Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: November 2014

Sunday 16 November 2014

David Wall moves into contention for 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR Title after a Power Steering failure at the island

David Wall picked up his 7^th last-place finish of his career when his #17 Wilson Security Holden retired with Power Steering Dramas after 25 of the race's 45 laps. The finish came in Wall's 46^th start, and moves Wall into a 5-way tie for 3^rd on the 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR standings.

Russell Ingall started the race trailing the field, but an initial round of pit-stops at the end of lap 1 dropped Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo dropped to the rear. Then suddenly on lap 15, David Wall suffered a power steering failure in the #17 Wilson Security Holden, causing the car to slide off the road and narrowly avoided hitting the tyre barrier at the final corner, causing both the first safety car of the race and eventually ending Wall's race, dropping him to the rear of the field.

Rounding out the bottom five is Russell Ingall in the #23 Repair Management Australia Holden, who finished a lap behind the leaders after multiple pit-stops, David Reynolds in the #55 Bottle-O Ford who suffered a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release, after contact during the caution with Jason Bright in the #8 BOC Holden, Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo and Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford.

The Bottom Five

David Wall	25 Laps	Power Steering
Russel Ingall	44 Laps	Running
David Reynolds	45 Laps	Running
Robert Dahlgren	45 Laps	Running
Jack Perkins	45 Laps	Running

Manufacturer Standings:

Holden: 19

Ford, Nissan: 8

Volvo: 4

Mercedes: 2

Driver Standings:

Dale Wood: 5

Todd Kelly, Tim Slade: 4

David Reynolds, Robert Dahlgren, Scott Pye, James Moffat, David Wall: 3

Jack Perkins, Shane Van Gisbergen: 2

Nick Percat, Garth Tander, Scott McLaughlin, Will Davison, Craig Lowndes, Michael Caruso, Chris Pither, James Courtney, Greg Murphy, Lee Holdsworth, Craig Baird: 1

Race for last-place title heating up after Slade finishes last at the island

Tim Slade picked up his 5^th last-place finish of his career when his #47 Supercheap Auto Holden finished under power, 5 laps down in the second race at Philip Island. The finish came in Slade's 94^th start, and moves Slade into a tie for 2^nd with Todd Kelly in the #7 Jack Daniel's Nissan on 4 last-place finishes for the season, 1 behind Dale Wood in the #21 ADVAM/GB Holden.

As with the start of race 33, Fabian Coulthard in the #14 Lockwood Holden started race 34 trailing the field. The first few laps were an arm wrestle between David Wall in the #17 Wilson Security Holden, Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo and Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford, with Jack Perkins left trailing the field on lap 4. On lap 9, Tim Slade in the #47 Supercheap Auto Holden and Lee Holdsworth in the #4 Fuchs Mercedes collided in turn 4, damaging the Steering on Slade's car and relegating Slade to the rear of the field.

Rounding out the bottom five was Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford, Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo, Dale Wood in the #21 ADVAM/GB Holden and Lee Holdsworth in the #4 Fuchs/Erebus Mercedes

The Bottom Five

Tim Slade	18 Laps	Running
Jack Perkins	23 Laps	Running
Robert Dahlgren	23 Laps	Running
Dale Wood	23 Laps	Running
Lee Holdsworth	23 Laps	Running

Manufacturer Standings:

Holden: 18

Ford, Nissan: 8

Volvo: 4

Mercedes: 2

Driver Standings:

Dale Wood: 5

Todd Kelly, Tim Slade: 4

David Reynolds, Robert Dahlgren, Scott Pye, James Moffat: 3

David Wall, Jack Perkins, Shane Van Gisbergen: 2

Nick Percat, Garth Tander, Scott McLaughlin, Will Davison, Craig Lowndes, Michael Caruso, Chris Pither, James Courtney, Greg Murphy, Lee Holdsworth, Craig Baird: 1

Winterbottom gets out of first last-place finish of 2014 after Van Gisbergen's penalty leaves him trailing the field.

Shane Van Gisbergen picked up his 8th last-place finish of his career when his #97 VIP Petfoods Holden finished under power, on the lead lap in the penultimate round of the 2014 V8 Supercars championship. The finish came in Shane's 110th round start.

Right at the start of qualifying Fabian Coulthard in the #14 Lockwood Holden and Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 VIP Petfoods Holden make contact, ending qualifying for both drivers. The result was a 2-grid spot penalty for Coulthard.

At the start, Russell Ingall in the #23 Repair Management Holden stalled, dropping him to the rear of the field. Dale Wood in the #21 Advam/GB Holden dropped to the rear on lap 3. On lap 7, Mark Winterbottom in the #5 Pepsi Max Ford had to pit with overheating concerms, having to remove grass accumulated in the grill on lap 4, dropping him to the rear.

Just when it looked like Winterbottom would pick up his 7^th last-place finish, Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 VIP Petfoods Holden bumped and spun Dale Wood, the resulting drive-through penalty dropped Shane to the rear of the field on the penultimate lap.

Rounding out the bottom five was Dale Wood in the #21 ADVAM/GB Holden, Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo and Russell Ingall in the #23 Repair Management Holden.

The Bottom Five

Shane Van Gisbergen	23 Laps	Running
Mark Winterbottom	23 Laps	Running
Dale Wood	23 Laps	Running
Robert Dahlgren	23 Laps	Running
Russell Ingall	23 Laps	Running

Manufacturer Standings:

Holden: 17

Ford, Nissan: 8

Volvo: 4

Mercedes: 2

Driver Standings:

Dale Wood: 5

Todd Kelly: 4

Tim Slade, David Reynolds, Robert Dahlgren, Scott Pye, James Moffat: 3

David Wall, Jack Perkins, Shane Van Gisbergen: 2

Nick Percat, Garth Tander, Scott McLaughlin, Will Davison, Craig Lowndes, Michael Caruso, Chris Pither, James Courtney, Greg Murphy, Lee Holdsworth, Craig Baird: 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.