The Undercut Racing Manager How to build and read run plans
Qualifying runs, race strategies, custom plans, and what the generator is actually telling you.
Run plans are the document the pitwall writes before the race. The game generates them from your practice data, ranks them by estimated time, and names them A, B, C. Understanding what those letters mean — and when to break them — is what separates a principal who gets lucky from one who gets podiums.
If you have not finished a weekend yet, start with getting started and qualifying. This page goes deeper on the plan screen itself: how it sizes compounds, where the fuel numbers come from, and how Custom opens strategy space the generator will not touch.
Two screens, one decision
The game has two run-plan moments:
Qualifying run plan — compound, stint count, hot-lap triggers. 0.5.3 added a manual Start Stint button and a Hot Laps stepper so live qualifying feels like a real thirty-minute window, not a single automated lap. Default first career: Soft, multiple short stints, two hot laps each. See the qualifying guide for the full procedure.
Race run plan — compound sequence, fuel, pit laps, estimated race time. This is where Sundays are won or invented. The rest of this page lives here.
How the generator builds A, B, C
The game looks at your practice wear, fuel consumption, the circuit card labels (tyre wear, pit-lane length, overtaking difficulty), and the car’s hidden traits, then sketches strategy shapes. A one-stop Soft then Hard. A one-stop Hard then Soft. A two-stop if the math is close. It estimates each shape’s race time and sorts them.
A is the fastest estimate, not the aggressive plan. On a low-degradation track with a short pit lane, A is often a one-stop Hard-first. On a tyre-shredder, A might be the two-stop the generator almost did not offer. Read the compounds on the card before you read the letter.
The pit-loss number on the card is real: it is the time cost of the stop at this venue, adjusted for pit-lane length and the tyres you will be on. A long pit lane makes the undercut expensive. A short one makes two-stops that look eight seconds slow on paper win in traffic.
Fuel on the card
The fuel bar shows starting load on the left and the +N kg label at each stop. Those numbers come from your practice measurement, not a table. If you skipped practice, they are guesses. The minimum load floor is real; running dry is a DNF with no auto-pit.
High fuel costs lap time but enables longer stints. The generator is trying to find the stint split that minimises total race time. If practice said you use 2.1 kg/lap and the race is 60 laps, you need roughly 126 kg to go one-stop — which the bar will not give you on most circuits. That is why the one-stop might be Hard-first with a short final stint on Soft, not Soft-first with a long final stint.
Custom: when the generator is wrong
Custom plans let you set stop count, compound per stint, and exact stop laps. The AI respects a custom plan. Quick Sim honours it. But Custom does not make every plan fast. If you build a fantasy three-stop on a short venue, the cliff will still eat you.
When to reach for Custom:
- The circuit card says tyre wear High and the generator only offered a one-stop because the two-stop was three seconds slow on paper, but you have a high-CON driver who can actually make the Softs last.
- You want to split strategies between Primary (defending on Hard-first) and Secondary (attacking on a two-stop) in a way the generator merged.
- A Safety Car shuffled the field and you want to re-plan around the new gap rather than follow the original stop lap.
When to leave it alone:
- GP 1, when you have no practice data and the generator is already right more often than not.
- The plan looks insane and you cannot find the practice evidence that would justify it.
Practice is the plan’s source code
Plans A/B/C are sized from your wear and fuel, not from a universal table. If you skip practice, you are racing on a guess the generator inherited from an empty file. Use practice stints to:
- Confirm which compound actually lasts on this layout with this car.
- Record fuel per lap so the +N kg labels are honest.
- Advance trait investigations so a High Drag floor or an Overheating gearbox does not ambush stint two.
- Measure the gap between the two compounds. If Soft loses 0.3 s/lap to Hard but costs 2× the wear, the generator may prefer Hard-first even when you expected the opposite.
Trait data belongs to the car. If you swap seats after practice, the numbers still apply. If you swap parts, re-measure.
Pit window basics
The pit window is the laps range during which pitting is faster than staying out. It is not a single lap. The window opens when the time gained from fresh tyres exceeds the pit-loss for this venue. It closes when the tyres you would fit cannot complete enough of the remaining distance to repay the stop.
The generator prints a suggested pit lap. You can follow it or override. A manual Pit order beats the plan; the AI will not undo it. Use that for an undercut the estimator did not see, a Safety Car, a fuel emergency, or a tyre warning.
The undercut (pitting before a rival to jump them after their stop) works when their tyres are in the degradation slope, your pit-loss is not catastrophic, and you will not emerge into dirty air. The overcut (staying out while they pit, stretching the stint) works in cool air on Hard-first when the Soft cliff would have punished an early stop. Both are on the race strategy page; this page is the document those calls are made from.
Strategy split between cars
The generator builds one plan per car. They can match. On GP 1, locking the same plan on both cars is normal. Later, split when you have a points car and an attacking car, or when one driver has the CON to survive Soft cliffs and the other does not.
Team orders — stay behind, let pass — are how you stop a Secondary from racing a Primary into a double DNF when their strategies diverge. Bind them via controls before the season starts.
After the flag
Plans do not survive the race unchanged. Safety Cars shuffle the window. Tyre cliffs force early boxes. Trait cards mid-stint can rewrite the math. The pit strategy tool is the Sunday checklist for these moments. This page is the document that tells you why the checklist exists.
Read the compounds. Measure the practice. Lock the plan. Then earn the right to change it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers for pitwall decisions, scouting, and career systems.
Is A always the two-stop?
No. A is the fastest estimate. Read the compounds. On low-wear tracks A is often a one-stop Hard-first. See race strategy for the full ranking rule.
Can I change the plan mid-race?
Yes. Press Pit for a manual stop. It beats the AI plan. Safety Cars and cliffs override the locked plan. Custom plans can be rebuilt in the pause menu.
Why are the fuel numbers wrong?
They come from practice measurement. If you skipped practice, they are guesses. Run at least one fuel stint before lights out.
Should both cars run the same plan?
On GP 1, yes. Later, split when you have a points defender and an attacker, or when one driver has the CON to survive Soft cliffs.