The Virtual Safety Car arrives in WEC

The WEC Committee would like to inform Competitors, as advanced notice, that in application of Article 14.6.1 of the FIA World Endurance Championship Sporting Regulations, the Safety Car procedure will be supplemented as follows.This decision will be reissued (with the possibility of further clarifications) in 2024.

Placing the race under VSC

The Race Director may declare a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period if he deems it necessary for safety reasons.

Each VSC period will be systematically followed by a Safety Car procedure. The Virtual Safety Car is a tool intended to secure interventions around the track in the event of an accident. It can be used for an approximate duration of 2 laps before deployment of the Safety Car (SC). It will be deployed immediately by the Race Director.

At the discretion of the Race Director, if the nature of the incident on track is incompatible with its deployment or when the cars are grouped together, the Safety Car may be deployed directly without prior deployment of the VSC.

Once “VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR” is displayed on the monitors, the cars must slow down to 80.00kph, in a single line, and maintain the distance that separates them from the car in front and the one behind.

Overtaking under VSC is strictly prohibited, unless a car slows down due to an obvious problem.

When the VSC procedure is deployed, all marshal positions will display waving yellow flags and VSC signs for the duration of the procedure.

The marshal positions preceding the incident(s) will have double yellow flags waved. Drivers must therefore comply with the instructions of the Race Director or, where applicable, the track marshals in the area(s) concerned.

Any car driven in an unnecessarily slow, erratic manner or deemed potentially dangerous to other Drivers at any time when VSC is used, will be reported to the Stewards. This will apply whether the car is driven on the track, into the pit entrance or into the pit exit lane.

Access to the pit lane under VSC

Access to the pit lane will remain open for the duration of the VSC.

The pit lane exit will remain open.

Cars entering the pit lane may pass cars on the track once they have crossed Safety Car Line 1. Cars exiting the pit lane may overtake other cars until they reach Safety Car Line 2.

In the pit entry and exit lanes, the maximum speed is also limited to 80.00kph.

End of the VSC

When the Race Director deems it appropriate, he will terminate the VSC procedure by deploying the SC procedure, described in article 14.6.

At this stage, all marshal posts replace the VSC panels with SC panels. The Safety Car will be deployed in front of the leading car of the race and the limit of 80.00kph will be lifted