47. Suspending And Resuming The Race

47.1.

Should it become necessary to suspend the race because the circuit is blocked by an accident or because weather or other conditions make it dangerous to continue, the Race Director will order red flags to be shown at all marshal posts and the red lights to be shown at the Line.

When the signal is given, cars must slow to 80 km/h and overtaking is forbidden. The pit exit will be closed and all cars must proceed slowly to the fast lane of the pit lane where they must stop in single file and will be placed under Parc Fermé conditions.

The safety car will be placed in front of the cars lined up.

While the race is suspended:

• Driving stints will all stop at the time of the red flag and will resume when the race restarts.

• The length of the race suspension will be added to the remaining time for the race, subject to the approval of the Race Director and/ or Stewards of the Meeting.

• The drivers are allowed to get out of their cars, to remove helmets and gloves, but must remain with their cars.

• No driver changes are permitted.

• The drivers must obey the marshals' instructions at all times.

a) For cars in the fast lane

All interventions on the cars are prohibited, unless authorisation is given from race control, who may authorise checks on tyres, covering the car in case of rain. and the use of a maximum of two fans to cool the brakes. If authorised, this may be carried out by a maximum of two Team members.

b) Any cars which were in the pits before the signal to suspend the race was given are also under Parc Fermé conditions and all work must stop when the red flag signal is given. Once the three-minute board is shown work may resume on these cars. At any point after the three-minute board and before the green flag, any such car may move to the end of the pit lane and after the green flag may join at the back of the line of cars behind the safety car.

c) Any cars which entered the pit lane after the red flag signal which choose to leave the fast lane and proceed to their working area will also be under Parc Fermé conditions. Once the three-minute board is shown for the race to resume, work may commence on these cars. They may move to the end of the pit lane when the race has been resumed, and may join at the end of the first lap after the race has been resumed. This also includes any cars pushed off the grid after the 10-minute board.

47.2. Red Flag during Pit Window

Should a red flag be deployed during the mandatory pit window (one-hour races), all cars must return to their working zone in the pit lane, to complete their driver and tyre change if this has not already taken place. After finishing the pit stop operations, they will be under Parc Fermé conditions. Any cars queueing at pit exit must be pushed back to their working zone. The race will be restarted using the race order at the end of the last full lap before the opening of the pit window, with the second driver behind the wheel. Further instructions will be given by the Race Director. Should it not be possible to resume the race, the final classification will be that of the race order at the end of the last full lap before the opening of the pit window.

If the Race Director instructs, as above, that the mandatory pit stop be executed whilst the race is suspended, any compensation time penalties allocated to the cars, as well as any additional time attributed to any cars or solo drivers (see Articles 16.8 -- 16.9), and any time penalties which may have been awarded (see Article 16.6), will be added to the elapsed time at the end of the race.

However, should it not be possible to resume the race, these penalties will be applied to the final classification of the race, namely the race order at the end of the last full lap before the opening of the pit window.

47.3. Resuming the race for Cases A

The delay will be kept as short as possible and as soon as a resumption time is known, Teams will be informed via the timing monitors and Team radio; in all cases at least ten minutes' warning will be given.

Signals will be shown ten minutes, five minutes, three minutes, one minute and thirty seconds before the resumption, and each of these will be accompanied by an audible warning.

The race director, for safety reasons, may decide to authorise a tyre change from slick to wet-weather tyres. If authorised, this must take place between the ten and five-minute boards.

From the 10-minute board, the cars in the fast lane are no longer under Parc Fermé conditions and Team members may access them only to assist the driver, check tyres and brakes, bring and connect an external battery only for the purpose of restarting the engine and, if authorised by the race director, to change the tyres.

A Team may, with permission from the Race Director, remove a car from the fast lane. In this case, they will be allowed to rejoin the race with the cars at the back of the line.

When the five-minute signal is shown, all cars must have their wheels fitted. After this signal, wheels may only be removed in the pit lane during a further suspension of the race.

A penalty will be imposed on any Competitor whose car did not have all its wheels fully fitted at the five-minute signal.

When the three-minute signal is shown, the cars must be resting on their wheels. A penalty will be imposed on any Competitor whose car was not resting on its wheels or did not have all its wheels tightened at the three-minute signal.

For cars which are not in the fast lane, the information in article 47.1 b) and c) must be followed.

When the one-minute signal is shown, engines will be started. All Team personnel must leave the fast lane by the time the 30-second signal is given, taking all equipment with them. If any driver needs assistance after the 30-second signal, he must indicate this to the marshals and, when the remainder of the cars able to leave the fast lane have done so, marshals will be instructed to push the car into the working lane. In this case, marshals with yellow flags will stand beside any car (or cars) concerned to warn drivers behind.

Any driver who is unable to leave the pit lane must indicate this to the marshals. When leaving the fast lane, all drivers must proceed at a greatly reduced speed until clear of any Team personnel standing beside the fast lane. Observing the pit lane speed limit at all times.

The race will be resumed behind the Safety Car when the green signal is given.

At some point after leaving the pit lane. The Safety Car will put its green lights on indicate in a clear manner and any cars between the safety car and the race leader will be waived by to complete a further lap, without overtaking, and join the line of cars behind the Safety Car.

When the green flag signal is given, the Safety Car will leave the fast lane with all cars following, in the order in which they stopped in the fast lane, no more than 5 car lengths apart. Soon after the last car in line behind the Safety Car passes the end of the pit lane, the pit exit light will turn green. Any cars which were in the pit lane before the red flag (article 47.1 b)) (article 2.6.1 b) may then enter the fast lane and join the line of cars behind the Safety Car. Any Cars which were pushed out of the fast lane after the red flag (article 47.1 c)) may move to the end of the pit lane after the race has resumed, and rejoin after the first lap behind the safety car.

Overtaking during this lap is permitted only if a car is delayed and cars behind cannot avoid passing it without unduly delaying the remainder of the field. In this case, drivers may overtake only to re-establish the order they were in before the race was suspended.

A penalty will be imposed on any driver who, in the opinion of the Stewards of the Meeting, unnecessarily overtook another car while behind the Safety Car.

The Safety Car will enter the pits after one lap unless all cars are not yet lined up behind it, or the Safety Car may continue until the Race Director decides it is safe to resume the race.

If the race cannot be resumed, the final classification will be that of the race order at the end of the penultimate lap before the lap during which the signal to suspend the race was given.

47.4. N/A