Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: December 2014

Friday 12 December 2014

Huge parity punishment leaves Pye champion

Scott Pye now has 9 last-place finishes of his career after the #16 Wilson Security Holden was excluded from both races at Surfer's Paradise and all three races at Philip Island after a breach of the parity measure of ballast being added to the engine, and as a result, Scott Pye takes the 2014 Autralian V8 LASTCAR Championship.

The figures below will show you the new last-place counts for every driver affected.

James Courtney drops to 12 last-place finishes of his career, while Greg Murphy drops to 15 last-place finishes of his career, and 0 last-place finishes of the season each.

Lee Holdworth drops to 7 last-place finishes of his career, while Craig Baird drops to 8 last-place finishes of his career, and 0 last-place finishes of the seaon each.

Shane Van Gisbergen drops to 7 last-place finishes of his career. and 1 last-place finish of the season.

Tim Slade drops to 4 last-place finishes of his career, and 3 last-place finishes of the season.

And finally David Wall drops to 7 last-place finishes, and 3 last-place finishes of the season.

Just something I found out today.

Sunday 7 December 2014

Dale Wood takes out championship as a Water Pump failure nets Caruso last in another storm-hit race

Michael Caruso picked up his 6^th last-place finish of his career when his #36 Norton Hornet broke a Water Pump after 6 of the storm-shortened race's 44 laps. The finish came in Caruso's 101^st start.

Todd Kelly in the #7 Jack Daniel's Nissan started the race in the rear. For the third race in a row, turn 1 lap 1 sent a car to the rear, in this case it was Mark Winterbottom in the #5 Pepsi Max Ford. Over the course of the next 8 laps, Craig Lowndes in the #888 Red Bull Racing Holden, then Tim Slade in the #47 Supercheap Auto Holden, Dale Wood in the #21 ADVAM/GB Holden and finally Michael Caruso in the #36 Norton Hornet fell to the rear in turn, eventually Caruso held last after pulling into the garage with a broken Water Pump. Next to fall out was Robert Dahlgren in his final start in the #34 Valvoline Volvo, who crashed out on lap 29. The caar got back out and, had the raace run full distance, Dahlgren would have been classified however, as the race was shortened, Dahlgren completed an insufficent number of laps to be classified.

Rounding out the bottom five is the 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR Champion Dale Wood in the #21 ADVAM/GB Holden, Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford in his final race for Charlie Scherwkolt racing and David Wall in the #17 Wilson Security Holden.

Other 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR Championship stats.

Holden has taken out the 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR Manufacturer's championship with 21 last-place finishes.
Dick Johnson Racing has taken out the 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR Team's championship with an average (including Marcos Ambrose with zero last-place finishes) of 2.67 last-place finishes per driver.

The bottom five

Michael Caruso	6 Laps	Water Pump
Robert Dahlgren	29 Laps	Crash
Dale Wood (champion)	43 Laps	Running
Jack Perkins	43 Laps	Running
David Wall	43 Laps	Running

Manufacturer Standings:

Holden: 21

Nissan: 9

Ford: 8

Volvo: 4

Mercedes: 2

Driver Standings:

Dale Wood: 5

Todd Kelly, Tim Slade, Scott Pye, David Wall: 4

David Reynolds, Robert Dahlgren, James Moffat: 3

Jack Perkins, Shane Van Gisbergen, Michael Caruso: 2

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

David Wall moves into second after missing the pits for wets results in last-place at storm-hit H

David Wall picked up his 8th last-place finish of his career when his #17 Wilson Security Holden crashed out after 16 of the storm shortened race's 23 laps. The finish came in Wall's 47th start, and moves Wall into a 4-way tie for 2nd on the 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR Championship.

On the first corner of the first lap, Craig Lowndes in the #888 Red Bull Racing holden spun out Marcos Ambrose in the #66 Xbox ford, with Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen ford also suffering damage in the incident. This dropped Ambrose to the rear of the field. With the threat of rain, firstly, Todd Kelly in the #7 Jack Daniel's racing Nissan, then Craig Lowndes in the #888 Red Bull Racing Holden, then Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen ford fell to the rear. On lap 17, the storms came and David Wall in the #17 Wilson Security holden stayed out on the track on slick tires and with no grip, crashed repeatedly, until he stopped on the back straight between turns 8 and 9.

Rounding out the bottom five was Russell Ingall in the #23 Repair Management Australia Holden who finished 1 lap down to the leaders, Lee Holdsworth in the #4 Beko/Fuchs Mercedes who pitted on the final lap, Todd Kelly in the #7 Jack Daniel's Nissan and Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen ford in his final round start for Charlie Scherwkolt racing.

The bottom five

David Wall	16 Laps	Crash
Russell Ingall	22 Laps	Running
Lee Holdsworth	23 Laps	Running
Todd Kelly	23 Laps	Running
Jack Perkins	23 Laps	Running

Manufacturer Standings:

Holden: 21

Ford, Nissan: 8

Volvo: 4

Mercedes: 2

Driver Standings:

Dale Wood: 5

Todd Kelly, Tim Slade, Scott Pye, David Wall: 4

David Reynolds, Robert Dahlgren, James Moffat: 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

Strange incident leaves Pye trailing field at Homebush

Scott Pye picked up his 5^th Last-place finish of his career when his #16 Wilson Security Holden was involved in a two-car accident after 18 of the race's 37 laps. The finish came in Pye's 31^st start, and puts Pye into second on the 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR championship, with Todd Kelly and Tim Slade, one behind Dale Wood.

Lee Holdsworth in the #300 Beko/Fuchs Mercedes starting the race in the rear after a practice crash. Just seconds in the race Dale Wood in the #21 ADVAM/GB holden turned around Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen ford, dropping Perkins to last. Briefly, Craig Lowndes in the #888 Red Bull Racing Holden fell to the rear of the field but was passed by Russell Ingall in the #23 Repair Management Australia Holden during a round of pit-stops on lap 6. On lap 9, Chazz Mostert in the #6 Pepsi Max ford had to do a drive-through penalty after hitting the pit cones on the way into the pit-lane, dropping him to the rear of the field. On alp 10, Mark Winterbottom in the #5 Pepsi Max ford crashed hard into the turn 1 tire barrier, triggering the first safety car of the race and dropping Winterbottom to last, 4 laps behind the leaders.

Winterbottom held last-place until lap 19 when Todd Kelly in the #7 Jack Daniels Nissan crashes into the turn 1 tire barrier. Returning to the track, Todd Kelly collides with Scott Pye in the #16 Wilson Security Holden, ending both driver's race and on lap 24 Winterbottom relegated Pye to last, on lap 25 he relegated Todd to 2^nd last and on lap 30 he passed pole-sitter Will Davison in the #9 Beko / MEX Maintenance Software Mercedes, who suffered a Power Steering failure on lap 26. Michael Caruso in the #36 Norton Hornet rounded out the bottom five.

Australian V8 LASTCAR Statistics

This is Lee Holdsworth's 300^th race start, Todd Kelly's 450^th race start and Rick Kelly's 400^th race start.

The bottom five

Scott Pye	18 Laps	Crash
Todd Kelly	19 Laps	Crash
Will Davison	27 Laps	Power Steering
Mark Winterbottom	33 Laps	Running
Michael Caruso	37 Laps	Running

Manufacturer Standings:

Holden: 20

Ford, Nissan: 8

Volvo: 4

Mercedes: 2

Driver Standings:

Dale Wood: 5

Todd Kelly, Tim Slade, Scott Pye: 4

David Reynolds, Robert Dahlgren, 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

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.