Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: May 2022

Saturday 21 May 2022

Mid-Race contact leaves Courtney last at Winton

James Courtney picked up the 19th last-place finish of his career when his #5

Snowy River Caravans Ford finished under power, 5 laps down in the final race at Winton. The finish came in Courtney's 505th start.

James Courtney is a veteran of the sport, in his 17th full-time season. He was 11th in both Practice sessions but slipped to 15th in Qualifying.

Nick Percat in the #2 NTI/Mobil 1 Holden started the race in the rear, but immediately Chris Pither in the #22 Coca-Cola Holden dropped to last.

Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden suffered significant bonnet damage at Turn 10 Lap 1, dropping him to last, a lap down, awkwardly parking at the entrance to Turn 2 to let the field past.

Lap 25 saw James Courtney in the #5 Snowy River Caravans Ford and Tim Slade in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford collide between Turns 1 and 2, damaging the Steering on Courtney's car and dropping him to last, losing 5 laps in repairs.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was Jake Kostecki in the #56 Tradie Ford, Jordan Boys in the #49

Dynamic Supplies/Joss Holde and Bryce Fullwood in the #14 Middy's Electrical Holden.

The Bottom Five

James Courtney	31 Laps	Running
Jack Smith	35 Laps	Running
Jake Kostecki	36 Laps	Running
Jordan Boys	36 Laps	Running
Bryce Fullwood	36 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Scott Pye	4	4	4
2	Jack LeBrocq	3	4	5
3	Garry Jacobson	2	3	3
4	Jake Kostecki	1	5	6
5	Jack Smith	1	4	7
6	Will Brown	1	4	4
7	Andre Heimgartner	1	3	3
8	Bryce Fullwood	1	1	5
9	Chris Pither	0	4	6
10T	David Reynolds	0	2	3
10T	Nick Percat	0	2	3
12T	Macauley Jones	0	1	3
12T	Chaz Mostert	0	1	3
12T	Thomas Randle	0	1	3
15T	Anton De Pasquale	0	1	1
15T	Will Davison	0	1	1
17	Lee Holdsworth	0	0	3
18	Brodie Kostecki	0	0	2
19T	Cameron Waters	0	0	1
19T	James Courtney	1	1	2
19T	Mark Winterbottom	0	0	1
19T	Jordan Boys	0	1	3
19T	Todd Hazelwood	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team	No.	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Team 18	2	4/2	4/2	5/2
2	Matt Stone Racing	2	3/2	4/2	5/2
3	Premair Racing	2	2/2	6/2	8/2
4	Brad Jones Racing	4	3/4	9/4	18/4
5	Tickford Racing	4	2/4	8/4	15/4
6	Erebus Racing	3	1/3	6/3	8/3
7T	Walkinshaw Andretti United	3	0	3/3	6/3
7T	Grove Racing	2	0	2/2	4/2
9	Dick Johnson Racing	2	0	2/2	2/2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	No	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Holden	18	13/18	28/18	52/18
2	Ford	9	2/9	11/9	23/9

Power Steering failure leaves Scott Pye last, and leading, at Winton

Scott Pye picked up the 18th last-place finish of his career when his #20 Nulon/Toyota Forklifts Holden retired with Power Steering issues after 18 of the race's 36 laps. The finish came in Pye's 297th start, and, with his 4th last-place finish of the year, puts him in the lead of the 2022 Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship.

Scott Pye is in his 9th full-time season, with 2013 being a nearly full season, missing only 4 races. Unreliability has been the major theme for his team, with two of those now coming from Mechanical issues. He was 5th in Practice 1 and dropped to 9th in Practice 2. He then plummeted to 19th in Qualifying.

Jake Kostecki in the #56 Tradie Ford started the race in the rear, but quickly Chris Pither in the #22 Coca-Cola Holden fell to the rear but got back past Jake Kostecki soon afterwards. By the end of Lap 1, Jayden Ojeda in the #27 Nobile 1/ECL Holden fell to last after going off at Turn 4.

Pitstops started on Lap 6 with Jordan Boys in the #49 Dynamic Supplies/Joss Holden pitting and dropping to last. followed on Lap 9 by Jake Kostecki returning to last in his pitstop. Jordan Boys then returned to last by lap 13.

Lap 13 saw Scott Pye in the #20 Nulon/Toyota Forklifts Holden slowing on track, dropping to last with Power Steering dramas, pulling into the garage on Lap 14, losing 5 laps in repairs. Pye would then retire on Lap 25, securing last place.

Following Pye out was Garry Jacobson in the #76 Subway Holden, who first pulled into the Garage on Lap 24 with Gearbox issues, losing 4 laps in repairs. then retired six laps later.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was Jordan Boys in the #49 Dynamic Supplies/Joss Holden, Chris Pither in the #22 Coca-Cola Holden and Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden.

The Bottom Five

Scott Pye	18 Laps	Power Steering
Garry Jacobson	26 Laps	Gearbox
Jordan Boys	36 Laps	Running
Chris Pither	36 Laps	Running
Jack Smith	36 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Scott Pye	4	4	4
2	Jack LeBrocq	3	4	5
3	Garry Jacobson	2	3	3
4	Jake Kostecki	1	4	5
5	Will Brown	1	4	4
6	Jack Smith	1	3	6
7	Andre Heimgartner	1	3	3
8	Bryce Fullwood	1	1	4
9	Chris Pither	0	4	6
10T	David Reynolds	0	2	3
10T	Nick Percat	0	2	3
12T	Macauley Jones	0	1	3
12T	Chaz Mostert	0	1	3
12T	Thomas Randle	0	1	3
15T	Anton De Pasquale	0	1	1
15T	Will Davison	0	1	1
17	Lee Holdsworth	0	0	3
18	Brodie Kostecki	0	0	2
19T	Cameron Waters	0	0	1
19T	James Courtney	0	0	1
19T	Mark Winterbottom	0	0	1
19T	Jordan Boys	0	1	2
19T	Todd Hazelwood	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team	No.	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Team 18	2	4/2	4/2	5/2
2	Matt Stone Racing	2	3/2	4/2	5/2
3	Premair Racing	2	2/2	6/2	8/2
4	Brad Jones Racing	4	3/4	8/4	16/4
5	Tickford Racing	4	1/4	6/4	13/4
6	Erebus Racing	3	1/3	6/3	7/3
7T	Walkinshaw Andretti United	3	0	3/3	6/3
7T	Grove Racing	2	0	2/2	4/2
9	Dick Johnson Racing	2	0	2/2	2/2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	No	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Holden	18	13/18	27/18	49/18
2	Ford	9	1/9	9/9	21/9

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.