Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: 2016

Monday 5 December 2016

Percat takes out title after Blanchard finishes last at Homebush

Tim Blanchard picked up his 4th last-place finish of his career when his #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden was involved in a concertina crash that ended his race after 1 of the race's 73 laps. The finish came in Blanchard's 109th start.

Chris Pither in the #111 Ice Break Ford started the race in the rear, however heading into turn 2-3-4 it was carnage, as a concertina involving most of the field, the worst victims were Jason Bright in the #8 BOC Holden, Dale Wood in the #96 GB Galvanizing/ADVAM Holden and Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden, sending Blanchard to the garage with a punctured radiator on lap 2 and Wood to the garage on lap 7 with broken rear suspension, dropping 6 laps. Continued Suspension issues eventually forced Wood from the race.

Disaster struck on lap 40 for Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy/Castrol Ford after slamming into the turn 8 tyre barriers, then collected by Fabian Coulthard in the #12 Sharp/Wurth, destroying both cars, KO’ing Waters from the race and costing Coulthard 13 laps. However, by the end of the race Coulthard would pull out of the bottom five, passing Jason Bright in the #8 BOC/Fujitsu Holden on lap 61 after Bright crashed on lap 47 in turn 5, bringing out the second Safety Car of the race and Rick Kelly post-race after engine failure on lap 65 brought out the third caution of the race.

The Bottom Five

Tim Blanchard	1 Lap	Crash
Dale Wood	7 Laps	Suspension
Cameron Waters	39 Laps	Crash
Jason Bright	46 Laps	Crash
Rick Kelly	64 Laps	Engine

Driver's Championship

Nick Percat: 4 (CHAMPION)

Lee Holdsworth, Chris Pither: 3

Scott Pye, David Reynolds, Craig Baird, Tim Blanchard: 2

Tim Slade, Aaren Russell, Scott McLaughlin, Fabian Coulthard, Michael Caruso, Cameron Waters, Kurt Kostecki, James Courtney, Will Davison, James Moffat, Karl Reindler Richie Stanaway, Jason Bright, Shae Davies, Andre Heimgartner: 1

Team's Championship
Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports (CHAMPIONS): 5

Charlie Schwerkolt Racing, Erebus Motorsports. BOC Racing: 4

DJR Team Penske, Super Black Racing: 3

Gary Rodgers Motorsport: 2

Pepsi Max Racing, Nissan Motorsports, Holden Racing Team, Tekno Autosports, Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports: 1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Holden: 21 (CHAMPIONS)

Ford: 7

Volvo: 2

Nissan: 1

Race for title falls to two after Pither crashed out of the first race at Homebush

Chris Pither picked up his 6th last-place finish of his career when his #111 Ice Break Ford was involved in a 2-car crash that ended his run on the opening lap of the first race at Homebush. The finish came in Pither’s 57^th start, and put him into a tie for second with Lee Holdsworth, and the only driver who can stop Nick Percat from becoming champion for 2016.

David Reynolds in the #9 Penrite Oils Holden started the race in the rear after Reynolds went straight through the paddock instead of the pit lane parc ferme, however immediately Shae Davies in the #4 Loco Energy Drink/Davbridge Constructions Holden fell to the rear. Coming to the turns 2,3,4 chicane, Chris Pither in the #111 Ice Break Ford tangled with Dale Wood in the #96 GB Galvanizing/ADVAM Holden in turn 4, destroying the left-side of Pither's car, sending him to the garage and down to last.

Dale Wood in the #96 GB Galvanizing/ADVAM after Steering failure on lap 49, drawing the second safety car of the race. James Moffat in the #34 First Security/Valvoline Volvo suffered overheating issues during the second-half of the race, eventually dropping Moffat down 9 laps. Rounding out the bottom five was Mark Winterbottom in the #1 Bottle-O/Castrol/Mecury Cider Ford after he was taken out by Shane Van Gisbegen in the #97 Red Bull Racing Australia Holden in turn 9, costing Winterbottom five laps in repairs and Shae Davies in the #4 Loco Energy Drink/Davbridge Constructions Holden

The Bottom Five

Chris Pither	1 Lap	Crash
Dale Wood	48 Laps	Steering
James Moffat	65 Laps	Running
Mark Winterbottom	69 Laps	Running
Shae Davies	71 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Nick Percat: 4

Lee Holdsworth, Chris Pither: 3

Scott Pye, David Reynolds, Craig Baird: 2

Tim Slade, Aaren Russell, Scott McLaughlin, , Fabian Coulthard, Michael Caruso, Cameron Waters, Kurt Kostecki, James Courtney, Will Davison, James Moffat, Karl Reindler Richie Stanaway, Jason Bright, Shae Davies, Tim Blanchard, Andre Heimgartner: 1

Team's Championship

Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports: 5

Charlie Schwerkolt Racing, Erebus Motorsports: 4

DJR Team Penske, BOC Racing, Super Black Racing: 3

Gary Rodgers Motorsport: 2

Pepsi Max Racing, Nissan Motorsports, Holden Racing Team, Tekno Autosports, Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports: 1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Holden: 20

Ford: 7

Volvo: 2

Nissan: 1

Sunday 6 November 2016

Chain-reaction crash leaves Heimgartner last at Pukekohe

Andre Heimgartner picked up his 3rd last-place finish of his career when his #3 Repair Management Australia Holden was involved in a chain-reaction crash that ended his race after 4 of the race's 39 laps. The finish came in Heimgartner's 58th start.

Andre Heimgartner in the #3 Repair Management Australia Holden started the race in the rear, however immediately David Reynolds in the #9 Loco Energy Drink / Davbridge Constructions Holden speared off the road at turn 1, taking out one of the signs, resulting in a flat tire on car #9, putting him a lap down on lap 2, losing a second lap on lap 15. Rick Kelly in the #15 Sengled Nissan finished 25th after suffering a flat rear tire on lap 2, also losing a lap.

David Reynolds held last until lap 3 when Andre Heimgartner in the #3 Repair Management Australia Holden was collected in a chain-reaction crash, eventually forcing car #3 to the garage on lap 5, falling to last on lap 6.

Rounding out the bottom five was Shae Davies in the #4 - Holden, who lost a lap late in the race on lap 33 and Chris Pither in the #111 Ice Break Ford.

The bottom five

Andre Heimgartner	4 Laps	Crash
David Reynolds	33 Laps	Running
Rick Kelly	34 Laps	Running
Shae Davies	34 Laps	Running
Chris Pither	35 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Nick Percat: 4

Lee Holdsworth: 3

Scott Pye, David Reynolds, Craig Baird, Chris Pither: 2

Team's Championship

Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports: 5

Charlie Schwerkolt Racing, Erebus Motorsports: 4

DJR Team Penske, BOC Racing: 3

Gary Rodgers Motorsport, Super Black Racing: 2

Pepsi Max Racing, Nissan Motorsports, Holden Racing Team, Tekno Autosports, Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports: 1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Holden: 20

Ford: 6

Volvo: 2

Nissan: 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.