[Igor Relja]

I would go so far and say that you don't even need to come back before the start to avoid large loss of rating. Unless you are highly rated driver, just avoiding DNF should be enough not to lose rating. So, even if you can't get back in time, still connect, do 3 laps without any incidents and you should be fine, even get some points for championship. I think I read somewhere here that 3 laps are minimum not to have DNF. There are always people who don't connect at all or rage quit in first lap or two so you shouldn't be dead last anyway. It still sucks, but it's better than just quitting immediately.