Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: March 2017

Sunday 26 March 2017

Dale Wood goes to top of Albert Park Last-Place standings after finishing last at Albert ParkOr

Original from Erebus Motorsports, Cropped by Me

Dale Wood picked up his 4th last-place finish at Albert Park when his #99 GB Galvanizing/ADVAN Holden was involved in a multi-car melee that ended his race without completing a single lap of the final race at Albert Park.

Craig Lowndes in the #888 Caltex Vortex Holden started the race in the rear after a qualifying infraction, but, almost immediately after the start Alex Rullo in the #62 Repair Management/Castrol Holden fell to the rear. At turns 1 and 2, however, disaster struck.

Dale Wood in the #99 GB Galvanising/ADVAN Holden ran into the back of Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden, who then got into the back of Jason Bright in the #56 Mega Bulk Fuels Ford, sending Bright into Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy Ford, also spearing James Moffat in the #34 Wilson Security Holden. Moving to avoid the spinning Moffat Bright contacted Blanchard, sending Blanchard into a spin while also dealing further damage to Wood’s car. The damage was terminal for Wood, Waters and Blanchard, with Wood retiring with major front-end damage on lap 1, Waters retiring with a brake fire from grass in the wheel (Don’t ask me how that happened) on lap 2 and Blanchard retiring with a puncture on lap 8.

Rounding out the bottom five was Taz Douglas in the # Lift Holden and Fabian Coulthard in the #12 Shell Holden after a mid-race puncture.

The Bottom Five

Dale Wood	0 Laps	Crash
Cameron Waters	1 Lap	Crash
Tim Blanchard	6 Laps	Tyre
Taz Douglas	13 Laps	Running
Fabian Coulthard	13 Laps	Running

Multi-car incident leaves Tander last again at Albert Park.

Original from Gary Rodgers Motorsports Twitter, Cropped by Me

Garth Tander picked up his 3rd last-place finish at Albert Park when his #33 Wilson Security Holden retired with Steering damage without completing a single lap of the third race at Albert Park.

Simona De Silvestro started the race in the rear in the #78 Harvey Norman Nissan, however coming out of turn 1 Garth Tander in the #33 Wilson Security Holden, Scott Pye in the #2 Mobil 1 HSV Racing/Boost Mobile, Dale Wood in the #99 GB Galvanizing/ADVAN Holden, Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman Nissan and Jason Bright in the #56 MEGA Ford were involved in a concertina incident, leaving Tander in the garage, out of the race, finishing last. Pye finished third-last, 2 laps off the leaders.

Splitting Tander and Pye was Rick Kelly in the #15 Sengled Nissan, where a puncture ended his race on lap 10. Rounding out the bottom five was Alex Rullo in the #62 Repair Management Australia/Castrol Holden and Taz Douglas in the unsponsored #3 Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports Holden.

The Bottom Five

Garth Tander	0 Laps	Crash
Rick Kelly	10 Laps	Tire
Scott Pye	11 Laps	Running
Alex Rullo	13 Laps	Running
Taz Douglas	13 Laps	Running

First lap contact leaves Wood last at Albert Park

Originally from Erebus Motorsports Twiter, Cropped by me.

Dale Wood picked up his 3rd last-place finish at Albert Park when his #99 GB Galvanising/ADVAN Holden retired with Steering damage without completing a single lap of the second race at Albert Park.

James Courtney in the #22 Mobil 1 HSV Racing / Boost Mobile started the race in the rear after a qualifying infraction, but by turn 2 Alex Rullo in the #62 Repair Management Australia/Castrol Holden had fallen to the rear when disaster struck.

Coming out of turn 3 Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden came across on Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman Nissan, moving to the right to avoid Blanchard, De Silvestro collected Dale Wood in the #96 GB Galvanising/ADVAN Holden, sending Wood’s car into the air and damaging the Steering on car #96, ending his race. Just two lap later, going into turn 9, the throttle hung on De Silvestro’s #78 about the same time as the right-front, damaged in the lap 1 incident, failed completely, leading to a scary ride for De Silvestro, leaving her in the sand, out of the race.

Shortly afterwards Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 Holden Red Bull Racing Team Holden was spun by Chazz Mostert in the #55 Supercheap Auto Ford. Attempting a move on Craig Lowndes in the #888 Caltex Vortex Holden, James Moffat in the #34 Wilson Security Holden slammed into Shane, destroying the noses of both cars and ending both races.

Rounding out the bottom five was Alex Rullo in the #62 Repair Management Australia/Castrol Holden who retired with brake failure the following lap.

The Bottom Five

Dale Wood	0 Laps	Steering
Simona De Silvestro	2 Laps	Throttle
James Moffat	2 Laps	Crash
Shane Van Gisbergen	2 Laps	Crash
Alex Rullo	3 Laps	Brakes

Control Arm failure leaves Tander last at Albert Park

Credit to Wilson Security GRM for image, this is edited.

Garth Tander picked up his 2nd last-place finish at Albert Park when his #33 Wilson Security Holden retired with Suspension damage after 3 of the race’s 13 laps.

Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden started the race in the rear, but by turn 2 Alex Rullo in the #62 Repair Management/Castrol Holden had fallen to the rear. On lap 3 Garth Tander in the #33 Wilson Security Holden broke a control arm, knocking Tander from the race and dropping Tander to last.

Next to fall out was Tim Slade in the #14 Freightliner Holden after a puncture on lap 9 ended his race.

On lap 11 Nick Percat in the #8 Holden for Equality Holden lost his brakes heading into turn 1, aiming to miss the other cars, but collected Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden, ending both driver’s weekends. On the same lap, Rick Kelly in the #15 Sengled Nissan retired with a puncture.

The bottom five

Garth Tander	3 Laps	Suspension
Tim Slade	9 Laps	Tire
Nick Percat	11 Laps	Crash
Lee Holdsworth	11 Laps	Crash
Rick Kelly	11 Laps	Tire

Sunday 5 March 2017

Explanation of Weird Fractions in Teams and Manufacturer's championship

So for those of you who have noticed, I have a new system for determining the champion Team and Manufacturer. And this is based on the number of drivers in a team.

So for example, if during the course of a race Todd Kelly finished in the bottom 5, Simona De Silvestro finished last and Rick Kelly finished in the bottom three, considering that there are four drivers in Nissan Motorsports, then the total number of last-place finishes, bottom 3 finishes and bottom-five finishes would be added up (Simona would add 1 to Bottom 3 and Bottom 5, while Rock Kelly adds 1 to Bottom 3 and Bottom 5, while Todd Kelly adds 1 to bottom 5). The same applies to the Nissan Manufacturer, because those four drivers make up all the drivers that drive Nissans.

So, let's calculate.

The Team's championship would go like this.
1. Nissan Motorsports 4 Drivers 1/4 Lat-Place Finishes. 1/2 Bottom 3 and 3/4 Bottom Five.

Manufacturer's Championship
1. Nissan 4 Drivers 1/4 Last-Place Finishes, 1/2 Bottom 3 Finishes, 3/4 Bottom Five finishes.

It saves hassle, that's all.

Turn 8 hit leaves defending champion Percat last at Adelaide

Defending Virgin Australia LASTCAR Champion Nick Percat has picked up his 9th last-place finish of his career when his #8 Clipsal Holden was involved in a single-car crash that ended his race without completing a single lap of the second race at Adelaide. The finish came in Percat's 110th start.

Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman Nissan started the race in the rear after being penalised from 25th for blocking Nick Percat in the #8 BOC Holden during qualifying, and she held last after stalling at the start, However Nick Percat in the #8 Clipsal Holden smacked the wall at turn 8, damaging his car and dropping him to the rear. Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman Nissan endured a tough race, spun out at the final corner by James Courtney in the #22 Mobil 1 Holden about half-way through the race while Simona was trying to get to the pit-lane, then a drive-through penalty dropped her to 23^rd.

Alex Rullo in the #62 Repair Management Australia Holden and Taz Douglas in the #3 Southgate Holden/Auto Masters Holden split Percat and De Silvestro, both due to a lack of pace. Rounding out the bottom five was Michael Caruso in the #23 Nismo Nissan after a tire failure with 7 laps to go, dropping him into the bottom five.

The Bottom Five

Nick Percat	0 Laps	Crash
Alex Rullo	75 Laps	Running
Taz Douglas	76 Laps	Running
Simona De Silvestro	77 Laps	Running
Michael Caruso	77 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1T	Will Davison	1	1	1
1T	Nick Percat	1	1	1
2	Taz Douglas	0	2	2
3T	Dale Wood	0	1	1
3T	Alex Rullo	0	1	1
4T	Simona De Silvestro	0	0	1
4T	Todd Kelly	0	0	1
4T	Michael Caruso	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Driver	No. Drivers in Team	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Tekno Autosports	1	1	1	1
2	Brad Jones Racing	3	1/3	2/3	2/3
3	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports	2	0	3/2	3/2
4	Nissan Motorsports	4	0	0	3/4

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Driver	No. Drivers in Manufacturer	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Holden	16	2/16	5/16	6/16
2	Nissan	4	0	¼	3/2

Turn 8 hit leaves Davison last at Adelaide

Will Davison has picked up his 14th last-place finish of his career when his #19 Woodstock Holden was involved in a 2-car crash that ended his race without completing a single lap of the first race at Adelaide. The finish came in Davison's 362nd start.

Alex Rullo in the #62 Repair Management Australia Holden started the race in the rear, however at turn 8 disaster struck for Will Davison in the #19 Woodstock Holden crashing into the wall at turn 8 after contact with Todd Kelly in the #7 Carsales.com Nissan, who was outside of James Moffat in the #34 Valvoline Volvo, the crash taking Davison out of the race and down to last.

The extreme heat claimed Taz Douglas in the #3 Southgate Holden/Auto Masters Holden lost 14 laps in the garage after having to be treated for Heat Exhaustion due to a cool suit failure, eventually the cool suit was fixed and Taz Douglas was able to finish. Placing between Davison and Douglas, the other car that fell out of the race was Dale Wood in the #99 GB Galvanizing/ADVAM Holden, retiring with Gearbox failure on lap 50.

Rounding out the bottom five was Alex Rullo in the #62 Repair Management Australia Holden and Todd Kelly in the #7 carsales.com Nissan has two tire failures during the race, and got a bad sportsmanship flag for loose bodywork.

The Bottom Five

Will Davison	0 Laps	Crash
Dale Wood	49 Laps	Gearbox
Taz Douglas	64 Laps	Running
Alex Rullo	76 Laps	Running
Todd Kelly	77 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Will Davison	1	1	1
2T	Dale Wood	0	1	1
2T	Taz Douglas	0	1	1
4T	Alex Rullo	0	0	1
4T	Todd Kelly	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Driver	No. Drivers in Team	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Tekno Autosports	1	1	1	1
2	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports	2	0	½	1
3	Nissan Motorsports	4	0	¼	½

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Driver	No. Drivers in Manufacturer	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Holden	16	1/16	1/8	3/16
2	Nissan	4	0	¼	½

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.