Studying playoff qualification in motorsports via mixed-integer programming techniques

摘要

The present authors consider the widely popular Argentine Turismo Carretera car racing series, which consists of 11 regular phase races followed by five playoff races. After the regular phase, the first 12 racers in the standings qualify for the playoffs, which determine the champion. The present authors address the problem of determining, at any point within the regular phase, the minimum number of points that each racer must earn in the remainder of the regular phase in order to secure a playoff spot. Two mixed-integer programming models for this problem are presented, their properties and practical performance are analysed, and the obtained results are discussed.