Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: August 2023

Sunday 20 August 2023

Feeney last after last-lap tangle with Reynolds at Tailem Bend

Broc Feeney picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his career when his #88 Red Bull/Ampol Chevrolet finished under power, on the lead lap in the final race at Tailem Bend. The finish came in Feeney's 57th start.

Broc Feeney is a prodigy of the series. His first race was Bathurst 2021 where he teamed up with Russell Ingall. Sadly he hit the wall at Reed Park late in the race, and DNF'ed.

He replaced Jamie Whincup the following year, and only scored one Bottom 5 appearance when he was involved in the Big One at Surfer's Paradise, and won the final race at Adelaide. Broc has continued to go from strength to strength this year with 3 wins and currently sits in the top 4 of the championship.

Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut/TMNT Chevrolet started the race in the rear, but Cameron Hill in the #35 Truck Assist Chevrolet battled with Macca for last.

Macca would anchor the field until pitstops began on Lap 5, where it cycled between Declan Fraser in the #56 Tradie Ford, then Tim Slade in the #23 Nulon Chevrolet after a poor pitstop on Lap 8, cycled back to Macauley Jones on Lap 11, then cycled to Mark Winterbottom in the #18 DeWalt Chevrolet on Lap 14.

Hanging over the race, however, was Bryce Fullwood, in the #14 Middy's ELectrical Chevrolet who was caught speeding in the pits and got a 15-second time penalty. With how close the field is these days, Fullwood was facing the real prospect of finishing last, as the entire field was within 30 seconds of each other, and everyone behind Fullwood was less than 15 seconds behind him. Mark Winterbottom in the #18 DeWalt Chevrolet would pit Lap 14 and drop more than 15 seconds behind Fullwood, who would be eventually relegated to 23rd.

On the final lap, however, David Reynolds in the #26 Penrite Oils Ford got into Broc Feeney in the #88 Red Bull/Ampol Chevrolet, putting him off the road and down to last. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Tim Slade in the #23 Nulon Chevrolet and Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut/TMNT Chevrolet.

Credit to Jack Smith for a 14th-place finish.

The Bottom Five

Broc Feeney	20 Laps	Running
Mark Winterbottom	20 Laps	Running
Bryce Fullwood	20 Laps	Running
Tim Slade	20 Laps	Running
Macauley Jones	20 Laps	Running

Driver Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Cameron Hill	3	5	7
2	Declan Fraser	2	7	11
3	Jack Smith	2	5	8
4	Chaz Mostert	2	2	2
5	Broc Feeney	2	2	2
6T	Nick Percat	1	4	5
6T	Tim Slade	1	4	5
8T	Todd Hazelwood	1	3	5
8T	Thomas Randle	1	3	5
10T	David Reynolds	1	3	4
10T	Jack LeBrocq	1	3	3
12T	Mark Winterbottom	1	2	3
12T	Cameron Waters	1	2	3
14	Shane Van Gisbergen	1	2	2
15T	Brodie Kostecki	1	2	2
15T	James Courtney	0	3	6
17T	Macauley Jones	0	2	7
17T	Matthew Payne	0	2	5
19	Will Brown	0	2	2
20	Anton De Pasquale	0	1	3
21	James Golding	0	1	3
22	Will Davison	0	1	3
23T	Bryce Fullwood	0	1	2
23T	Andre Heimgartner	0	0	2
25T	Scott Pye	0	0	2
25T	Zane Goddard	0	0	1

Team Championship

Pos	Team	Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Matt Stone Racing	2	4/2	9/2	10/2
2	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	3/2	6/2	7/2
3	Tickford Racing	4	4/4	13/4	24/4
4	Tim Blanchard Racing	1	1	3	5
5	Erebus Racing	2	2/2	6/2	6/2
6	Red Bull/Ampol Racing	3	3/3	5/3	6/3
7	Premair Hire Racing	2	1/2	5/2	7/2
8	Brad Jones Racing	4	2/4	8/4	18/4
9	Team 18 Racing	2	1/2	2/2	4/2
10	Penrite Racing	2	0	5/2	9/2
11	Dick Johnson Racing	2	0	2/2	6/2

Manufacturer Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ford	11	10/11	31/11	53/11
2	Chevrolet	15	12/15	35/15	57/15

Matt Stone Racing last again as Defending Superlastcar Champion Jack LeBrocq crunches to last at Tailem Bend

Original by Auto Action, edited by me.

Defending SuperLastcar champion JackLeBrocq picked up the 12th last-place finish of his career when his #34 Truck Assist Chevrolet finished under power, 4 laps down in the 2nd race at Tailem Bend. The finish came in LeBrocq's 191st start.

Jack LeBrocq was one of the 2018 "Elite 5" consisting of him, Anton De Pasquale, Todd Hazelwood, Richie Stanway and James Golding. Jack LeBrocq started part-time as a wildcard, first for Erebus Motorsport in 2015, Prodrive in 2016 and both Nissan Motorsport and MW Motorsport. LeBrocq debuted for Tekno Autosports in 2018 and stayed with them for 2 years before moving to Tickford Racing for 2 years where he would win his first-ever race at Sydney Motorsports Park after using a soft-soft strategy, and having moved to Matt Stone Racing where, after a torrid year, Jack would take out the last-place championship in a close battle with Scott Pye.

With the arrival of the Gen3 car came Matt Stone Racing's opportunity to move up the field. And move they did, with Jack LeBrocq taking out a victory at Hidden Valley, the 2nd of his career. He was 12th in Practice 1 but slipped to 15th in Practice 2 then qualified 13th.

Tim Slade in the #23 Nulon Chevrolet started the race in the rear, but quickly Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut/TMNT Chevrolet fell to the rear. At turn 6, a corner infamous for trouble, Jack LeBrocq in the #34 Truck Assist Holden was too ambitious into the corner. He spun into teammate Cameron Hill in the #35 Truck Assist Chevrolet, also collecting Will Davison in the #17 Shell V-Power Ford, Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy Ford and Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Chevrolet.

Damage from this incident would basically decide the Bottom Five, as Waters and Lebrocq pulled into the garage with rear suspension damage while Will Davison had to pit on Lap 3 to close an opening door and Smith would struggle to 21st. Waters finished 1 lap down while LeBrocq would lose 3 laps in the garage, then lose a 4th last with a pit-lane penalty for the lap 1 incident. The only driver not caught in the melee who finished Bottom 5 was James Golding in the #31 Nulon Chevrolet.

The Bottom Five

Jack LeBrocq	16 Laps	Running
Cameron Waters	19 Laps	Running
James Golding	20 Laps	Running
Will Davison	20 Laps	Running
Jack Smith	20 Laps	Running

The Bottom Five

Jack LeBrocq	16 Laps	Running
Cameron Waters	19 Laps	Running
James Golding	20 Laps	Running
Will Davison	20 Laps	Running
Jack Smith	20 Laps	Running

Driver Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Cameron Hill	3	5	7
2	Declan Fraser	2	7	11
3	Jack Smith	2	5	8
4	Chaz Mostert	2	2	2
5	Nick Percat	1	4	5
6T	Todd Hazelwood	1	3	5
6T	Thomas Randle	1	3	5
8T	Tim Slade	1	3	4
8T	David Reynolds	1	3	4
10T	Jack LeBrocq	1	3	3
10T	Cameron Waters	1	2	3
12T	Shane Van Gisbergen	1	2	2
12T	Brodie Kostecki	1	2	2
14	Mark Winterbottom	1	1	2
15T	Broc Feeney	1	1	1
15T	James Courtney	0	3	6
17T	Macauley Jones	0	2	6
17T	Matthew Payne	0	2	5
19	Will Brown	0	2	2
20	Anton De Pasquale	0	1	3
21	James Golding	0	1	3
22	Will Davison	0	1	3
23T	Andre Heimgartner	0	0	2
23T	Scott Pye	0	0	2
25T	Zane Goddard	0	0	1
25T	Bryce Fullwood	0	0	1

Team Championship

Pos	Team	Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Matt Stone Racing	2	4/2	9/2	10/2
2	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	3/2	6/2	7/2
3	Tickford Racing	4	4/4	13/4	24/4
4	Tim Blanchard Racing	1	1	3	5
5	Erebus Racing	2	2/2	6/2	6/2
6	Red Bull/Ampol Racing	3	2/3	4/3	5/3
7	Premair Hire Racing	2	1/2	5/2	6/2
8	Brad Jones Racing	4	2/4	7/4	16/4
9	Team 18 Racing	2	1/2	1/2	3/2
10	Penrite Racing	2	0	5/2	9/2
11	Dick Johnson Racing	2	0	2/2	6/2

Manufacturer Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ford	11	10/11	31/11	53/11
2	Chevrolet	15	11/15	32/15	52/15

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.