Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: Power Steering dramas leave Caruso last in the West

Monday 9 May 2016

Power Steering dramas leave Caruso last in the West

Michael Caruso picked up his 4^th last-place finish of his career when his #23 Nismo Nissan finished under power, 7 laps down in the first race at Barbagallo Raceway in Western Australia. The finish came in Caruso's 267^th race start.

Michael Caruso in the #23 Nismo Nissan started the race in the rear after spearing off the road at turn 1 on the first lap of Qualifying. Immediately after the start Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Holden fell to the rear after a bad start. He held last until lap 10 when Scott Pye in the #17 MTU Detroit Diesel Holden pitted and fell to the rear, before being passed on lap 12 by Michael Caruso, then on lap 13 by Tim Blanchard.

On lap 15 disaster strikes for Michael Caruso after a Power Steering failure sends him to the garage and to the rear, dropping 7 laps in the process.

Next to hit trouble was on lap 28 Mark Winterbottom in the #1 Castrol/Bottle-O Ford had to pit, after running off the track earlier in the race and being punted by Dale Wood in the #96 ADVAM/GB Galvanizing Holden as he tried to pit with Overheating issues, losing a lap, but got it back on lap 40. Splitting Caruso and Winterbottom was Aaren Russel in the #4 Plus Fitness Holden, Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden and Scott Pye in the #17 MTU Detroit Diesel Holden after he cut the track on the final lap, copping a penalty that dropped him from 11^th to 24^th.

The Bottom Five

Michael Caruso	43 Laps	Running
Aaren Russell	49 Laps	Running
Scott Pye	50 Laps	Running
Tim Blanchard	50 Laps	Running
Mark Winterbottom	50 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

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

Team's Championship

DJR Team Penske: 2

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

Manufacturer’s Championship

Holden, Ford: 3

Volvo, Nissan: 1

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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.