Le Mans

24 H. of Le Mans 2024 - New safety car system unveiled, drop back withdrawn

24 Heures du Mans

9 Dec. 2023 • 14:00

Deemed too long during the centenary edition, the safety car regime procedures will be shortened, with in particular the abandonment of the last phase: the drop back.

Last June, many of you complained about the length of the safety car procedures during the centenary edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Well aware of the shortcomings of this new stratagem, the ACO has since worked to simplify and shorten everything, and avoid having another event interrupted for 3h01'47''.

Overall, the system has not been revolutionised. It has been simplified and shortened, with the abandonment of the drop back, which saw the three categories grouped together, with an initial manoeuvre seeing the LMP2s move to the right of the track to let the rest of the pack through, before the GTE Am cars did the same once the first mentioned were back in line. If you want to go deeper, then carry on.

Are you ready? Got some time ahead of you ? Here, in detail and as written in the Supplementary Regulations of the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours, is the safety car system that will be in force next June, during the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, on the understanding that the general provisions regarding the Safety Car procedure applicable to the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be published at the latest on February, 13th 2024. They can be further specified, clarified or completed by the ACO and its designated officials (see Appendix 1).

14.6 Neutralising the race : Safety Car procedure

Article 2.10 of Appendix H to the Code applies, except for the provisions listed below.

On the decision of the Clerk of the Course, the Safety Car may be brought into operation to:

Neutralise a race if Competitors or officials are in immediate physical danger but the circumstances are not such as to necessitate stopping the race;
Start a race in exceptional conditions;
Pace a rolling start;
Resume a suspended race.

For Championship Competitions, there will be three Safety Car.

When the order is given to deploy the Safety Car, all marshal posts will display waved yellow flags and “SC” boards and the orange lights at the Line will be illuminated, for the duration of the intervention.

Pit exit will be closed, and the pit exit light turned red, while the pit entry will remain open.

🆕 One the Safety car procedure will be deployed, any car entering the pit lane will only be allowed on track, at least, after the next Safety Car passes.

The marshal post(s) preceding the intervention area(s) will have double waved yellow to alert the drivers to the presence of, Marshals, Obstacles, Intervention Vehicles on the track or its boundaries.

There will be 3 safety cars, starting from their respective positions (see Appendix 11), with their orange lights illuminated. They will join the track regardless of where the overall leader is.

All the competing cars must then form up in line behind the Safety Car no more than five car lengths apart, and overtaking, with the following exceptions, is absolutely forbidden until the cars reach the Line (or the next race neutralisation end point) after the Safety Car has returned to the pits.

Any car being driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner deemed potentially dangerous to other Drivers at any time whilst the Safety Car is deployed will be reported to the Stewards. This will apply whether any such car is being driven on the track, the pit entry road or the pit lane.

Penalty in case of dangerous driving standards during the intervention of the Safety Car: 3 minutes Stop & Go.

14.6.2 Overtaking allowed under the Safety Car

Overtaking will be permitted under the following circumstances:

if a car is signalled to do so from the Safety Car;
under Article 11.3.2;
any car entering the pits may pass another car or the Safety

Car after it has crossed Safety Car Line 1;
any car leaving the pits may be overtaken by another car on the track before it crosses Safety Car Line 2,;
when the Safety Car is returning to the pits or its intermediate position, it may be overtaken by cars on the track once it has crossed Safety Car Line 1;
any car stopping in its designated garage area whilst the Safety Car is using the pit lane may be overtaken ;
if any car slows down with an obvious problem.

14.6.3 Overtaking signal given by the Safety Car

When ordered to do so by the Clerk of the Course, the observer in the Safety Car will use a green light to signal to any cars between it and the race leader that they should pass. These cars will continue at reduced speed and without overtaking until they reach the line of cars behind the Safety Car.

14.6.4 Merging behind one Safety car

When the Race Director decides it is safe to proceed with the merging process, the message ‘Incident clear – Prepare for Merging’ will be posted on the timing monitors.

At this point:

Pit entry will close.
Safety Car B and Safety Car C will turn on their green lights, then cars which were positioned behind Safety Car B and Safety Car C will overtake their respective Safety Car and will continue as quickly as possible without compromising safety and without overtaking between themselves until they reach the line behind Safety Car A.

From that moment, and until the end of the Safety Car procedure, any car entering the pits must beforehand inform Race Control via the official messaging system.

Any car entering the pit lane once the message ‘Incident clear – Prepare for merging’ will be posted on the timing monitors will be allowed to enter the pits only in the following case:

The competitor will be allowed to replace (a) damaged tyre(s), and to repair the associated damage or bodywork damage that presents an obvious safety risk.

14.6.5 “Pass-Around”

If deemed appropriate, the Race Director will authorise “Pass- Around” for any car that has their category leader behind them in the order circulating behind the Safety Car A.

It is the Competitor’s responsibility to determine if their car is eligible for Pass-Around. Penalty for Pass-Around when ineligible: Stop & Go for time equal to two (2) race laps.

All cars participating in the Pass-Around must, throughout the procedure, remain in line relative to each other, in the order initially established behind the Safety Car.

When the Race Director considers it safe to do so, the message “Prepare for Pass Around” will be posted on timing monitors.

From that time, it is not allowed to change one’s racing line or to weave.

🆕 Any car entering the pit lane once the message ‘Prepare for pass around’ will be posted on the timing monitors will be allowed to enter the pits only in the following case:

- The competitor will be allowed to replace (a) damaged tyre(s), and to repair the associated damage or bodywork damage that presents an obvious safety risk.

The procedure will be organized as follow:

All cars will remain on the left-hand side of the track.
Once the Safety Car has turned on its green lights, the message “Go for Pass Around” will be posted on the timing monitors,
All cars eligible for Pass Around must overtake the line of cars and the Safety Car A by the right-hand side safely, in the proper order. Once they have done so, they will continue as quickly as possible without compromising safety and take up position at the back of the line of cars behind the Safety Car A.

Cars participating in the Pass-Around must, only when directed to do so, immediately overtake the Safety Car safely in the proper order and catch up with the field as quickly as possible without affecting safety and take up position at the rear of the line of cars behind the Safety Car.

🆕 Eligibility to pass Around:

Cars circulating in front of their category leader and behing the safety car are eligible for the pass around.

The eligibility will be established based on the last Intermediate 1 classification before the ‘prepare for pass around” message is deplayed on the timing monitors.

If the leader of the category is in the pit lane at the moment the message ‘prepare for pass around’ is deplayed on the timing monitors, then the eligibility shall be based on the next car from category that was physically behind the leader on track in circulating order at the time the eligibility order was established.

The Safety Car shall be used at least until the car in the lead is behind it (except under Article 11.3) and all remaining cars are lined up behind the leader (or, when there is more than one Safety Car, all the cars in that Safety Car’s sector).

Once behind the Safety Car, the race leader (or leader of that sector) must keep within 5 car lengths of it (except as under Article 14.6.12) and all remaining cars must keep the formation as tight as possible.

❌ The drop-back procedure will no longer be used.

14.6.6 Exiting the pit lane under the Safety Car

Pit exit green light will be turned on after the last car in line behind a Safety Cars has passed Safety Car Line 2, to allow all cars at pit exit to rejoin the track at an appropriate speed until they reach the queue behind that Safety Car.

After the last car leaving the pit lane has exited, the pit exit light will turn red again.

14.6.7 Lap count for the Competitors

Each lap completed while the Safety Car is deployed will be counted as a race lap.

14.6.8 If the Safety Car is deployed or on the track during the final lap

If the Safety Car is still deployed at the beginning of the last lap, or is deployed during the last lap, it will enter the pit lane at the end of the lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.

14.6.9 If the Safety Car has to use the pit lane

Under certain circumstances, the Clerk of the Course may ask the Safety Car to use the pit lane. In this case, and provided its orange lights remain illuminated, all cars must follow it into the pit lane without overtaking. Any car entering the pit lane under these circumstances may stop at its designated garage area.

If the Safety Car is using the pit lane, any car that is in its working area cannot leave its position once the pit exit light turns red. In this case, a car may only leave its working area once the last car in line behind the Safety Car has passed in front of its garage.

14.6.10 End of the Safety Car procedure

When the Clerk of the Course calls in the Safety Car, its orange lights will be extinguished; this will be the signal that it will be entering the pit lane at the end of that lap. At this point, the first car in line behind the Safety Car may dictate the pace and, if necessary, fall more than five car lengths behind it.

In order to avoid the likelihood of accidents before the Safety Car returns to the pits, from the point at which the lights on the car are extinguished, Drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration, braking, or any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other Drivers or impede the re-start.

As the Safety Car is approaching the pit entry, the yellow flags and SC boards at the marshal posts will be withdrawn and replaced by waved green flags with green lights at the Line and at the Intermediate race neutralisation end point(s). These flags will be displayed until the last car crosses the Line.

The pit lane exit will be closed from when the Safety Car crosses Safety Car Line 1 until the last car of the line of cars crosses Safety Car Line 2.

At any moment, if he deems it necessary, the Race Director may decide to:

Do an extra lap behind the Safety Car A. If this is the case pit exit will be operated as defined in article 14.6.1.
Declare one or several Slow Zone(s)
Declare Full Course Yellow
Suspend the race.

14.7 Neutralizing the race: safety car procedure (alternative procedure)

14.7.1 Deployement of the safety car in the 60 last minutes of the race

The procedures detailed above in Articles 14.6.4, 14.6.5, 14.6.6 and 14.6.7 will not be applied within the last 60 minutes of the race.

In that case, the message “Article 14.7.1 will apply” will be posted

on the timing monitors.

When Article 14.7.1 applies, the start of the Safety Car procedure will be as described in Article 14.6.1 except for provisions listed under this Article 14.7.

Competing cars may enter the pit lane. The pit exit will be closed and the pit exit light will be red.

Pit exit green light will be on after the last car in line behind the Safety Car has passed Safety Car Line 2, so as to allow all cars at the exit from the pit lane to re-join the track at an appropriate speed until they reach the back of the line of cars behind the Safety Car. After the last car leaving the pit lane has exited, the light will turn red again except when Article 14.7.2 is in application.

When the pit exit light turns green, all cars waiting at the exit from the pit lane must rejoin the track at an appropriate speed until they reach the back of the line of cars behind their designated Safety Car.

In that case, when the Race Director calls in the Safety Cars, the orange lights will be switched off, the message “Safety Car in this lap” will be posted on the timing monitors.

This is the signal that they will be returning to their respective Safety Car post.

At this point, the first car in line behind the Safety Car may dictate the pace and, if necessary, fall more than five car length behind it.

To avoid the likelihood of accidents before the Safety Car returns to its post, from the moment the lights are switched off drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration, braking or other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restart.

After the Safety Cars have returned to their posts, the waved green flags will be shown at the marshals’ posts. These flags will be deployed for a maximum of one lap.

At the end of the Safety Car procedure, and once the track has become green, the pit exit will remain closed until the last car (that was in line behind Safety Car A) has passed on track by the pit exit.

If the race ends while the Safety Car is still on the track, the cars will take the chequered flag on the Line using the normal procedure without being allowed to overtake.

At any moment, if the Race Director deems it necessary, the Race Director may decide to:

Do an extra lap behind the Safety Cars, if this is the case Pit Exit will be operated as defined in article 14.6.1.
Declare one or several Slow Zone(s)
Declare Full Course Yellow
Suspend the race.

14.7.2 Pit lane discipline at the beginning of the safety car procedure (for the race only)

Article 14.7.2 applies from the moment the Safety Car procedure is deployed and ends when Safety Car B crosses Line 2 for the first time.

Any car having entered the pit lane before the Safety Car procedure is deployed will only be allowed to rejoin the track after the last car queuing up behind Safety Car A has crossed the Safety Car Line 2.

At that moment the pit exit light will turn green, until Safety Car B crosses the Safety Car Line 1.

Any car having entered the pit lane after the Safety Car procedure is deployed (i.e: announced by the Race Director on the Team Radio, timing screens) will only be allowed to rejoin the track after the last car queuing up behind Safety Car B has crossed the Safety Car Line 2.

At that moment the pit exit light will turn green.

At the end of their stop, cars having entered the pit lane after the Safety Car procedure is deployed will be allowed to leave their working area only when Safety Car B has crossed the Safety Car Line 1.

14.7.3 End of the Safety Car procedure

When the Race Director calls in the safety cars, the orange lights will be switched off.

This is the signal that they will be returning to the first Safety Car post after their lights have been switched off. At this point, the first car in line behind the safety car may dictate the pace and, if necessary, fall more than five car lengths behind it.

In order to avoid the likelihood of accidents before the safety car returns to its post, from the moment the lights are switched off drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration, braking or other manoeuvre which is likely to

endanger other drivers or impede the restart.

After the safety car has returned to its post, the waved green flags will be shown at the marshal posts. These flags will be deployed for a maximum of one lap.

If the race ends while the safety car is still on the track, the cars will take the chequered flag on the finish line using the normal procedure without being allowed to overtake.