Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: February 2021

Saturday 27 February 2021

Courtney last after crashing out at Mt. Panorama

Original by Fox Sports, edited by me.

James Courtney picked up the 18^th last-place finish of his career when his #44 Boost Mobile Ford was involved in a single-car crash that ended his race after 9 of the race’s 40 laps. The finish came in Courtney’s 462^nd start.

James Courtney is a veteran of the sport, having been racing for 17 years. He was 9^th in Practice 1, but rose to 5^th in Practice 2. He slipped to 7^th in Qualifying, but held 7^th in the Shootout.

Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden started the race in the rear and held last until pitstops when it was exchanged between Jack LeBrocq in the #5 Truck Assist Ford on Lap 3, Zane Goddard in the #35 Yellow Clover Holden on lap 6 and Garry Jacobson in the #22 Premair Hire Holden on Lap 7.

Then, on Lap 9, disaster strikes for James Courtney in the #44 Boost Mobile Holden, after crashing heavily at the Cutting. Although he managed to limp his car back to the pits, he was done for the day, dropping to last.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was Fabian Coulthard in the #19 Local Legends Heat Sauce Holden had fuel filler issues during his first pitstop and had to pit again to get enough fuel in, dropping hin a lap down, Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden, Garry Jacobson in the #34 UNIT Holden and Jack LeBrocq in the #5 Truck Assist Ford, who suffered late in the race with cooling issues that were burning his feet.

The Bottom Five

James Courtney	9 Laps	Crash
Fabian Coulthard	39 Laps	Running
Jack Smith	40 Laps	Running
Garry Jacobson	40 Laps	Running
Jack LeBrocq	40 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Driver	Car No.	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Anton De Pasquale	100	1	1	1
James Courtney	44	1	1	1
Garry Jacobson	22	0	1	2
Macauley Jones	96	0	1	1
Fabian Coulthard	19	0	1	1
Jack Smith	4	0	1	1
Tim Slade	3	0	0	1
Cameron Waters	6	0	0	1
Jack LeBrocq	5	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Team	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Dick Johnson Racing	2	1/2	1/2	1/2
Tickford Racing	3	1/3	1/3	3/3
Team Sydney	2	0	2/2	3/2
Brad Jones Racing	4	0	1/4	2/4
Tim Blanchard Racing	1	0	0	1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Ford	8	2/8	2/8	5/8
Holden	16	0	4/16	5/16

Friday 26 February 2021

Hard crash leaves De Pasquale last at Mt. Panorama

Original by Fox Sports, edited by me.

Anton De Pasquale picked up the 2^nd last-place finish of his career when his #100 Shell V-Power Ford crashed out at the Cutting after 6 of the race’s 40 laps. The finish came in De Pasquale’s 89^th start.

Anton De Pasquale is in his 4^th full-time season and has a win to his name from last year. He was 8th in Practice 1, fell to 9th in Practice 2. He qualified fastest, then went 4th fastest in the Shootout.

Nick Percat in the #8 RT Batteries Holden started the race in the rear, but after being sent 3-wide at the Cutting on lap 1, Scott Pye in the #20 DeWalt Holden had contact with Andre Heimgartner in the #7 NED Ford, sending Pye to the garage, losing 2 laps in repairs, dropping him to last.

Percat would hold last until Lap 6 when Anton De Pasquale in the #100 Shell V-Power Ford crashed out at the Cutting, triggering the only Safety Car of the race and dropping De Pasquale to last.

Following De Pasquale out was Macauley Jones in the #96 Cooldrive Distribution Holden, after he pulled into the garage on lap 24 with Engine issues. Garry Jacobson in the #22 Premair Hire Holden retired eight laps later with Power Steering issues, while Tim Slade in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford smashed the wall at the entrance of Forest Elbow on lap 35, ending his race. Rounding out the Bottom Five was 2^nd place starter Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy Ford after losing 6 laps with Power Steering issues.

The Bottom Five

Anton De Pasquale	6 Laps	Crash
Macauley Jones	24 Laps	Engine
Garry Jacobson	32 Laps	Power Steering
Tim Slade	35 Laps	Crash
Cameron Waters	34 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Driver	Car No.	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Anton De Pasquale	100	1	1	1
Macauley Jones	96	0	1	1
Garry Jacobson	22	0	1	1
Tim Slade	3	0	0	1
Cameron Waters	6	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Team	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Dick Johnson Racing	2	1/2	1/2	1/2
Team Sydney	2	0	1/2	1/2
Brad Jones Racing	4	0	1/4	1/4
Tim Blanchard Racing	1	0	0	1
Tickford Racing	3	0	0	1/3

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Ford	8	1/8	1/8	3/8
Holden	16	0	2/16	2/16

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.