Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: July 2015

Sunday 12 July 2015

McLaughlin, Team, Manufacturer with one hand on titles after another last-place at Townsville

Scott McLaughlin picked up his 9th last-place finish of his career when his #33 Wilson Security/Valvolime Volvo broke a Water Pump after 19 of the race's 70 laps. The finish came in McLaughlin's 38th start, and leave McLaughlin, Gary Rodgers Motorsports and Volvo with one hand on the 2015 Australian V8 LASTCAR championship in the drivers, teams and manufacturer's championships, respectively.

Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution/GB Galvanizing Holden started the race last, however by the end of ther first lap David Wall in the #34 Wilson Security/Payce/Valvoline Volvo fell to the rear. On lap 9 Michael Caruso in the #23 Nissan GT Academy/Nissan Nismo Nissan pitted, dropping him to the rear of the field, which he held until lap 15 when Ashley Walsh fell to the rear after pitting, followed by Ashley Walsh in the #4 Infant's Friend/3M/Repsol Mercedes, then Craig Lowndes in the #888 Red Bull Holden, then Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution/GB Galvanizing Holden. Then on lap 21 Scott McLaughlin in the #33 Wilson Security/Valvoline Volvo suffered his roundly Mechanical failure, forcing McLaughlin out of the race and dropping him to last.

Rounding out the bottom five was Will Davison in the #9 Solar Australia Mercedes, Ashley Walsh in the #4 Infant's Friend/3M/Repsol Mercedes, David Wall in the #34 Wilson Security/Payce/Valvoline Volvo after a Pit-lane drive through penalty for speeding and Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution/GB Galvanizing Holden.

The bottom five

Scott McLaughlin	19 Laps	Water Pump
Will Davison	69 Laps	Running
Ashley Walsh	70 Laps	Running
David Wall	70 Laps	Running
Tim Blanchard	70 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Scott McLaughlin: 5

Andre Heimgartner, Ashley Walsh: 2

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

Team's Championship

Gary Rodgers Motorsports: 6

Erebus Motorsport: 3

Super Black Racings: 2

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

Manufacturer's Championship:

Volvo: 6

Holden: 4

Ford, Mercedes: 3

Mechanical woes leave Percat last at Townsville

Nick Percat picked up his 2nd last-place finish of his career when his #222 Repair Management Australia Holden retired with Mechanical woes after 57 of the race's 70 laps. The finish came in Percat's 31st start.

After having his qualifying time disallowed for a car violation committed by the team, Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 STIX Holden started the race in the rear. However at turn 4 Andre Heimgartner in the unsponsored #111 Super Black Racing Ford collided with Todd Kelly in the #7 Jayco Nissan, with the damage suffered by car #111 leading to the loss of 4 laps for repairs.

Heimgartner held last until lap 57 when Nick Percat in the #222 Repair Management Australia Holden, who had been suffering intermittent issues throughout the race to this point, retired from the race with Mechanical dramas, dropping him to the rear. Dale Wood in the #21 Galvanising GB/Advam Holden would also fall behind Heimgartner after suffering Electrical issues late in the race.

Rounding out the bottom five was Ashley Walsh in the #4 Infant's Friend/3M/Repsol Mercedes and Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution/GB Galvanizing Holden.

The Bottom Five

Nick Percat	57 Laps	Mechanical
Dale Wood	64 Laps	Running
Andre Heimgartner	65 Laps	Running
Ashley Walsh	69 Laps	Running
Tim Blanchard	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, Nick Percat: 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, Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports: 1

Manufacturer's Championship:

Volvo: 5

Holden: 4

Ford, Mercedes: 3

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.