[Aditya Saripally]

Hi Guys,

So today in the Mugello race, as usual there was a bit of mayhem on turns 1 and 2. I managed to avoid contact and save my skin. However, further along, two racers got too compititive, hit each other, lost control and strayed right in front of me.

of course  there was no malice intended. it was just unfortunate. But it led to the front of my car being damaged, resulting in loss of speed and understeer. 

I wanted to ask, how does the points system take in to account of these incidents?
Will I be penalised for the contact?
How do I nullify this particular race from affecting my overall rating?

[Tim Cullingworth]

Yes you will have got incident points from any contact.

There is no way to nullify it.

[Igor Relja]

You can't nullify it. As the time goes on, you'll learn to avoid id most of the time. And when you can't avoid it, you can file a protest, if you think somebody's behavior was unacceptable. It won't affect your rating or incident average, but they'll get warned or suspended, and (hopefully) learn not to do it again.

Here you can see hot to file a protest: https://www.simracingsystem.com/showthread.php?tid=721

[Aditya Saripally]

Well, that's unfortunate. 
Thanks for the insight though! 

Generally speaking, in case of such incidents, which would be a better option for salvaging points
1. Continue the race with damaged car, with probably the loss of consistency
2. Pit and repair the car and finish a lap or two behind, but drive consistently

[Matteo Venuti]

If you didn't received lot of damage and the car is still manageable, it's better to continue, but if  the car is too damaged and you can't keep it on track, It's better to repair the damages.
Also because if you pit on a 20min race, you will lose a lot of time (expecially on tracks with a long pitlane)

[Igor Relja]

Usually the car is not too much damaged, and even if it is the damage doesn't really effect the drive. That's why the damage is set to 60%, to avoid punishing innocent drivers. I've had many incidents over my time here, but only a handful would affect the car so much that it can't be safely driven. And it's mostly on aero dependent cars and/or open wheelers, so something like F1, F3, GT3s if the speed was high enough to cause the damage...

Whether to pit or not, it also depends.In 20 minute races if the damage isn't so big that you can't drive, better to stay out and drive on. Even if you lose second a lap, compared to your usual pace, races are usually 11-16 laps, so you'll lose probably 15-20 seconds over the course of the race. Pit stops will set you back at least 25-30, and that's if the repairs don't take too long. And it's better to stay with the pack as long as you can, to possibly take the advantage if something happens to somebody in front of you. If the car is destroyed, and you've done at least 3 full laps (this is important), just quit the race. You'll end up at the back with lap or two less anyway, but at least you'll save yourself from getting more incidents. One thing you have to have in mind that in most cases (unless we're talking about very top of the split), one position up will give you 2 points, but you'll lose 3 from incidents. So even if you continue, and somebody gives up before you, you'll be behind them if you have more incidents.

In 1 hour races the things are a bit different, because of the length. I would advise finishing them, even if it meant to pit in first few laps. Maybe you can play with strategy a bit or do second and thirds stint on softer tyres with less fuel. That's for "heavy accidents". For lighter ones, again, you have to judge it by yourself how much worse is the car handling after the crash, is it even safe to continue without repairs, how much time you're losing and all that stuff.