Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: Clash before the start leaves Declan Fraser last at Newcastle, even behind Courtney.

Saturday 11 March 2023

Clash before the start leaves Declan Fraser last at Newcastle, even behind Courtney.

Declan Fraser picked up the 1^st last-place finish of his career when his #56 Tradie Ford was involved in a 2-car crash that ended his race before it began. The finish came in Fraser’s 5^th start.

Declan Fraser is one of the rookies of 2023, having come through the ranks with Red Bull/Ampol racing. However, he jumped ship to Tickford for the 2023 season, replacing Jake Kostecki. He was 24th in all Practice sessions and Qualifying.

Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Chevrolet started the race in the rear, but while trying to overtake Cameron Hill in the #35 Truck Assist Chevrolet, made contact with Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet, and was turned into the pit wall, triggering a Red Flag. Since he didn't cross the start-finish line, Declan Fraser finished behind James Courtney in the #5 Snowy River Ford, despite Courtney crashing out of the weekend in the Shootout.

The remaining Bottom 3 would be a race-long battle. First into the pits was Anton De Pasquale in the #11 Shell V-Power Ford on Lap 10, then the following lap Scott Pye in the #20 Nulon Chevrolet pitted and fell behind Anton. Three laps later Will Davison was in the #17 Shell V-Power Ford fell behind Pye due to a long stop, where he would stay for 14 Laps before Jack Smith dropped behind Davison on Lap 28 during his pitstop.

The second round of pitstops started Lap 40, and Nick Percat in the #2 NTI Ford pitted and fell behind Davison. Then Anton De Pasquale would pit Lap 45 and drop behind Percat. Five Laps later Scott Pye in the #20 Nulon Chevrolet would pit and drop behind De Pasquale. Three laps after that Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet would pit and fall behind Pye.

Jones would remain last until just a few laps before the end of the shortened 89-lap race when Nick Percat in the #2 NTI Ford would pit for a 3^rd time and drop behind Jones. Cameron Hill in the #35 Truck Assist Chevrolet overran Turn 1 on Lap 76, plunging him to the Bottom Five.

The Bottom Five

Declan Fraser	0 Laps	Crash
James Courtney	0 Laps	Did Not Start
Nick Percat	87 Laps	Running
Macauley Jones	88 Laps	Running
Cameron Hill	88 Laps	Running

Driver Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1T	Declan Fraser	1	1	1
1T	Broc Feeney	1	1	1
2T	Nick Percat	0	2	2
3T	Shane Van Gisbergen	0	1	1
3T	James Courtney	0	1	1
3T	Tim Slade	0	0	1
3T	Jack Smith	0	0	1
3T	Macauley Jones	0	0	1
3T	Cameron Hill	0	0	1

Team Championship

Pos	Team	Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Red Bull/Ampol Racing	2	1/2	2/2	2/2
2	Tickford Racing	4	1/4	2/4	2/4
3	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	0	2/2	2/2
4	Premair Hire Racing	2	0	1/2	1/2
5	Brad Jones Racing	4	0	0	2/4
6	Matt Stone Racing	2	0	0	1/2

Manufacturer Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ford	11	1/11	3/11	3/11
2	Chevrolet	14	1/14	2/14	7/14

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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.