French sim racing championship: the scoring grid that evaluates every driver

In most community championships, you are told that "the organisers are watching." Rarely what they are watching. Still less with what weighting. The JOBARD Racing Academy Series takes the opposite approach: the evaluation grid that will follow the nineteen drivers of the 2026 Pre-season is published here, in full, figures included — and fourteen days before the first race start. You will know exactly what you are being assessed on before you have completed your first qualifying lap.

Why a grid, and why it is public

A French sim racing championship whose mission is to identify drivers has a problem to solve: outright pace is easy to measure, and it is roughly the only thing a standings table measures. Yet a driver who wins three rounds and retires from the other five does not share the same profile as a driver who consistently finishes fourth without ever damaging a car. The standings separate them poorly. A grid separates them well.

Making it public is not affectation. It is the only way to honour two commitments simultaneously: to evaluate seriously, and not to turn the season into a contest of impressing the race direction. When the criteria are written down and the weightings displayed, there is nothing left to guess — there is only racing to be done.

Two rules govern the exercise, and they matter as much as the criteria themselves. The weightings are fixed before the season begins and will not change before the final on 18 December. And every driver is assessed over the season as a whole, not on a single good evening.

The five axes and what each one carries

Each driver receives a score out of 100 per axis, updated after every round. The overall score is the weighted average of these five scores.

| Assessment axis | Weight | What it examines | |---|---|---| | Outright performance | 30 % | Points, podiums, poles, reference lap times | | Consistency | 25 % | Variance from your own average, race-completion rate, absence of off-track incidents | | Fair play | 20 % | Incident history, on-track behaviour | | Soft skills | 15 % | Discord presence, attitude, ability to receive a debrief | | Complementary profile | 10 % | Age, real-world experience, availability, geographical situation |

Read the first column the other way: pace accounts for 30 %, everything else accounts for 70 %. This is not a moral stance; it is a race team observation. Correcting a fast but ragged driver is harder than bringing a clean and consistent driver up to speed.

Performance and consistency: 55 % that do not measure the same thing

Outright performance is the part that resembles the standings: points scored, podiums, poles, reference pace. It is the column you will read yourself every Friday on the championship platform.

A word on category, because the question comes up often: it is not earned at the stopwatch. The timed reference lap was removed at edition 1.4 of the regulations. The race direction assigns each driver their category — Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze — before the first round, based on the level you declare, your known history and your practice sessions. A driver who clearly dominates their division is promoted mid-season, without losing their points.

Consistency measures something else, and it is the second-heaviest item on the grid. Three things feed into it: your variance from your own average, your race-completion rate, and the absence of off-track excursions. A driver who laps within the same second eight times scores more here than a driver who alternates between a stunning lap and a braking-point departure.

It is also the axis that rewards what the format emphasises. The regulations award a finisher's point to any classified driver who has covered at least 75 % of the race distance, and multiply points by 1.5 across the two endurance rounds — R4 at Laguna Seca and the final at Road Atlanta. Finishing is already a skill. The spec class makes it visible: with an identical car for everyone, only the driver remains.

Fair play: 20 %, and a written record

Fair play is not judged by impression. It rests on what the race direction records: incident history, track limits, decisions handed down, penalty points — twelve points, as on a public road. Protests are examined by the stewards' panel, and decisions are written.

What this means in practice: a contact does not cost you the same thing depending on what the investigation concludes. Racing contact is part of the sport. A manoeuvre that puts a rival into the barriers is not. This follows the same logic we described regarding the Assetto Corsa EVO safety rating — except that here, it is adjudicated by human beings who give reasons for their decisions.

Soft skills and profile: the 25 % the car cannot reveal

Soft skills carry 15 %. Three signals: your presence on the official Discord, your attitude, and your ability to receive a debrief. This last point is the most discriminating in the entire grid, and the hardest to accept. A driver who hears "you brake too early at turn 4" and responds by explaining why they are right will not improve. The driver who tries it two laps later will.

Complementary profile carries 10 %: age, any real-world experience, effective availability, geographical situation. This is not an entry filter — the championship is open to all, free of charge, with no prior selection, and this axis carries the least weight of all. It is a contextual axis, and it works in both directions: an older driver with real-world experience is a sought-after profile, not a discarded one.

Key points - Pace accounts for 30 % of the assessment. Consistency, fair play, soft skills and profile account for 70 %. - The weightings are fixed before R1 and will not change throughout the season. - Each axis is scored out of 100, at every round, across the full season — not on the strength of a single evening.

What the grid does not do

This should be stated as clearly as everything else. This grid is not an algorithm: scores are assigned by the race direction, and three of its five axes rest on reasoned human judgement. A fully automated scoring system for fair play and attitude would be a false objectivity.

It does not replace the standings. The championship is contested on points, category by category and overall, with its own points scale, its drop round and its tie-break rules. The grid answers a different question: who, among these nineteen, deserves attention after the final.

And it does not promise a race seat. At the end of the season, the five highest scores receive a detailed profile — strengths, areas for development, availability, recommendation. It is a race team dossier, not a contract. What it opens depends on what each profile demonstrates.

The grid begins running on 4 September

It does not activate at the moment results are published: it runs from the first round, and every race Friday adds a line to it. Eight rounds, from 4 September to 18 December, on Assetto Corsa EVO, spec-class Mazda MX-5 Global Cup ND2. Nineteen places, a reserve list beyond that, free entry.

You now know the five axes and their exact weightings. All that remains is to take the start.

Register for the JOBARD Racing Academy Series — free →

To arrive prepared, two useful reads: the first-month guide to Assetto Corsa EVO if you are new to simulation, and the five telemetry graphs that drive improvement to work on the axis that carries 30 %.

In brief

What am I assessed on in the JOBARD Racing Academy Series? Across five weighted axes: outright performance (30 %), consistency (25 %), fair play (20 %), soft skills (15 %) and complementary profile (10 %). Each axis is scored out of 100 and updated after every round.

Are only fast drivers identified? No. Outright pace accounts for 30 % of the score. A consistent, clean and receptive driver can outscore a faster but erratic one.

Can the criteria change during the season? No. The weightings are set before the first round and remain unchanged until the final on 18 December. That is the condition for the final standings to mean anything.

Is a minimum level required to enter? No. The championship is open to all and free of charge. You declare your level at registration — Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced or Expert — as an indication; the race direction then assigns your racing category (Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze) before the first round. Each category has its own standings and podiums.

What is the talent shortlist? The five highest scores of the season receive a detailed profile compiled by the race direction. It is a follow-up dossier, not a commitment.

Sources: JOBARD Racing Academy Series — talent evaluation grid v1.0, points scale and weightings confirmed 2 June 2026 · Official regulations of the 2026 Pre-season, edition 1.5 of 17 August 2026, articles 4, 5, 9 and 19 · calendar and format published on the official championship page, retrieved 21 August 2026.