Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: December 2021

Saturday 4 December 2021

Steering dramas leaves Pye and Golding last at Bathurst

Original by Supercars, edited by me.

Scott Pye picked up the 12th last-place finish of his career, while James Golding picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his career when their #20 DeWalt Holden retired with power steering dramas after 6 of the race's 161 laps. The finish came in Pye's 278th start and Golding's 75th start.

Scott Pye is in his 9th full-time season in the main game, while Golding spent 2 full-time seasons, but has three part-time seasons in addition. They were 16th in Practice 1 and stayed 16th in Practice 2. They rose slightly to 15th in Practice 3 and stayed 15th in Practice 4. They skyrocketed to 2nd in Practice 5, then plunged to 17th in Practice 6. They then rose to 13th in Qualifying.

Garry Jacobson and Dylan O'Keefe in the #22 Muscle Car Warehouse/PremAir Hire Holden started the race in the rear, but immediately David Wall, co-driver of Jack Smith, in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden fell to last.

End of Lap 2 saw James Golding, co-drive to Scott Pye, in the #20 De Walt/Nulon Holden went off at the chase, then pitted and fell to last with a Power Steering issue, dropping to last, losing 22 laps in repairs, but continued in and out of the garage, retiring on Lap 32.

Jack Perkins, co-driver to Will Brown in the #9 Shaw and Partners/WD-40 Holden blew their Power Steering on lap 29, dropping 14 laps in repairs. Next out was Jaden Ojeda, teammate to Zane Goddard in the #35 Yellow Cover Holden, after crashing at Skyline on lap 113, triggering the third safety car of the race.

Following Ojeda out was Anton De Pasquale in the #11 Shell V-Power Ford, stalling on the track with a Transmission failure, triggering the fifth Safety Car of the race.

Following Anton out was Broc Feeney in the #39 Supercheap Auto Holden crashed hard at Reed Park on lap 143, triggering the sixth Safety Car of the race. The final retirement of the race was Andre Heimgartner and Matt Campbell in the #7 NED Ford, who ran out of fuel on the final lap.

The Bottom Five

Scott Pye/James Golding	6 Laps	Steering
Zane Goddard/Jaden Ojeda	112 Laps	Crash
Anton De Pasquale/Tony D/Alberto	139 Laps	Transmission
Broc Feeney/Russel Ingall	142 Laps	Crash
Andre Heimgartner/Matt Campbell	159 Laps	Out of Fuel

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.