Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: December 2015

Monday 7 December 2015

Hard crash leaves Slade last at Homebush

Tim Slade picked up his 5^th last-place finish of his career when his #47 Supercheap Auto Holden was involved in a hard single-car crash that ended his race after 8 of the race's 74 laps. The finish came in Slade's 105^th round start.

Steve Owen started the race in the rear in the #6 Pepsi Max Ford, however by the end of lap 1 Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Holden had fallen to the rear after pitting on lap 1, where he stayed until calamity strikes on lap 11 when Tim Slade in the #47 Supercheap Auto Holden suffered a jammed throttle, slamming into the wall in the second-to-final corner, bringing out the first caution of the race.

Next to fall out was Steve Owen in the #6 Pepsi Max Ford after a turgid race, firstly tangling with Alex Davison in the #4 Wendy's Mercedes, then forced to the garage for the first time on lap 50 with electrical issues and although Owen got back out, multiple trips into the garage dropped Owen 13 laps down. Car #6 was eventually KO'ed by suspension failure on lap 68. The final car to retire from the race occurred with just 2 laps to go when Chris Pither in the unsponsored #111 Super Black Racing Ford tangled with David Wall in the #34 Wilson Security/Valvoline Volvo, James Moffat in the #99 Faresin Nissan and Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Holden, destroying car #111. Rounding out the bottom five was Dale Wood in the #21 ADVAM/GB Galvanising Holden after a mid-race crash cost him five laps and Jack Perkins after late-race engine issues dropped him down five laps to the leaders.

The bottom five

Tim Slade	8 Laps	Crash
Steve Owen	52 Laps	Suspension
Chris Pither	72 Laps	Crash
Dale Wood	69 Laps	Running
Jack Perkins	69 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Scott McLaughlin: 6 (Driver's Champion)

Nick Percat: 4

Ashley Walsh, James Moffat: 3

Will Davison, Andre Heimgartner, Todd Kelly, Lee Holdsworth, David Wall: 2

Garth Tander, Chazz Mostert, Jason Bright, Chris Pither, Sebastien Bourdais, Jack LeBrocq, Craig Lowndes, David Reynolds, Tim Blanchard, Steve Owen, Tim Slade: 1

Team's Championship

Gary Rodgers Motorsports: 8 (Team's champion)

Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports: 6

Erebus Motorsport: 5

Nissan Motorsports: 3

Super Black Racing, Brad Jones Racing, Jack Daniel's Racing, Charlie Schwerkolt Racing, Prodrive Racing Australia, Supercheap Auto Racing: 2

Holden Racing Team, Red Bull Racing Australia, Rod Nash Racing/Prodrive Racing Australia: 1

Manufacturer's Championship:

Holden: 11 (Manufacturer's champion)

Volvo: 8

Mercedes: 6

Nissan, Ford: 5

Quick announcement: I'm going to change the number of round starts a driver has to the number of race starts. It makes it much easier to keep track.

Engine sensor failure leaves Owen last at Homebush

Steve Owen picked up his 8th last-place finish of his career when his #6 Pepsi Max Ford retired with Engine failure after 8 of the race's 27 laps. The finish came in Owen's 98th round start.

Tim Slade in the #47 Supercheap Auto Holden started the race in the rear, however by lap 3 Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Holden had fallen to the rear, which he held until lap 8 when Steve Owen in the #6 Pepsi Max Ford fell to the rear, with disaster befalling car #6 on lap 10, ? leaving the car stranded on the exit of turn 1 and triggering the first/only safety car of the race.

The only other retirement of the race was James Moffat in the #99 Faresin Nissan, who crashed over the kerbs in the 2-3-4 chicane on lap 18, tearing the right-front wheel out of car #99, knocking Moffat out of the race. Rounding out the bottom five was Jason Bright in the #8 BOC Holden, after losing 2 laps with rear suspension issues, Alex Davison in the #4 Wendy's Mercedes and Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Holden.

The Bottom Five

Steve Owen	8 Laps	Engine
James Moffat	17 Laps	Suspension
Jason Bright	35 Laps	Running
Alex Davison	37 Laps	Running
Tim Blanchard	37 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Scott McLaughlin: 6 (Driver's Champion)

Nick Percat: 4

Ashley Walsh, James Moffat: 3

Will Davison, Andre Heimgartner, Todd Kelly, Lee Holdsworth, David Wall: 2

Garth Tander, Chazz Mostert, Jason Bright, Chris Pither, Sebastien Bourdais, Jack LeBrocq, Craig Lowndes, David Reynolds, Tim Blanchard, Steve Owen: 1

Team's Championship

Gary Rodgers Motorsports: 8 (Team's champion)

Erebus Motorsport, Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports: 5

Nissan Motorsports: 3

Super Black Racing, Brad Jones Racing, Jack Daniel's Racing, Charlie Schwerkolt Racing, Prodrive Racing Australia: 2

Holden Racing Team, Red Bull Racing Australia, Rod Nash Racing/Prodrive Racing Australia: 1

Manufacturer's Championship:

Holden: 10 (Manufacturer's champion)

Volvo: 8

Mercedes: 6

Nissan, Ford: 5

McLaughlin seals title after Blanchard finishes last at Homebush

Tim Blanchard picked up his 2^nd last-place finish of his career when his #3 Cooldrive Holden finished under power, 5 laps down in the first race at Homebush at Sydney. The finish came in Blanchard's 36^th race start.

Craig Lowndes started the race in the rear after a qualifying crash in the #888 Red Bull Racing Australia Holden, however contact on the first corner of the first lap put James Mofatt in the #99 Faresin Nissan collided with Jamie Whincup in the #1 Red Bull Racing Australia Holden, damaging the steering on Moffat's car and sending car #99 to the rear, 2 laps down.

Moffat stayed in last until lap 19 when Tim Blanchard in the #3 Cooldrive Holden headed to the garage with engine issues on lap 19, dropping to the rear on lap 22. Blanchard returned to the track in lap 24, 4 laps down.

Rounding out the bottom five was Chris Pither in the unsponsored #111 Super Black Racing Holden, who dropped a lap late in the race, Garth Tander in the #2 - Holden pitted a second time on lap 9 with a right-rear wheel nut failure and Alex Davison in the #4 Wendy's Mercedes.

Statistics

With Nick Percat not participating in the final round, Scott Mclaughlin has taken out the 2015 Australian V8 LASTCAR Driver's Championship. Additionally, Gary Rodgers Motorsport has taken out the 2015 Australian V8 LASTCAR Team's Championship, with McLaughlin on 6 last-place finishes and David Wall on 2 last-place finishes.

The Bottom Five

Tim Blanchard	32 Laps	Running
James Moffat	34 Laps	Running
Chris Pither	36 Laps	Running
Garth Tander	37 Laps	Running
Alex Davison	37 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Scott McLaughlin: 6 (Driver's Champion)

Nick Percat: 4

Ashley Walsh, James Moffat: 3

Will Davison, Andre Heimgartner, Todd Kelly, Lee Holdsworth, David Wall: 2

Garth Tander, Chazz Mostert, Jason Bright, Chris Pither, Sebastien Bourdais, Jack LeBrocq, Craig Lowndes, David Reynolds, Tim Blanchard: 1

Team's Championship

Gary Rodgers Motorsports: 8 (Team's champion)

Erebus Motorsport: 5

Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports: 4

Nissan Motorsports: 3

Super Black Racing, Brad Jones Racing, Jack Daniel's Racing, Charlie Schwerkolt Racing: 2

Holden Racing Team, Prodrive Racing Australia, Red Bull Racing Australia, Rod Nash Racing/Prodrive Racing Australia: 1

Manufacturer's Championship:

Holden: 10 (Manufacturer's champion)

Volvo: 8

Mercedes: 6

Nissan: 5

Ford: 4

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.