I don't think making the time trial process more complicated is needed. If people were honest, or did it right, then it would be a non-issue. For me, the issue is when someone joins, does a janky job at the time trail, gets placed in a division they shouldnt be in, and then completely destroys everyone in the division every Sunday night until the season is over. its not a so much a matter of prizes as it is that when someone is constantly taking all three poles and winning 5 out of 6 races, and when they start first they are 5 or more seconds ahead of the pack. That is rediculous, that person has no rights being in a lower division. it only takes one night of racing to tell if someone is in the wrong division. And to be frank, when that observation is made, declared and ignored, that can be demoralizing and frustrating. to say that "Well, maybe that suck at time trials" is assinine in these cases at best. They are running 5 or more seconds ahead of 2nd place! At that point all they are doing is hot lapping. It is a time trial. I'll take it to the other end too. "Well, maybe they suck in traffic." Ok, but then they come throught he entire pack and still win, or at least podium. I'm sorry, that excuse falls flat too. That may be the case often, But this is the second season in a row that this has been the case in D3. The race is for second place, not first, since you cant touch the guy running there. Thats what I like to call "Getting Loebed." Anyone who follows rally racing will know what I mean. Bastard should have gotten into f1...
unfortunately there is only one real fix. Listen to when a director/host/scorekeeper points out a situation like this, check his stats for the night and make a solid judgement call. There is more then enough data that can be pulled, and it will be glairingly obvious when someone needs to be auto promoted.