Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: May 2016

Monday 23 May 2016

Gearbox failure leaves Holdsworth last at WInton

Lee Holdsworth picked up his 12th last-place finish of his career when his #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden retired with Gearbox failure after 17 of the race’s 67 Laps. The finish came in Holdsworth’s 345^th race start.

Aaren Russell in the #4 Plus Fitness Holden started the race in the rear, but by turn 7 Dale Wood in the #96 GB Galvanizing/ADVAN Nissan fell to the rear. On lap 1 Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 Red Bull Holden fell to the rear in early pitstops, then on lap 4 Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy/Castrol Ford fell to the rear, taking additional time in the pitlane to repair damage from contact on lap 4. On lap 6 Chris Pither in the #111 Ice Break Ford had to do a drive-through penalty for Speeding in the pit-lane, dropping to the rear in the process, losing a lap on 7.

Pither held last until lap 18 when Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Beko/Fuchs Holden suffered a Mechanical failure causing the first caution of the race and dropping Holdsworth to last. At the same time Aaren Russell in the #4 collided with Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Holden, causing Suspension damage on car #4 and leaving him 24th, 7 laps down.

Splitting Holdsworth and Russell was James Courtney in the #22 Mobil 1/Shark Bite Plumbing Solutions Holden had a major collision with Chazz Mostert in the #55 Supercheap Auto Holden on lap 21, damaging a tire on Mostert's car and the suspension on Courtney's car, putting him in the garage, dropping to 24th on lap 22 and 25th on lap 29, returning to the track 13 laps down on lap 35.

Rounding out the bottom five was Nick Percat in the #222 SP Tolls/Repair Management Australia Holden after contact with Dale Wood in the #96 GB Galvanizing/Advan Holden on lap 52 bent a rear toe-link, dropping 7 laps in repairs and Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden after losing 3 laps in the pit-lane on lap 44.

The Bottom Five

Lee Holdsworth	17 Laps	Gearbox
James Courtney	53 Laps	Running
Aaren Russell	59 Laps	Running
Nick Percat	60 Laps	Running
Tim Blanchard	64 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Tim Slade, Nick Percat, Aaren Russell, Scott McLaughlin, Chris Pither, Scott Pye, Fabian Coulthard, Michael Caruso, Cameron Waters James Moffat, Lee Holdsworth: 1

Team's Championship

DJR Team Penske, Gary Rodgers Motorsport: 2

BOC Racing, Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports, Erebus Motorsports, Super Black Racing, Pepsi Max Racing, Nissan Motorsports, Charlie Schwerkolt Racing: 1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Ford, Holden: 4

Volvo: 2

Nissan: 1

Steering failure leaves Moffat last at Winton

James Moffat picked up his 12^th last-place finish of his career when his #34 Valvoline/Wilson Security Volvo finished under power, 5 laps down in the first race at Winton. The finish came in Moffat’s 177^th race start.

Nick Percat in the #222 ABRO/Repair Management Australia Holden started the race in the rear after missing qualifying with Engine issues, however by turn 5 Aaren Russel in the #4 Plus Fitness Holden had fallen to the rear. By the end of lap 1 James Moffat in the #34 Wilson Security/Valvoline Volvo with bent steering and damage to the rear, dropping 5 laps in repairs. Also on the first lap Garth Tander in the #2 Mobil 1/Shark Bite Plumbing Solutions Holden suffered a puncture after contact with Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden.

Rounding out the bottom five was Aaren Russell in the #4 Plus Fitness Holden, Andre Heimgartner in the #3 ABRO/Repair Management Australia Holden and David Reynolds in the #9 Penrite Oils Holden.

Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship trivia

· The first ten races have seen ten different last-place finishers and in this race, only if Albert Park is counted was the streak of consecutive different last-place finishers broken with James Moffat's last place run.

The Bottom Five

James Moffat	35 Laps	Running
Garth Tander	39 Laps	Running
Aaren Russell	40 Laps	Running
Andre Heimgartner	40 Laps	Running
David Reynolds	40 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Tim Slade, Nick Percat, Aaren Russell, Scott McLaughlin, Chris Pither, Scott Pye, Fabian Coulthard, Michael Caruso, Cameron Waters James Moffat: 1

Team's Championship

DJR Team Penske, Gary Rodgers Motorsport: 2

BOC Racing, Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports, Erebus Motorsports, Super Black Racing, Pepsi Max Racing, Nissan Motorsports: 1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Ford: 4

Holden: 3

Volvo: 2

Nissan: 1

Friday 20 May 2016

Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship

So in this post I will quickly explain why I have changed the name of this Blog.

The Australian V8 Supercars series has changed it's name, dropping the V8 logo and adding the main sponsor of the series, Virgin Australia. As a result, I decided that in order to reflect this change, I decided to change the name of the blog from Australian V8 LASTCAR Series to Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship.

So I will be posting the LASTCAR results of the next two races on Monday, so stay tuned.

Monday 9 May 2016

Offroad exscursion leaves Waters last in the west

Cameron Waters picked up his 1^st last-place finish of his career when his #6 Monster Energy/Castrol Ford finished under power, 1 lap down in the last race at Barbagallo. The finish came in Waters’ 24^th race start.

Aaren Russell in the #4 Plus Fitness Holden started the race in the rear, however Andre Heimgartner in the #3 SP Tools Holden stalled at the start of the race and fell to last immediately. Pitstops began and last place switched between Jamie Whincup in the #88 Red Bull Holden on lap 10, David Reynolds in the #9 Penrite Oils Holden on lap 15, then Andre Heimgartner in the #3 ABRO/Repair Management Australia Holden by the end of the first pitstop cycle.

Heimgartner would hold last until lap 35 as pitstops started again, this time last place cycled between Todd Kelly in the #7 carsales.com.au/bikesales.com.au Nissan, Tim Slade in the #14 Freightliner Holden, David Reynolds for the second time, Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Holden, Aaren Russell for the second time on lap 49. Finally, on lap 62 Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy/Castrol Ford speared off the road at turn 7, narrowly avoiding getting bogged and causing a caution.

The last twenty laps saw last switch hands twice more. Firstly Andre Heimgartner fell to the rear, then Cameron Waters fell behind Heimgartner, where he stayed for the rest of the race.

Rounding out the bottom five was Andre Heimgartner in the #3 SP Tolls Holden, Aaren Russell in the #4 Plus Fitness Holden, Todd Kelly in the #7 carsales.com.au/bikesales.co.au and Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Holden.

The Bottom Five

Cameron Waters	82 Laps	Running
Todd Kelly	82 Laps	Running
Andre Heimgartner	83 Laps	Running
Aaren Russell	83 Laps	Running
Tim Blanchard	83 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Tim Slade, Nick Percat, Aaren Russell, Scott McLaughlin, Chris Pither, Scott Pye, Fabian Coulthard, Michael Caruso, Cameron Waters: 1

Team's Championship

DJR Team Penske: 2

BOC Racing, Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports, Erebus Motorsports, Gary Rodgers Motorsport, Super Black Racing, Nissan Motorsport, Ford Performance Racing: 1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Ford: 4

Holden: 3

Volvo, 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.