Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: June 2014

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Hung Throttle for Dahlgren leads to last-place finish at Darwin

Robert Dahlgren picked up his 2^nd last-place finish of his career when his #34 Valvoline Volvo retired with a hung throttle after 22 of the race's 69 laps. The finish came in Dahlgren's 7^th start.

Robert Dahlgren was initially in the rear in the #34 Vavoline Volvo (sound familiar?), Jack Perkins then pitted on lap 5 in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford, dropping him to the rear of the field, and was the first to go a lap down. Perkins held last-place until lap 13 when David Wall in the #17 Wilson Security holden pitted, dropping him a lap and to the rear of the field. On lap 18 Robert Dahlgren pitted, cycling him back to the rear of the field. Dahlgren's last-place was confirmed on lap 25 when car #34's throttle hung, resulting in Dahlgren spinning the car off the track and starting a grass fire, resulting in the first safety car in over 1000 kilometers.

Rounding out the bottom five was Todd Kelly after his #7 Nissan Altima suffered rear Suspension failure after a 3-car crash also involving Lee Holdsworth in the #4 AMG Customer Products Mercedes and David Wall in the #17 Wilson Security holden, Nick Percat in the #222 Heavy Haulage Australia Holden, who barely finished the race under power, 3^rd place in the championship Fabian Couthard in the #14 Lockwood Holden and Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford.

Australian V8 LASTCAR Series Statistic

Robert Dahlgren now moves into the 2 last-place finish zone. A zone that prior to this race had been solely held by the three Walkinshaw Racing Holden drivers Scott Pye, David Wall and Dale Wood since the third race at Barbagallo.

The Bottom Five

Robert Dahlgren	22 Laps	Throttle
Todd Kelly	35 Laps	Suspension
Nick Percat	65 Laps	Running
Fabian Coulthard	67 Laps	Running
Jack Perkins	67 Laps	Running

Lastcar Standings

Manufacturer Standings:

Holden: 9

Ford: 5

Nissan: 5

Volvo: 3

Mercedes: 1

Driver Standings:

Todd Kelly: 4

Tim Slade: 3

Scott Pye, Dale Wood, David Wall, Robert Dahlgren: 2

David Reynolds, Nick Percat, Garth Tander, Scott McLaughlin, Shane Van Gisbergen, Jack Perkins, Will Davison, James Moffat: 1

Steering Failure nets Moffat 2 Darwin last-place finishes in 2 years

James Moffat picked up his 7^th last-place finish of his V8 Supercar career when his #360 Norton Hornet retired with steering issues on the opening lap of the second race at Hidden Valley, Darwin. The finish came in Moffat's 49^th start.

In the first corner of the opening lap, James Moffat in the #360 Norton Hornet made contact with Scott Pye in the Wilson Security #16, resulting in major damage to the left-front of James Moffat's Nissan Altima and while James managed to get back to pit-lane, the damage to James' car was too severe to safetly repair and complete 75% of the race, which secured James' position at the end of the field.

Rounding out the bottom five is Lee Holdsworth, who's Power Steering failed during the early stages of the race, Todd Kelly, Rick Kelly and Russell Ingall, who all decided not to change tires between races 17 and 18, leaving them as the final 3 running in the race.

The Bottom Five

James Moffat	0 Laps	Steering
Lee Holdsworth	8 Laps	Power Steering
Todd Kelly	34 Laps	Running
Rick Kelly	34 Laps	Running
Russell Ingall	35 Laps	Running

Lastcar Standings

Manufacturer Standings:

Holden: 9

Ford: 5

Nissan: 5

Volvo: 2

Mercedes: 1

Driver Standings:

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, Will Davison, James Moffat: 1

Power Steering Dramas end Will Davison's race at Darwin

Will Davison picked up his 11^th Last-Place finish of his career, and Mercedes first of 2014, when his #9 AMG Custom Products Mercedes retired with Power Steering dramas after 12 of the race's 35 laps. The finish came in Will's 124^th start.

In the first 13 laps it was Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen ford trailing the field. On lap 14 however, Will Davison in the #9 AMG Customer Products Mercedes started pouring smoke from the rear of the car, forcing Will to the garage and out of the race, dropping him to the rear of the field.

Rounding out the bottom five is Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford, Nick Percat in the #222 Heavy Haulage Australia Holden, Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo and Dale Wood in the #21 Advam/GB Holden.

The Bottom Five

Will Davison	12 Laps	Power Steering
Jack Perkins	35 Laps	Running
Nick Percat	35 Laps	Running
Robert Dahlgren	35 Laps	Running
Dale Wood	35 Laps	Running

Lastcar Standings

Manufacturer Standings

Holden: 9

Ford: 5

Nissan: 4

Volvo: 2

Mercedes: 1

Driver Standings

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, Will Davison: 1

Tuesday 17 June 2014

Michael Schumacher Waking from his Coma

Forumla 1 Legend Michael Schumacher has woken from his coma. I am ecstatic about this news today and I am wishing all the best as Michael continues his recovery from massive Head Injuries sustained 6 months ago in a skiing accident.

Although Michael has never run an event in the Australian V8 Supercars, I remember growing up watching Michael race and although I can only easily remember Michael's failed return to F1, I still remember the feeling of watching a legend at work.

It was a shock when I heard about the skiing accident, and I was hoping for some resemblance of the old Michael would return and 6 months on, this is still unclear. I am really hoping that we get some of the old Michael back someday.

Normal Australian V8 LASTCAR Series will resume this weekend at Hidden Valley raceway in the Northern Territory, where,
James Moffat picked up his 3rd of currently 6 last-place finishes of his career when he retired with Crash Damage on the opening lap of race 3
Tim Blanchard picked up his only last-place finish of his career when he retired with Mechanical woes after 21 of the 2nd race's 42 laps in the first race.
And Scott Pye picked up his 2nd of currently 2 last-place finish of his career when he finished under power, a lap down in the second race.

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.