Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: Taz Douglas takes out LASTCAR championship after first lap crash at Newcastle

Sunday 26 November 2017

Taz Douglas takes out LASTCAR championship after first lap crash at Newcastle

Taz Douglas picked up his 4^th last-place finish of his career when his #62 Repair Management/Castrol Holden was involved in a 3-car crash that ended his race after 1 of the race’s 91 laps. The finish came in Douglas’ 59^th start, is his 3^rd of the season, and wraps up the 2017 Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship for Taz Douglas.

Taz Douglas in the #62 Repair Management/Castrol Holden started the race in the rear, however by turn 4 Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden had fallen to the rear. Suddenly, at turn 5, carnage broke out.

At turn 2, Jamie Whincup in the #88 Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden contacted Michael Caruso in the #23 Nissan Nismo/Auto Glym Nissan. At turn 4, Whincup blows a tire and crashes. While Whincup was trying to get back to the pit-lane, Dale Wood in the #99 GB Galvanizing/ADVAN Holden slid into the tire barrier, before being run into by Jason Bright in the #56 Mega Bulk Fuels Ford and Taz Douglas in the #62 Repair Management/Castrol Holden, destroying Bright's and Douglas' car, sending all three to the garage, also causing the first safety car of the race. Because he was last to the pit-lane, owing to the bonnet flying up while he tried to get it back, Douglas was sent to the rear. Douglas officially retired on lap 6. Bright also retired on lap 18, while Whincup got back in the race on lap 15, 13 laps down. Attrition from other retirements eventually pushed Whincup out of the bottom five.

Next car to hit trouble with Aaren Russell in the #3 Plus Fitness Holden, who crashed at turn 5 on lap 32. As he skidded into the tire barrier at turn 6, collected James Courtney in the #22 Mobil 1 HSV Racing/Boost Mobile Holden, causing the second Safety Car of the race and dropping Russell to 24th, with Courtney losing 3 laps with a Steering Arm replacement, though he managed to get out of the bottom 5.

The next retirement was James Moffat in the #34 Wilson Security Holden after crashing at turn 8 on lap 53, losing 19 laps in repairs. Unfortunately, upon exit, he collided with Mark Winterbottom in the #5 The Bottle-O/Castrol/Mercury Cider Ford, sending him hard into the tire barrier, causing the third safety car of the race and this time, ending Moffat’s race. Rounding out the bottom five was Craig Lowndes in the #888 Caltex Vortex Holden after he crashed out at the final corner on lap 62.

The Bottom Five

Taz Douglas (CHAMPION)	1 Lap	Crash
Jason Bright	1 Lap	Crash
Aaren Russell	31 Laps	Crash
James Moffat	54 Laps	Crash
Craig Lowndes	62 Laps	Crash

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Taz Douglas (CHAMPION)	3	9	9
2	Tim Slade	2	4	5
3	Todd Kelly	2	3	5
4	Will Davison	2	3	4
5	Jack LeBrocq	2	2	2
6	Alex Rullo	1	11	14
7	Dale Wood	1	4	8
8	Aaren Russell	1	5	7
9	Jason Bright	1	5	6
10	Nick Percat	1	3	5
11	James Moffat	1	3	6
12	Lee Holdsworth	1	3	4
13T	Tim Blanchard	1	2	2
13T	Matthew Brabham	1	2	2
14	Simona De Silvestro	1	1	8
15T	Michael Caruso	1	1	2
15T	Chaz Mostert	1	1	2
16T	Rick Kelly	1	1	1
16T	Cameron Waters	1	1	1
16T	Ashley Walsh	1	1	1
16T	Scott McLaighlin	1	1	1
16T	Alexandre Premat	1	1	1
16T	Fabian Coulthard	1	1	1
17	James Courtney	0	4	5
18	Alex Davison	0	2	4
19	Shane Van Gisbergen	0	2	3
20T	Karl Reindler	0	2	2
20T	David Reynolds	0	2	2
21	Craig Lowndes	0	1	2
22T	Cameron McConville	0	1	1
22T	Garth Tander	0	1	1
22T	Richard Muscat	0	1	1
22T	Luke Youlden	0	1	1
22T	David Reynolds	0	1	1
23	David Russell	0	0	3
23T	Scott Pye	0	0	2
23T	Macauley Jones	0	0	2
23T	Jack Perkins	0	0	2
24T	Warren Luff	0	0	1
24T	James Golding	0	0	1
24T	Mark Winterbottom	0	0	1
24T	Dean Canto	0	0	1
24T	Chris Pither	0	0	1
24T	Andre Heimgartner	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Driver	No. Drivers in Team	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Tekno Autosports	2	1	3/2	2
2	Brad Jones Racing	6	5/6	10/6	15/6
3	Nissan Motorsports	9	7/9	8/9	19/9
4	Erebus Motorsports	4	3/4	2	15/4
5	Shell V-Power Racing	4	3/4	3/4	3/4
6	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports	10	6/10	29/10	35/10
7	Preston Hire Racing	2	1/2	5/2	3
8	Prodrive Racing Australia	8	1/4	5/8	1
9	Gary Rodgers Motorsports	5	1/5	4/5	8/5
10	Charlie Schwerkolt Racing	2	0	2	2
11	Vortex Racing	2	0	1/2	3/2
12	Walkinshaw Racing	4	0	1	9/4
13	Holden Red Bull Racing	4	0	1/2	3/4

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Driver	No. Drivers in Manufacturer	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Nissan	9	7/9	8/9	19/9
2	Holden	34	17/34	60/34	88/34
3	Ford	13	5/13	8/13	11/13

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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.