Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: April 2018

Sunday 22 April 2018

Transaxle Failure leaves Courtney last at the Island

Original by Supercars, edited by me.

James Courtney picked up his 14th last-place finish of his career when his #22 Mobil 1/Boost Mobile Holden retired with a broken Transaxle after 5 of the race's 57 laps. The finish came in Courtney's 383rd start.

James Courtney is in his 13th full-time season in the main game. He was fastest in first practice but fell to 6th in 2nd practice. James Courtney fell slightly in Qualifying and lined up 7th.

Continued Front End issues left Nick Percat in the #8 Coregas Holden in the rear after qualifying, However, by turn 4 first Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden, then Todd Hazelwood in the #35 BigMate Holden fell to the rear. Soon Blanchard retruned to last. After going off at turn 8, Richie Stanaway in the #56 MEGA Bulk Fuels Ford fell to the rear. When Simona De Silvestro in the #78 - Nissan pitted on lap 5, she dropped to the rear.

Disaster strikes for James Courtney in the #25 - Holden, Transaxle failure on lap 6 droped him to the rear and out of the race.

Next to pull into the garage was Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden, who pulled into the garage on lap 36 with a broken front splitter mount, dropping 3 laps in repairs. Holdsworth returned to the garage on lap 47, dropping another 7 laps.

Rounding out the bottom five was Todd Hazelwood in the #35 BigMate Ford, Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden and Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman/LG Super UHD TV Nissan.

The Bottom Five

James Courtney	5 Laps	Transaxle
Lee Holdsworth	46 Laps	Running
Todd Hazelwood	57 Laps	Running
Tim Blanchard	57 Laps	Running
Simona De Silvestro	57 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver’s Name	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Richie Stanaway	1	6	6
2	James Golding	1	5	5
3	Todd Hazelwood	1	3	6
4	James Courtney	1	2	2
5	Simona De Silvestro	1	1	6
6	Rick Kelly	1	1	2
7T	Jamie Whincup	1	1	1
7T	Garth Tander	1	1	1
7T	Chaz Mostert	1	1	1
7T	Nick Percat	1	1	1
8	Lee Holdsworth	0	2	5
9	Tim Blanchard	0	1	5
10	Will Davison	0	1	2
11T	Andre Heimgartner	0	1	1
11T	Craig Lowndes	0	1	1
11T	Shane Van Gisbergen	0	1	1
11T	Michael Caruso	0	1	1
12	Jack LeBrocq	0	0	2
13	Cameron Waters	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

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

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Nissan	4	2/4	4/4	10/4
Ford	8	3/8	9/8	14/8
Holden	14	5/14	17/14	24/14

Front Splitter problems leaves Percat last at the Island

Original by Supercars, edited by me.

Nick Percat picked up his 10th last-place finish of his career when his #8 Coregas Holden finished under power, 12 laps down in the first race at Philip Island. The finish came in Percat's 143rd start.

Nick Percat is in his 5th full-time season in the main game. He ran 6th in the first practice, then improved to 5th in the second practice. He fell back in Qualifying and lined up 12th.

After being excluded from qualifying for an excessively angled rear wing, Fabian Coulthard in the #12 Shell V-Power Ford started the race in the rear. However, by turn 1 Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden had fallen to the rear. By the end of lap 1 Michael Caruso in the #23 Nissan Nismo Nissan went to the pit-lane, dropping to the rear. On Lap 3 Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden pitted, dropping him to the rear. Holdsworth would hold last until lap 13 when Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden pitted, falling to the rear, and down a lap. Additional pitstops would eventually give Blanchard his lap back, and Jack LeBrocq in the #19 Tour de Cure/Riding to Cure Cancer Holden fell to the rear, followed by Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman/LG Super UHD TV Nissan. James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden dropped to last after he copped a 15 second time penalty after contact with Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman/LG Super UHD TV Nissan, which he served at his pitstop on lap 19.

Trouble struck Nick Percat on lap 31, a front splitter issue forcing Percat to pit on lap 31, the replacement taking so long that it dropped Percat to last. Golding fell back to last on lap 35. Percat then pitted again on lap 42 with mechanical dramas, dropping him to the rear, dropping 12 laps in repairs.

Rounding out the bottom five was Todd Hazelwood in the #35 Bigmate Ford, Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman/LG Super UHD TV Nissan and Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden.

The Bottom Five

Nick Percat	45 Laps	Running
James Golding	50 Laps	Running
Todd Hazelwood	57 Laps	Running
Simona De Silvestro	57 Laps	Running
Lee Holdsworth	57 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

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

Team’s Championship

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

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Nissan	4	2/4	4/4	9/4
Ford	8	3/8	8/8	13/8
Holden	14	4/14	15/14	21/14

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.