superleague Formula is Race 2, which unlike any other major motor sport competition, sees the fastest cars from Race 1 starting at the back. The starting grid is completely reversed from the results of Race 1 meaning that, for example, if a car goes off at the first corner of the first race, it will be on pole for Race 2. Superleague Formula believes that this revolutionary 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 - creates a new degree of excitement that helps to underline SF's unique appeal.

The races

Two races: Superleague Formula meetings feature two main races of equal length. Each race is timed at approximately 40 minutes.

Points: Points for the Superleague Formula championship are scored in both races each Sunday. There are points available for every position in the field with 50 up for grabs for a race win. The scoring system is set up to encourage drivers to overtake by awarding those at the front significantly more than those at the back.
The scoring system is: 50-45-40-36-32-29-26-23-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-7-6-5. Points are scored equally in both races. Third race also scores and points will be awarded as follows: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. A driver managing to win three races on Sunday would collect 106 points. No points will be awarded to any driver that does not cross the finishing line within 2 laps of the leader. 

Pit stops: The tyre change pit stop is required within a time frame of 10 minutes. This will start 15 minutes after the start of the race and will close 10 minutes later. 

Rolling starts: The clock (for the 40 minutes) will start at the very moment the pace car leads all the cars off the grid and the pace car will normally turn its orange lights off during that lap and pull into the pits after completing just one lap. If it is raining it will always do two laps and if the Race Director is not happy with something then he can keep the pace car circulating until he is happy. When the pace car pulls into the pits the overhead starting lights will be on red and the race director will turn off the red lights as the first car approaches those overhead lights on the start finish line. At the moment the red lights are turned off, all cars can accelerate and overtake each other even if the cars at the back have not yet passed the start finish/line.

Pace car: This is deployed during a race if there is a problem on the track that might cause damage or injury to another competitor or marshal or even the public. When this happens all the cars will bunch up and await the pace car turning off his lights (orange flashing - on top of the car) and this is the sign that when they pass the start finish line then the race is back on. In this instance there can be no change of position until they pass the start finish line. If any car overtakes another before that point it will be penalized.

The Super Final

This special shoot-out consists of 5 laps and it will run immediately after Race 2 and will feature the top eight combined point's championship finishers from both races. Super Final climax will decide the overall 'Weekend Winner' and also the distribution of prize money. The winner will receive €100,000, the runner-up €50,000 and third place €40,000. Fourth place will receive €30,000, fifth place €20,000 and sixth place €10,000.

Super Final grid: Grid positions will be determined on the basis of combined points achieved from Race 1 and Race 2. In the event that car(s) from Race 1 are unable to take their positions on the grid (due to mechanical, accident or other reasons) then the next available car(s) from the final classification of the combined point's championship will take up the relevant position(s). Refueling and tyre changes are allowed (from within the allocation for the race weekend) and must be done in the pit lane.

Points and prize money