Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: Steering failure leaves Percat leading Last-place race for 2016

Sunday 10 July 2016

Steering failure leaves Percat leading Last-place race for 2016

Nick Percat picked up his 8th last-place finish of his career when his #222 Plus Fitness Holden retired with Steering failure after 63 of the race’s 70 laps. The finish came in Percat's 92nd start, and with this last-place finish, Percat takes the lead in the 2016 Virgin Australia LASTCAR series.

Kurt Kostecki in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden started the race in the rear in his first ever V8 Supercar main game start, replacing the injured Lee Holdsworth. On the first lap in turn 5 there was contact between Dale Wood in the #96 GB Galvanizing/ADVAM Holden and Scott McLaughlin in the #33 Wilson Security/Valvoline Volvo resulted in damage to both cars, however McLaughlin’s damage was a bit more serious, dropping McLaughlin to last, eventually leaving him 2 laps down in 24^th. Dale Wood finished 23^rd.

On lap 2 Tim Slade in the #14 Alliance Truck Parts Holden was spun out by Rick Kelly in the #15 Sengeld Holden, also collecting Nick Percat in the #222 Plus Fitness Holden, damaging all three cars and eventually resulting in a steering failure for Percat on lap 65, triggering the only Safety Car of the race and leaving Percat in last. Although Rick Kelly was penalised, he managed to stay out of the bottom five, finishing 21st.

Splitting McLaughin and Wood from Percat was Kurt Kostecki in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden after hitting the wall on lap 50, dropping 6 laps in repairs. Rounding out the bottom five was Aaren Russell in the #4 Plus Fitness Holden.

The Bottom Five

Nick Percat	63 Laps	Steering
Kurt Kostecki	64 Laps	Running
Scott McLaughlin	68 Laps	Running
Dale Wood	69 Laps	Running
Aaren Russell	69 Laps	Running

Driver's Championship

Nick Percat: 3

Lee Holdsworth (Out until Sandown at least): 2

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

Team's Championship

Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports: 3

DJR Team Penske, Gary Rodgers Motorsport, Charlie Schwerkolt Racing: 2

BOC Racing, Erebus Motorsports, Super Black Racing, Pepsi Max Racing, Nissan Motorsports, 1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Holden: 7

Ford: 4

Volvo: 2

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.