Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: February 2020

Saturday 29 February 2020

OMFG! James Courtney splits with Team Sydney after ONE EVENT!

Holy shit, this is a shock announcement. After being unable to agree on the way forward, James Courtney has announced that he will immediately split from the team. At the moment, he has no plans for future races.

This was a shocking announcement, and I am really shocked about this. And, judging by all the reactions on Social Media, I'm not the only one. Something definitely had to happen to cause this. As to what, I don't know.

James Courtney will be looking for new opportunities, and I wish him luck in that, and having Boost Mobile on board will help.

Watch this space for updates.

Saturday 22 February 2020

Erebus Team-Mate Tangle leaves Scott Pye last at Adelaide

Original by Supercars, edited by me.

Scott Pye picked up the 14th last-place finish os his career when his #20 DeWault Holden was involved in a 5-car pileup that ended his race without completing a single lap of the 2nd race at Adelaide. The finish came in Pye's 223rd start.

Scott Pye is in his 8th full time season, and has had several massive crashes in his career. He was 17th in Race 1, then slipped to 20th in Practice 2 due to a crash. Out of Practice 3, he then qualified 16th.

Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden started the race in the rear after crashing in Qualifying, but by turn 1 Chris Pither in the @22 Coca Cola Holden fell to the rear. At turn 4 James Courtney in the #19 Boost Mobile Holden was pushed wide and dropped to the rear.

David Reynolds in the #9 Penrite Oils Holden collided with teammate Anton De Pasquale in the #99 Penrite Oils Holden at turn 9, spinning Anton out. In the resulting melee, Scott Pye in the #20 De Walt Holden made wheel-to-wheel contact with Anton, destroying the Suspension on both cars, and triggering the first Safety Car of the race. WIth Pye behind De Pasquale at the time of DNF, Pye was scored behind Anton, and was therefore last.

Next out of the race was Chris Pither in the #22 Coca-Cola Holden, after going off at turn 11, after contact with the wall at turn 8 on lap 11, triggering the only Safety Car of the race. Pither would pull into the garage, and retires shortly afterwards. The final retirement wouldn’t come until right at the end of the race when a charging Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 Red Bull Holden suffered Suspension failure on lap 75, ending his race.

Rounding out the top 5 was defending champion Garry Jacobson in the #35 Yellow Cover Holden, after collecting the fence on lap 19 after contact with Rick Kelly in the #15 Castrol Ford. Later on, on lap 36, Jacobson would lose 6 laps in the garage with Gearbox issues.

The Bottom Five

Scott Pye	0 Laps	Crash
Anton De Pasquale	0 Laps	Crash
Chris Pither	11 Laps	Crash
Shane Van Gisbergen	74 Laps	Suspension
Garry Jacobson	72 Laps	Running

Championship

Driver	Car #	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Garry Jacobson	#35	1	1	2
Scott Pye	#20	1	1	1
James Courtney	#19	0	1	1
Nick Percat	#8	0	1	1
Anton De Pasquale	#99	0	1	1
Chris Pither	#22	0	1	1
Bryce Fullwood	#2	0	0	1
Jack Smith	#4	0	0	1
Shane Van Gisbergen	#97	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Team Name	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Matt Stone Racing	2	1/2	1/2	2/2
Team 18	2	1/2	1/2	1/2
Team Sydney	2	0	2/2	2/2
Brad Jones Racing	4	0	1/4	2/4
Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	0	0	1/2
Red Bull Holden	2	0	0	1/2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer Name	No. Card	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Holden	16	2/16	6/16	10/16
Ford	8	0	0	0

Turn 8 crash leaves Defending Champion last at Adelaide

Original by Fox Sports, edited by me.

Garry Jacobson picked up the 5th Last-Place finish of his career when his #35 Yellow Cover Holden was involved in a single-car crash that ended his race after 6 of the race's 78 laps. The finish came in Jacobson's 39th start.

Garry Jacobson is in his 2nd year in the Supercars full-time and is the defending LASTCAR champion for the Supercars series. He was 18th in Practice 1, then fell to 21st in Practice 2. He then returned to 18th in Practice 3, then qualified 19th.

Chris Pither started the race in the rear in the #22 Coca Cola Holden, but by Turn 1 Jack Smith's #4 SCT Logistics Holden fell to the rear after a bad start.

By turn 6 Todd Hazelwood in the #14 Plus Fitness Holden briefly fell to the rear, but Nick Percat in the #8 X Convenience Holden went wide at turn 7, up the escape road and fell to the rear. Percat then heads to the garage at the end of lap 1 with a Steering Rack issue, losing 9 laps in repairs. Percat went back to the garage on lap 68 with more steering rack issues, losing 4 more laps.

On Lap 6 Garry Jacobson in the entered the race for Last-Place when he crashed at Turn 8, and although he was able to limp back, he was next into the garage, and first out of the race. Jacobson fell to last on lap 15.

The only other retirement of the race came when James Courtney in the #19 Boost Mobile Holden suffered a Power Steering failure on lap 17, sending car #19 hard into the wall at Turn 8. Courtney dropped behind Fullwood on lap 21, then behind Percat on lap 26.

Rounding out the bottom five was Bryce Fullwood in the #2 Middy's Electrical/Mobil 1 Holden, after hitting the wall at turn 11 on lap 13, knocking the track bar, losing 5 laps in repairs, and Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden who had a troubled race. He missed the pit-lane on lap 47. Then got a pit-lane penalty on lap 51 for disobeying Blue Flags. On lap 64 Smith ran up the escape road at turn 7 and wiped the wall. He would eventually finish 2 laps down.

The Bottom Five

Garry Jacobson	6 Laps	Crash
James Courtney	16 Laps	Crash
Nick Percat	65 Laps	Running
Bryce Fullwood	73 Laps	Running
Jack Smith	76 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Driver	Car #	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Garry Jacobson	#35	1	1	1
James Courtney	#19	0	1	1
Nick Percat	#8	0	1	1
Bryce Fullwood	#2	0	0	1
Jack Smith	#4	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Team Name	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Matt Stone Racing	2	½	½	½
Team Sydney	2	0	½	½
Brad Jones Racing	4	0	¼	2/4
Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	0	0	½

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer Name	No. Card	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Holden	16	1/16	3/16	5/16
Ford	8	0	0	0

Sunday 16 February 2020

BREAKING: 2021 Virgin Australia Superfords?

So, the Holden name will be deleted forever at the end of 2020.
This is, of course, very sad, although it isn't unexpected, considering that Holden pulled out back in 2017.

Since this is happening, it looks like the Holden brand will also disappear from the Supercars grid next year, which would mean that, unless a new manufacturer is found, we could potentially have a one-make grid in 2020.

Holden has a long history, so it is had that it has been lost, but, considering the cars they made were rubbish, it shouldn't be a surprise that this has happened.

The job losses do hurt, however, and this isn't fun. But that's business, sadly.

The Superloop 500 is on this weekend, however, and I will be covering it as best I can, so look forward to it. Sadly, it'll be covered on my backup account, as I think my main account has been hacked.

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.