Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: July 2014

Sunday 6 July 2014

Australian V8 LASTCAR Race tighens at top after Wood's last-place at Townsville

Dale Wood picked up his 3^rd last-place finish of his career when his #21 Advam GB Holden retired with crash damage on the opening lap of the final race at Townsville. The finish came in Wood's 28^th Start, and moves Wood into a tie for second on the 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR championship with Tim Slade.

Heading into the first corner on the first lap, Dale Wood was battiling with Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford when both drivers head through turn 1, they collide with each other, then hit the wall, ending both the driver's days. Ad Jack Perkins started ahead of Dale Wood, Last-place was credited to Wood.

Rounding out the bottom five is Craig Lowndes in the conclusion to a catastrophic Townsville that also saw his first last-place finish in two years, and fifth overall, after pitting seven times during the course of the race with fluid loss issues, Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo and Russell Ingall in the #23 Repair Management Australia Holden, who had to do a drive-through penalty.

The Bottom Five

Dale Wood	0 Laps	Crash
Jack Perkins	0 Laps	Crash
Craig Lowndes	80 Laps	Running
Robert Dahlgren	87 Laps	Running
Russell Ingall	87 Laps	Running

Lastcar Standings

Manufacturer Standings:

Holden: 11

Nissan: 6

Ford: 5

Volvo: 3

Mercedes: 1

Driver Standings:

Todd Kelly: 4

Tim Slade, Dale Wood: 3

Scott Pye, David Wall, Robert Dahlgren: 2

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

Pit-Lane Contact leaves Caruso trailing field at Townsville

Michael Caruso picked up his 5^th last-place finish of his career when his #36 Norton Hornet Nissan retired with Suspension issues after 3 of the race's 44 laps. The finish came in Caruso's 94^th start.

Initally Lee Holdsworth in the #4 AMG Customer Products Mercedes was in the rear after being bumped into the fence on the opening lap by Michael Caruso in the #36 Norton Hornet. In the pit-lane, Lee Holdsworth's team-mate Will Davison in the #9 AMG Customer Products Mercedes made contact with Michael Caruso in pit-lane, which broke the rear suspension of the #36 Norton Hornet, ending the race for Caruso.

Rounding out the bottom five is Tim Slade in the #47 Supercheap Auto Holden, who retired for the second race in a row with suspension issues, Dale Wood in the #21 Wakinshaw Racing Holden, Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo and Jack Perkkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford.

Australian V8 LASTCAR Championship Statistic

Will Davison is now 2-for-2 in causing the last-place finishes for drivers, the first being causing Craig Lowndes' fifth last-placefinish in the previous race.

The Bottom Five

Michael Caruso	3 Laps	Suspension
Tim Slade	11 Laps	Suspension
Dale Wood	44 Laps	Running
Robert Dahlgren	44 Laps	Running
Jack Perkins	44 Laps	Running

Lastcar Standings

Manufacturer Standings:

Holden: 10

Nissan: 6

Ford: 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, Craig Lowndes, Michael Caruso: 1

Hard Crash nets Lowndes first last-place finish in over 2 years

Craig Lowndes picked up his 5^th last-place finish of his career, and first in more than 2 years, when his #888 Red Bull Racing Australia Holden retired with crash damage after 1 of the race's 43 laps. The finish came in Lowdes' 228^th start.

The first lap of the race was chaos involving Craig Lowndes, both SP Tools Holden racing drivers Garth Tander (#2) and James Courtney (#22), Lowndes, who got several penalties from the incidents with Tander and Courtney, was then spun into the pit-wall by Will Davison. Lowndes dropped to the rear while the team made repairs. Lowndes would return to the track on lap 12, and then crash out 5 turns later when the steering on car #888 failed, leaving him in last.

Rounding out the bottom five was Tim Slade in the #47 Supercheap Auto Holden after suffering mid-race suspension failure, Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford after being arrowed into the wall by Todd Kelly in the #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan, Lee Holdsworth in the #4 AMG Customer Products Mercedes after a drive-through penalty for overtaking another car before the restart and James Moffat in the #360 Norton Hornet Nissan, also having to do a drive-through penalty, this time for a pit-lane infringement.

Australian V8 LASTCAR Series Statistic:

This is the second time in a row Craig Lowndes has finished last because of an incident with Will Davison.

The Bottom Five

Craig Lowndes	1 Lap	Crash
Tim Slade	28 Laps	Suspension
Jack Perkins	30 Laps	Crash
Lee Holdsworth	43 Laps	Running
James Moffat	43 Laps	Running

Lastcar Standings

Manufacturer Standings:

Holden: 10

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, Craig Lowndes: 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.