Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: May 2014

Sunday 18 May 2014

Tim Slade takes second place in 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR championship after Trailing field at Barbagallo

Tim Slade picked up his 4^th last-place finish of his career when his #47 Supercheap Auto holden finished under power, 8 laps down in the final race at Barbagallo. The finish came in Slade's 86^th start. The finish means Slade now has sole ownership of second-place in the 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR championship, 1 behind 2013 Australian V8 LASTCAR runner-up Todd Kelly.

The race to avoid last place was an arm-wrestle. Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford initially trailed the field, then he overtook Dale Wood in the #21 Walkinshaw Racing Holden on lap 6, relegating Wood to last place, which Wood held until lap 17 when Robert Dahlgren fell behind him. Then on lap 18 Lee Holdsworth suffered a puncture in the #4 Beko Mercedes, forcing him to the pit-lane and to the rear, and Jack Perkins, who had pitted with Holdsworth, then suffered a penalty for an unsafe release, which resulted in contact between the two cars, dropping Jack to the rear of the field, and around this time Will Davison lost a left-rear tire, losing a lap while getting back to the pits and getting the tire changed, dropping him to the rear of the field, where he stayed until lap 37 when Tim Slade in the #47 Supercheap Auto Holden attempted a pass on Scott McLaughlin in the #33 Valvoline Volvo and they made wheel-to-wheel contact, damaging the steering on the #47 and dropping Slade to 25^th.

A combination of factors resulted in an interesting bottom five consisting of Will Davison in the #9 Beko Erebus Mercedes, Jack Perkins in the Jeld-Wen #18 Ford, Garth Tander in the #2 SP Tools Holden, who lost a lap after a tire failure, and 8^th place qualifier Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo.

The Bottom Five

Tim Slade	75 Laps	Running
Will Davison	81 Laps	Running
Jack Perkins	82 Laps	Running
Garth Tander	82 Laps	Running
Robert Dahlgren	82 Laps	Running

Lastcar Standings

Holden: 9

Ford: 5

Nissan: 4

Volvo: 2

Mercedes: 0

Todd Kelly: 4

Tim Slade: 3

Scott Pye, Dale Wood, David Wall: 2

David Reynolds, Nick Percat, Garth Tander, Robert Dahlgren, Scott McLaughlin, Shane Van Gisbergen, Jack Perkins: 1

Flat Tire nets Jack Perkins' first last place finish in nearly 5 years

Jack Perkins picked up his 7^th last place finish of his career, and first in nearly 5 years, when his #18 Jeld-Wen ford finished under power, 1 lap down in the second race at Barbagallo. The finish came in Jack's 31^st round start.

As in the first race, Jack Perkins initially fell to the rear of the field in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford, then Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo fell to the rear. The pit-stops then mixed up the last-place finish fight, with Dale Wood in the #17 Wilson Security Holden falling to the rear, and Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 VIP Petfoods Holden fell to the rear, then Robert Dahlgren returned to the rear of the field, then when Jack Perkins pitted he fell to the rear of the field. Jack Perkins' last-place was cemented when he suffered a flat tire late in the race.

Rounding out the bottom five was Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo, Dale Wood in the #21 Walkinshaw Racing Holden, Rick Kelly in the #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan Altima and Rick's Team-mate James Moffat in the #360 Norton Hornet.

The Bottom Five

Jack Perkins	41 Laps	Running
Robert Dahlgren	42 Laps	Running
Dale Wood	42 Laps	Running
Rick Kelly	42 Laps	Running
James Moffat	42 Laps	Running

Lastcar Standings

Holden: 8

Ford: 5

Nissan: 4

Volvo: 2

Mercedes: 0

Todd Kelly: 4

Scott Pye, Dale Wood, David Wall, Tim Slade: 2

David Reynolds, Nick Percat, Garth Tander, Robert Dahlgren, Scott McLaughlin, Shane Van Gisbergen, Jack Perkins: 1

The Giz trails field at Barbagallo

Shane Van Gisbergen picked up his 7^th last-place finish of his career when his #97 VIP Petfoods Holden finished under power, on the lead lap in the 5^th round of the 2014 V8 Supercars championship. The finish came in Shane's 102^nd round start.

Jack Perkins was initially in the rear in the #18 Jeld-Wen ford, Then Robert Dahlgren was overtaken by Jack Perkins. During pit-stops, last-place changed hands multiple times. Firstly Jason Bright in the #8 BOC holden, then Robert Dahlgren re-took the last position. Dahlgren held it until he passed Tim Slade on lap 28, relegating Slade to last. Slade relegated Dahlgren to last again on lap 33. Just when it looked like Dahlgren would get his 2^nd last place finish, Shane Van Gisbergen on 40-odd lap old tired slipped behind Dahlgren to finish last.

Rounding out the bottom five is Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo, Tim Slade in the #47 Supercheap Auto Holden, Nick Percat in the #222 Heavy Haulage Australia Holden and James Moffat in the #360 Norton Hornet Nissan.

The Bottom Five

Shane Van Gisbergen	34 Laps	Running
Robert Dahlgren	34 Laps	Running
Tim Slade	34 Laps	Running
Nick Percat	34 Laps	Running
James Moffat	34 Laps	Running

Lastcar Standings

Holden: 8

Ford, Nissan: 4

Volvo: 2

Mercedes: 0

Todd Kelly: 4

Scott Pye, Dale Wood, David Wall, Tim Slade: 2

David Reynolds, Nick Percat, Garth Tander, Robert Dahlgren, Scott McLaughlin, Shane Van Gisbergen: 1

How Juniorgeneric defines a Last-Place finisher

Australian V8 LASTCAR'S Official Definition of a "Last-Place Finisher" (LPF)

For the purposes of the Australian V8 LASTCAR championship rankings and statistics, a "Last-Place Finisher" (LPF) is a driver(s) who, after qualifying for a V8 Supercars Championship Points-Paying race, the result must be confirmed from official sources, or unofficial sources failing that. Only one driver (or two in a endurance race) can be classified as the LPF for that race.

Meeting those requirements, the LPF can be any driver classified as such for any reason, including, but not limited to.
1) A "did not start" although it should be noted that there is a difference between my definition of "did not start" and Brock Beard's definition of "Did not Start".
For example, in Bathurst 2015 Chazz Mostert and Cameron Waters' #6 Pepsi Max Ford had a huge accident during practice that injured Mostert and all but wrote off the car. Car #6 was withdrawn, and therefore I don't count Mostert and Waters as finishing last. Under Brock Beard's definition, however, Mostert and Waters would have finished last instead of David Wall and Chris Pither.
2) An entrant who encounters an event once the race has started which prevents the driver(s) from finishing ahead of any other qualified entrants, including both DNFs and drivers who finish under power but laps down*

*Only when all the cars in the race are running ahead of the LPF

3) A decision to “start and park” the driver’s entry (Extremely rare in V8 Supercars)
(4) a disqualification handed down by V8 Supercars and/or track officials that subsequently classifies the driver(s) in the final position behind the unofficial LPF.

Australian V8 LASTCAR shall not consider the LPF as anything else, including but not limited too
1) Any DNQ's
2) Any driver's who's car withdrew before the race start.
3)The lowest-ranked driver who finishes the race under power (unless all cars finished under power, actually quite common in V8 Supercars)
4) A driver(s) who finished last initially, however post-race disqualifications usurped the spot.
5) A driver(s) who may be catagorised as finishing last for exhibition events (I may bring these back at some point in the near future, I need more accurate numbers for the events before I start them up again)
6) Anything in non-V8 Supercar Main game (again, insufficent historical data)
7) A driver who was running last when the checkered flag fell, however because they greeted the checkered flag but a drive who was in front of them at the end of the race, however was not running at the end of the race. In that instance the driver who doesn't finish the race will fall behind the driver whom is still running at the end of the race.

In the rare event where official results or a preponderance of unofficial results are later updated with more accurate information about who was the LPF for that event, Australian V8 LASTCAR rankings and statistics shall be updated to reflect that change.