Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: March 2018

Sunday 25 March 2018

Lap 2 collision leaves Rick Kelly last at Albert Park

Original by DarcyF1 and
Supercars, edited by me.

Rick Kelly picked up his 7th last-place finish of his career when his #15 Sengled Nissan was involved in a multi-car crash that ended his race after 1 of the race's shortened 11 laps. The finish came in Kelly's 497th start.

Rick Kelly is another veteran of this sport, having run full time, or almost full time, since 2002. Rick ran 13th in first practice before leaping up to 6th in second practice. Rick qualified 17th for race 6.

Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 Red Bull Racing Australia Holden started the race in the rear after an off in Qualifying, but by turn 3 Rick Kelly in the #15 Sengled Nissan fell to the rear. By the end of Lap 1, Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden had fallen to the rear.

On lap 3 James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden speared into James Courtney in the #22 - Holden, looping Courtney, who was then hit by Rick Kelly in the #15 Sengled Nissan, KO'ing both Courtney and Kelly into the garage and into retirement. Courtney with severe front-end damage and Kelly with Suspension damage on the left-front.

Next to fall out was James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden after a massive engine failure on lap 7, triggering the only Safety Car of the race. Rounding out the bottom five was Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden, who lost 2 laps in repairs after breaking a shock absorber as a result of the contact with Kelly and Courtney and Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy Ford.

The Bottom Five

Rick Kelly	1 Lap	Crash
James Courtney	1 Lap	Crash
James Golding	7 Laps	Engine
Lee Holdsworth	11 Laps	Running
Cameron Waters	11 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver’s Name	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	James Golding	1	3	3
2T	Todd Hazelwood	1	1	3
2T	Simona De Silvestro	1	1	3
3	Rick Kelly	1	1	2
4T	Jamie Whincup	1	1	1
4T	Garth Tander	1	1	1
5	Richie Stanaway	0	4	4
6	Tim Blanchard	0	1	4
7	Lee Holdsworth	0	1	2
8T	Andre Heimgartner	0	1	1
8T	Will Davison	0	1	1
8T	Craig Lowndes	0	1	1
8T	James Courtney	0	1	1
9	Jack LeBrocq	0	0	2
10	Cameron Waters	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team Name	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Gary Rodgers Motorsport	2	1	4/2	4/2
2	Matt Stone Racing	1	1	1	3
3	Nissan Motorsports	4	2/4	3/4	6/4
4	Red Bull Holden Racing	2	1/2	1/2	1/2
5	Preston Hire Racing	1	0	1	2
6	Tickford Racing	4	0	4/4	5/4
7T	23Red Racing	1	0	1	1
7T	Craig Lowndes Racing	1	0	1	1
8	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	0	1/2	1/2
9	Brad Jones Racing	3	0	1/3	4/3
10	Tekno Autosports	1	0	0	2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Nissan	4	2/4	3/4	7/4
Holden	14	3/14	10/14	13/14
Ford	8	1/8	5/8	8/8

Late race tire failure leaves Tander last at Albert Park

Original by Daily Telegraph

Garth Tander picked up his 12^th last-place finish of his career when his #33 Wilson Security Holden finished under power, 1 lap down in the third race at Albert Park. The finish came in Tander’s 608^th start.

Garth Tander is a veteran of the sport, having raced full-time since 1999. He ran 9th in first practice, but slipped to 12th in Practice 2, then slipped further to 14th in race 5 qualifying.

Todd Hazelwood in the #35 Bigmate Holden started the race in the rear, but by turn 1 Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden dropped to the rear but passed Hazelwood back by turn 5, and they exchanged last for the rest of the lap. Near the end of lap 1, James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden had fallen to the rear. Hazelwood returned to last on lap 4.

Hazelwood held last until lap 9 when Chaz Mostert in the #55 Supercheap Auto Ford pitted, dropping him to last, followed by Jack Lebrocq in the #19 AUSPT Australian Post-Tensioning Holden during his pitstop on lap 9, followed by Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman/LG Super UHD TV Nissan after her pitstop on lap 10. Hazelwood returned to last on lap 11.

Hazelwood held last until lap 17 when Golding went off, dropping him to last. Garth Tander in the #33 Wilson Security Holden fell to the rear with a right-rear tire failure on lap 19.

Rounding out the bottom five was Richie Stanaway in the #56 MEGA Bulk Fuels/Tickford Holden copped a pit-lane penalty for speeding in the pit-lane during his lap 20 pitstop, James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden, Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman/LG Super UHD TV Nissan and Jack LeBrocq in the #19 AUSPT Australian Post-Tensioning Holden.

The Bottom Five

Garth Tander	24 Laps	Running
Richie Stanaway	25 Laps	Running
James Golding	25 Laps	Running
Simona De Silvestro	25 Laps	Running
Jack LeBrocq	25 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver’s Name	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	James Golding	1	2	2
2T	Todd Hazelwood	1	1	3
2T	Simona De Silvestro	1	1	3
3T	Jamie Whincup	1	1	1
3T	Garth Tander	1	1	1
4	Richie Stanaway	0	4	4
5	Tim Blanchard	0	1	4
6T	Andre Heimgartner	0	1	1
6T	Lee Holdsworth	0	1	1
6T	Will Davison	0	1	1
6T	Craig Lowndes	0	1	1
7	Jack LeBrocq	0	0	2
8	Rick Kelly	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team Name	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Gary Rodgers Motorsport	2	1	3/2	3/2
2	Matt Stone Racing	1	1	1	3
3	Red Bull Holden Racing	2	1/2	1/2	1/2
4	Nissan Motorsports	4	1/4	2/4	5/4
5T	Preston Hire Racing	1	0	1	1
5T	23Red Racing	1	0	1	1
5T	Craig Lowndes Racing	1	0	1	1
6	Tickford Racing	4	0	4/4	4/4
7	Brad Jones Racing	3	0	1/3	4/3
8	Tekno Autosports	1	0	0	2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Nissan	4	1/4	2/4	6/4
Holden	14	3/14	8/14	12/14
Ford	8	1/8	5/8	7/8

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.