Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: April 2019

Sunday 14 April 2019

Defending LASTCAR Champ last after tire failures at the Island

Original by Supercars, edited by me.

Defending Virgin Australia LASTCAR Champion James Courtney picked up his 17th last-place finish of his career when his #22 Mobil 1/MEGA Bulk Fuels Holden finished under power, 2 laps down in the 2nd race at Philip Island. The finish came in Courtney's 412th start.

James Courtney has been racing full-time for 14 years, so he’s a veteran of the sport. He has one championship, and one Last-Place trophy, last year. He was 18th in opening Practice, but fell to 20th in Practice 2. Cpurtney then rocketed to 3rd in Practice 3, before slipping to 6th in Practice 4. However, getting 6th meant Courtney moved straight to the 2nd stage of Qualifying, where he made it to Round 3, and qualified 9th.

Jack LeBrocq in the #19 Truck Assist Holden started the race in the rear, but at turn 6 James Courtney in the #22 Mobil 1/MEGA Bulk Fuels Holden spun Todd Hazelwood in the #35 Daimler Trucks Gold Coast/iBet.com.au Holden, sending Hazelwood into the gravel, which he managed to recover from, and to the rear, 10 seconds behind LeBrocq

On lap 5 Mark Winterbottom in the #18 Irwin Tools Holden had an extended pitstop, dropping him to the rear. The following lap Courtney served his 15-second time penalty for the hit on Hazelwood during his first pitstop, dropping him to the rear. Courtney would go on to blow 2 more right-front tires during the race, finishing last overall.

Rounding out the bottom five was Richie Stanaway in the #33 Boost Mobile Holden and James Golding in the #34 Boost Mobile Holden, both with right-front tire failures later in the race, Macauley Jones in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden and Jack LeBrocq in the #19 Truck Assist Holden.

The Bottom Five

James Courtney	43 Laps	Running
Richie Stanaway	44 Laps	Running
James Golding	44 Laps	Running
Macauley Jones	45 Laps	Running
Jack LeBrocq	45 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Driver	Car #	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Garry Jacobson	3	2	4	6
Jamie Whincup	88	2	2	2
Macauley Jones	21	1	3	5
Rick Kelly	15	1	2	3
Shane Van Gisbergen	97	1	2	3
Richie Stanaway	33	1	2	3
James Courtney	22	1	2	2
Scott Pye	2	1	1	1
Cameron Waters	6	0	3	3
Jack Smith	4	0	2	2
James Golding	34	0	2	2
Jack LeBrocq	19	0	1	8
Scott McLaughlin	17	0	1	1
Lee Holdsworth	5	0	1	1
Todd Hazelwood	35	0	1	1
Anton De Pasquale	99	0	1	1
Simona De Silvestro	78	0	0	3
Fabian Coulthard	12	0	0	1
Mark Winterbottom	18	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Team	# Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Red Bull Holden Racing Team	2	3/2	2	5/2
Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	1	3/2	3/2
Nissan Motorsports	4	3/4	3/2	7/2
Garry Rodgers Motorsports	2	1/2	2	5/2
Brad Jones Racing	4	1/2	5/4	7/4
Tekno Autosports	1	0	1	8
Matt Stone Racing	1	0	1	1
Tickford Racing	4	0	1	1
DJR Team Penske	2	0	1/2	1
Erebus Racing	2	0	½	½
IRWIN Racing	1	0	0	1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Nissan	4	3/4	6/4	10/4
Holden	14	6/14	19/14	31/14
Ford	6	1/8	3/6	4/6

Saturday 13 April 2019

Whincup last for 2nd race in as many rounds after Lost Wheel at the Island

Original by Supercars, edited by me.

Jamie Whincup picked up his 10th last-place finish of his career when his #88 Red Bull Holden retired with a Lost Wheel after 11 of the race's 27 laps. The finish came in Whincup's 473rd start.

Jamie Whincup is a legend of the Supercars series. Essentially Supercars' Jimmie Johnson, Whincup has seven championships and one-hundred and thirteen race wins over a 15-year full-time career. He was 2nd slowest in Practice 1 but vaulted to 11th in Practice 2. Practice 3 looked promising, finishing 5th, but failed in Q1 to qualify 17th.

James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden started the race in the rear, but by turn 1 Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman Nissan had fallen to the rear, shortly followed to last by Macauley Jones in the #4 Cooldrive Distribution Holden.

On lap 2 Mark Winterbottom in the #18 Irwin Holden fell to the rear with tire damage after contact with Jamie Whincup in the #88 Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden at the last turn on lap 2. Then on lap 19 Winterbottom lost a right-rear wheel, dropping him to 21st, the second last car running.

Between lap 2 and lap 11 two drivers fell behind Mark Winterbottom. The first was Garry Jacobson in the #3 Rabble.club Nissan when he went off at turn 8 on lap 5, then James Courtney in the #22 Mobile 1/MEGA Bulk Fuels Holden fell to the rear when he and Tim Slade in the #14 Freightliner Holden suffered right-front tire failures at almost exactly the same time, likely from hitting something on the track. Courtney would finish between the DNF drivers and Winterbottom in 22nd.

Then on lap 11, catastrophe struck, and the last-place battle was over.

In his pitstop, Jamie Whincup in the #88 Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden didn't have his right-front wheel tightened properly in their pitstop. During the lap out, first the wheel nut, then the tire fell off his car, ending his race. Whincup would fall the last the following lap.

The race's other retirement was Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy Ford after a collision with Shame Van Gisbergen in the #97 Holden Red Bull Holden on lap 22, breaking the right-rear Suspension on Waters' car, ending his race.

Rounding out the bottom five was Jack LeBrocq in the #19 Truck Assist Holden.

The Bottom Five

Jamie Whincup	11 Laps	Lost Wheel
Cameron Waters	21 Laps	Suspension
James Courtney	26 Laps	Running
Mark Winterbottom	27 Laps	Running
Jack LeBrocq	27 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Driver	Car #	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Garry Jacobson	3	2	4	6
Jamie Whincup	88	2	2	2
Macauley Jones	21	1	3	4
Rick Kelly	15	1	2	3
Shane Van Gisbergen	97	1	2	3
Richie Stanaway	33	1	1	2
Scott Pye	2	1	1	1
Cameron Waters	6	0	3	3
Jack Smith	4	0	2	2
Jack LeBrocq	19	0	1	7
James Golding	34	0	1	1
Scott McLaughlin	17	0	1	1
Lee Holdsworth	5	0	1	1
Todd Hazelwood	35	0	1	1
Anton De Pasquale	99	0	1	1
James Courtney	22	0	1	1
Simona De Silvestro	78	0	0	3
Fabian Coulthard	12	0	0	1
Mark Winterbottom	18	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Team	# Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Red Bull Holden Racing Team	2	3/2	2	5/2
Nissan Motorsports	4	3/4	3/2	7/2
Garry Rodgers Motorsports	2	1/2	1	3/2
Brad Jones Racing	4	1/2	5/4	6/4
Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	½	1	1
Matt Stone Racing	1	0	1	1
Tekno Autosports	1	0	1	7
Tickford Racing	4	0	1	1
DJR Team Penske	2	0	1/2	1
Erebus Racing	2	0	½	½
IRWIN Racing	1	0	0	1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Nissan	4	3/4	6/4	10/4
Holden	14	5/14	16/14	26/14
Ford	6	1/8	3/6	4/6

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.