Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: May 2021

Monday 31 May 2021

Historical Last Place: Clutch drama leaves Davison last at Winton 2004

Will Davison picked up the 1st last-place finish of his career when his unsponsored #14 Team Dynamik Holden retired with Clutch failure after 1 of the race's 100 laps. The finish came in Davison's debut.

Greg Murphy in the #51 K-Mart Holden started the race in the rear, but at the end of Lap 1 Will Davison in the unsponsored #14 Team Dynamik Holden retired with a Clutch issue, leaving him last.

The race for the remainder of the bottom five was much more interesting, as Mark Skaife in the #2 Mobil 1 Holden, Marcos Ambrose in the #1 Pirtek Ford, both spun off and lost 18 and 25 laps respectively, and Craig Lowndes in the #6 Caterpillar Ford, who lost 21 laps with Engine issues looked to be in contention to fill spots, however, due to the nature of the rules of Supercars, they finished and were classified, so they avoided Bottom 5 finishes.

Paul Weel was next out, crashing out on Lap 49, securing 2^nd to last for him. Following Weel out was David Besnard in the #20 WPS Holden was the victim of a multi-car crash involving Mark Skaife in the #2 Mobil 1 Holden and Jason Bright in the #50 PWR/Chandlers Holden on Lap 54, destroying the nose of car #20 and ending his race.

Rounding out the bottom five was Max Wilson in the #888 Betta Electrical Holden after a Fuel pressure issue ended his race and Steven Johnson in the #17 Shell Helix Ford, who spun off late in the race at Turn 10.

The Bottom Five

Will Davison	1 Lap	Clutch
Paul Weel	49 Laps	Crash
David Besnard	54 Laps	Crash
Max Wilson	94 Laps	Fuel Pressure
Steven Johnson	95 Laps	Spun Off

Sunday 9 May 2021

Engine Misfire leaves De Pasquale last at The Bend

Original by Supercars, edited by me.

Anton De Pasquale picked up the 4th last-place finish of his career when his #11 Shell V-Power Ford retired with an Engine misfire after 3 of the race's 24 laps. The finish came in Anton's 99th start.

Anton De Pasquale is in his 4th full-time season and is a likely star of the future who has come into his own. He was 5th in practice 1, but plummeted to 25th in Practice 2. Then, he qualified on the pole.

Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden started the race in the rear, however early on Thomas Randle in the #55 Castrol/ACT Fence Hire Ford collided with Will Brown in the #99 Boost Mobile Holden, Brown suffered a flat tire and fell to the rear.

Not long afterwards, however, Anton De Pasquale's #11 Shell V-Power Ford suffered an engine misfire, on Lap 3, which he pulled into the garage for, retiring shortly afterwards, dropping to last.

Following Anton out was Garry Jacobson in the #22 Premair Hire Holden, who retired with Power Steering issues. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Will Brown in the #9 OzLand Group Solutions Holden, Kurt Kostecki in the #27 Mobil 1 Holden after a pit-lane penalty for speeding in the pit lane, and Jack LeBrocq in the #5 Truck Assist Ford after a last-lap off.

The Bottom Five

Anton De Pasquale	3 Laps	Engine
Garry Jacobson	11 Laps	Power Steering
Will Brown	23 Laps	Running
Kurt Kostecki	24 Laps	Running
Jack LeBrocq	24 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Driver	Car No.	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Macauley Jones	96	2	3	6
Anton De Pasquale	11	2	3	3
Garry Jacobson	22	1	4	8
Jack Smith	4	1	4	6

David Reynolds	26	1	2	3
James Courtney	44	1	2	2
Chaz Mostert	25	1	2	2
Bryce Fullwood	2	1	1	1
Nick Percat	8	1	1	1
Fabian Coulthard	19	0	3	7
Andre Heimgartner	7	0	2	2
Jake Kostecki	35	0	1	2
Cameron Waters	6	0	1	2
Scott Pye	20	0	1	1
Mark Winterbottom	18	0	1	1
Will Davison	17	0	1	1
Jack LeBrocq	5	0	0	3
Tim Slade	3	0	0	1
Zane Goddard	35	0	0	1
Will Brown	9	0	1	1
Kurt Kostecki	27	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Team	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Brad Jones Racing	4	4/4	8/4	13/4
Dick Johnson Racing	2	2/2	4/2	4/2
Walkinshaw Andretti United	3	2/3	3/3	3/3
Team Sydney	2	1/2	7/2	15/2
Kelly Grove Racing	2	1/2	4/2	5/2
Tickford Racing	4	1/4	4/4	7/4
Irwin Racing	2	0	2/2	2/2
Matt Stone Racing	2	0	1/2	3/2
Erebus Racing	2	0	1/2	1/2
Tim Blanchard Racing	1	0	0	1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Ford	9	5/9	11/9	17/9
Holden	17	7/17	22/17	38/17

First lap carnage leaves Macaulay Jones last at the Bend.

Original by Supercars, edited by me.

Macauley Jones picked up the 6th last-place finish of his career when his #96 Coca-Cola Holden was involved in a multi-car melee that ended his race after 1 of the race's 24 laps. The finish came in Jones' 90th start, and marks him as the first driver to finish last more then once in 2021.

Macauley Jones is the son of Brad Jones and is in his 3rd full-time season. He was 14th in Practice 1, but slid to 21st in Practice 2. He fell further to 17th in Qualifying.

Fabian Coulthard in the #19 Local Legends Heat Sauce Holden started the race in the rear,

Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy Ford and Chaz Mostert in the #25 collided, destroying the right-rear corner of Waters car, and the Left-Front of Mostert's car.

Immediately afterwards, David Reynolds in the #26 Penrite Oils Ford turned Nick Percat in the #8 RT Batteries Holden, where Macauley Jones in the #96 Coca-Cola Holden, terminally damaging Waters, Mostert and Jones, leaving Jones last.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was Fabian Coulthard in the #19 Local Legends Heat Sauce Holden after retiring late due to contact with Todd Hazelwood in the #14 TRG Transport/Scandia Holden, and David Reynolds in the #26 Penrite Oils Holden after the first lap melee.

The Bottom Five

Macauley Jones	1 Lap	Crash
Cameron Waters	1 Lap	Crash
Chaz Mostert	4 Laps	Crash
Fabian Coulthard	23 Laps	Crash
David Reynolds	21 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Driver	Car No.	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Macauley Jones	96	2	3	6
Jack Smith	4	1	4	6
Garry Jacobson	22	1	3	7
David Reynolds	26	1	2	3
Anton De Pasquale	11	1	2	2
James Courtney	44	1	2	2
Chaz Mostert	25	1	2	2
Bryce Fullwood	2	1	1	1
Nick Percat	8	1	1	1
Fabian Coulthard	19	0	3	7
Andre Heimgartner	7	0	2	2
Jake Kostecki	35	0	1	2
Cameron Waters	6	0	1	2
Scott Pye	20	0	1	1
Mark Winterbottom	18	0	1	1
Will Davison	17	0	1	1
Jack LeBrocq	5	0	0	2
Tim Slade	3	0	0	1
Zane Goddard	35	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Team	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Brad Jones Racing	4	4/4	8/4	13/4
Walkinshaw Andretti United	3	2/3	3/3	3/3
Dick Johnson Racing	2	1/2	3/2	3/2
Team Sydney	2	1/2	6/2	14/2
Kelly Grove Racing	2	1/2	4/2	5/2
Tickford Racing	4	1/4	4/4	7/4
Irwin Racing	2	0	2/2	2/2
Matt Stone Racing	2	0	1/2	3/2
Tim Blanchard Racing	1	0	0	1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Ford	9	4/9	10/9	15/9
Holden	17	7/17	20/17	35/17

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.