Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: June 2015

Sunday 21 June 2015

Suepsnion failure nets Walsh last-place at Darwin

Ashley Walsh picked up his 5^th last-place finish of his career when his #4 Infant's Friend/Snap-On/Repsol Mercedes retired with Suepsnion failure after 33 of the race's 70 laps.The finish came in Walsh's 12th round start.

David Wall in the #34 Valvoline/Wilson Security Volvo started the race in the rear, which, during the first 34 laps, switched between David Walls, Jamie Whincup in the #1 Red Bull/Caltex Holden, Michael Caruso in the #23 NP300 Navara Nissan, Todd Kelly in the #7 Jayco Nissan, Andre Heimgartner in the unsponsored #111 Super Black Racing Ford who was the first to lose a lap, although he and the kelly brothers Todd and Rick in the #15 Jack Daniel's Nissan got their lap back at the end of pitstops, Craig Lowndes in the #888 Red Bull/Caltex Holden and Scott Pye in the #17 Shell Helix Holden, with the order of last-place finishers going, in order,

Wall, Whincup, Caruso, Todd Kelly, Heimgartner, Wall, Lowndes then Pye before lap 34.

On lap 34 Ashley Walsh, who was running 20^th at the time, suffered a rear-suspension failure on the #4 Infant's Friend/Snap-On/Repsol Merdeces, forcing Walsh to the garage and to the only retirement of the race.

Rounding out the bottom five was Walsh's teammate Wil Davison in the #9 Solar Australia Mercedes, Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution/ GB Galvanizing Holden, Jamie Whincup in the #1 Red Bull/Caltex Holden after a tire delamination late in the race and Michael Caruso in the #23 NP300 Navara Nissan.

The Bottom Five

Ashley Walsh	33 Laps	Suspension
Will Davison	69 Laps	Running
Tim Blanchard	69 Laps	Running
Jamie Whincup	69 Laps	Running
Michael Caruso	69 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Scott McLaughlin: 4

Andre Heimgartner, Ashley Walsh: 2

Will Davison, David Wall, Garth Tander, Lee Holdsworth, Chazz Mostert, Fabian Coulthard: 1

Team's Championship

Gary Rodgers Motorsports: 5

Erebus Motorsport: 3

Super Black Racings: 2

Holden Racing Team, Charlie Schwerkolt Racing, Prodrive Racing Australia, Brad Jones Racing: 1

Manufacturer's Championship:

Volvo: 5

Holden, Ford, Mercedes: 3

Davison blamed by Percat for multi-car crash that left Heimgartner last at Darwin


The entire bottom five are present in this shot.

Andre Heimgartner picked up his 2^nd last-place finish of his career when his unsponsored #111 Super Black Racing Ford was in a seven-car collision that ended his race without completing a single lap of the 14^th race of the season. The finish came in Heimgartner's 6^th round start.

Fabian Coulthard in the #14 Freightliner Holden dropped to the rear in turn 1 after he was hit by Rick Kelly in the #15 Jack Daniel's Nissan. The incident, along with a drive-through penalty, left Rick Kelly bookending the bottom five. Near the end of lap 1, Andre Heimgartner in the unsponsored #111 Super Black Racing Holden was spun by Will Davison in thre #9 Solar Energy Mercedes collided with Nick Percat in the #222 Heavy Haulage Australia Holden, Jamie Whincup in the #1 Red Bull Holden, Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Fuchs/Walkinshaw/Beko Holden and Percat's teammate Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution/GB Galvanising Holden, with Percat calling Davison and Whincup a "tool", and threatening to punch Davison.

On lap 10 Dale Wood in the #21 ADVAM/GB Galvanising Holden collided with David Wall in the #34 Wilson Security/Valvoline Volvo, damaging Dale Wood's car and dropping him down to 22nd, 2 laps down. Blanchard's retirement was due to engine failure, not crash damage.

Greatest congratulations for Craig Lowndes in the #888 Red Bull Racing Holden on 100 race wins.

The bottom five

Andre Heimgartner	0 Laps	Crash
Nick Percat	1 Lap	Crash
Tim Blanchard	9 Laps	Engine
Dale Wood	18 Laps	Running
Rick Kelly	21 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Scott McLaughlin: 4

Andre Heimgartner: 2

Will Davison Ashley Walsh, David Wall, Garth Tander, Lee Holdsworth, Chazz Mostert, Fabian Coulthard: 1

Team's Championship

Gary Rodgers Motorsports: 5

Erebus Motorsport, Super Black Racings: 2

Holden Racing Team, Charlie Schwerkolt Racing, Prodrive Racing Australia, Brad Jones Racing: 1

Manufacturer's Championship:

Volvo: 5

Holden, Ford: 3

Mercedes: 2

Turn 1 collision leaves Coulthard last at Darwin

Fabian Coulthard picked up his 8^th last-place finish of his career when his #14 Freightliner Holden was involved in a two car crash that ended his race without completing a single lap of the 13^th race of the season. The finish came in Coulthard's 131^st start.

David Wall in the #34 Valvoline Volvo started the race in the rear, and in a chaotic race 13, and just at the first corner of the first race, Fabian Coultard in the #14 Freightliner Holden collided with Jamie Whincup in the #1 Red Bull Holden, destroying a rear tire and damaging the suspension on car #14, ending Coultard's race.

During a subsequent crash in turn 6, Scott Mclaughlin in the #33 collided with Craig Lowndes in the #888 Red Bull Racing Australia and Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Holden tangled with Will Davison in the #9 Solar Energey Mercedes, ending McLaughlin's race. However, as McLaughlin was higher in the field than Coulthard, last-place was credited to Coulthard.

Despite incidents involving David Reynolds in the #55 Bottle-O Ford's final turn spin, Jason Bright in the #8 BOC Holden and Andre Heimgartner in the unsponsored #111 Super Black Racing Ford tangling in turn 1 shortly after the first restart, a second spin by Craig Lowndes on lap 15, the resulting fire triggering a second caution flag, Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 STIX Holden, James Courtney in the #22 SP Tools Holden and his team-mate Garth Tander in the #2 SP Tools Holden crash on the second-to-final lap, only James Courtney finished in the bottom five, finishing 23^rd, with the last two of the bottom five holding Andre Heimgartner only after a second off-road excursion on the second-to-last lap and Ash Walsh in the #4 Infant's Friend/Snap-On/Repsol Mercedes.

The Bottom Five

Fabian Coulthard	0 Laps	Crash
Scott McLaughlin	0 Laps	Crash
James Courtney	21 Laps	Running
Andre Heimgartnet	21 Laps	Running
AshleyWalsh	21 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Scott McLaughlin: 4

Will Davison Ashley Walsh, Andre Heimgartner, David Wall, Garth Tander, Lee Holdsworth, Chazz Mostert, Fabian Coulthard: 1

Team's Championship

Gary Rodgers Motorsports: 5

Erebus Motorsports: 2

Super Black Racing, Holden Racing Team, Charlie Schwerkolt Racing, Prodrive Racing Australia, Brad Jones Racing: 1

Manufacturer's Championship:

Volvo: 5

Holden: 3

Mercedes, Ford: 2

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.