Announcement: We are proposing a "tweak" to the base points system where the points earned for non podium finishing positions is a function of the number of drivers in the lounge.
Why?
It's highly likely that we will have 15 teams for this event (not 16). That means each round will have three lounges of 4 teams and one lounge of 3 teams. Several teams have only 3 drivers now and that number might increase on race day with last minute cancellations, etc. Further, the lounge assignment system is based on qualification for round 1 and results for round 2 so the race organizers can't "engineer" the rooms to have an even (or close to even) number of drivers. In other words, it's possible one lounge could have as few as 10-11 drivers while another lounge could have 16 (that's an extreme case).
The purpose of this tweak is to address any unfair advantage drivers may have from drawing a lounge with fewer drivers. This advantage is present in most point systems, but is being addressed for this event because the impact is potentially exacerbated by the driver handicap multiplier.
Example:
If a room has only 11 drivers (3 teams: 4 + 4 + 3) and a D4 driver with a 3.2x multiplier can finish no lower than 11th just by starting the race. Even if he has a bad race and finished multiple laps behind, under the original point system, he is guaranteed 6 base points X 3.2 multiplier = 19.2 points. A D2 driver with a 1.3 multiplier would have to finish on the podium to match those points -- even in another lounge of 16 drivers which would be very hard to achieve.
New BASE Points Table (before handicap multiplier):
The points table above reflects a point system where the base points earned is a function of the number of drivers in the lounge. The top 3-4 positions earn fixed points regardless of room size: a top finish in any lounge earns the same amount of points. Therefore, teams assigned to small lounges still have a chance to earn maximum points. Starting with position 5 however, the points earned drops as the number of drivers in the lounge drops.
This, or any other system, is not perfect, but we feel this is an improvement and addresses a flaw in the original proposed point system. If we manage to get 16 teams and most teams have 4 drivers the system reverts back to the original (or very close) and that will be our goal in any case.
Feedback welcome.
EDIT: Also note that in round 1 the #1 seeded team (based on quali) will be in the lounge with 3 teams if we have 15 teams (seeds #1, #8, #9). In round 2, the lowest bracket will have 3 teams. Almost all other lounges should be between 13-15 drivers where the points are very similar to the original system.