Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: Crash while fighting for the lead leaves Matt Payne last at Albert Park

Saturday 23 March 2024

Crash while fighting for the lead leaves Matt Payne last at Albert Park

Original by Supercars, edited and screenshot by me

Matt Payne picked up the 1st last-place finish of his career when his #19 Penrite Oils Ford was involved in a 2-car crash that ended his race after 1 of 10 laps. The finish came in Payne's 34th start.

Matt Payne is in his 2nd full-time season after a standout year, which included a victory at the final race in Adelaide. Payne has continued his form into 2024 with back-to-back podiums at Albert Park. He was 2nd in Practice 1 but dropped to 6th in Practice 2. Payne then qualified on the pole.

Macauley Jones in the #96 Spongebob Squarepants Chevrolet started the race in the rear. After a multi-car incident at Turn 4, Andre Heimgarner in the #8 R&J Batteries Chevrolet was sent to the rear.

At the end of Lap 3, battling for the lead, Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy Ford bumped Matt Payne in the #19 at the second to last corner. Heading into the final corner, Payne attempts to block Waters. Payne and Waters make contact, sending both cars into the fence and out of the race. The crash left Payne last.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was Thomas Randle in the #55 Castrol Ford after struggling with Gearbox issues, Bryce Fullwood in the #14 Middy's Electrical Chevrolet after a late-race incident and Andre Heimgartner in the #8 R&J Batteries Chevrolet after being pushed off the road on the first lap.

The Bottom Five

Matt Payne	1 Lap	Crash
Cameron Waters	1 Lap	Crash
Thomas Randle	10 Laps	Running
Bryce Fullwood	10 Laps	Running
Andre Heimgartner	10 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ryan Wood	2	2	2
2T	Jaxon Evans	1	1	3
2T	Matt Payne	1	1	1
4	Thomas Randle	0	3	3
5	Aaron Love	0	2	3
6	Cameron Waters	0	2	2
7T	Cameron Hill	0	1	2
7T	Anton De Pasquale	0	1	2
9T	James Golding	0	1	1
9T	James Courtney	0	1	1
11	Macauley Jones	0	0	3
12T	Bryce Fullwood	0	0	1
12T	Andre Heimgartner	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	1	1	1
2	Shell V-Power Racing	2	1/2	1/2	2
3	Penrite Racing	2	½	½	½
4	Brad Jones Racing	4	1/4	1/4	7/4
5	Blanchard Racing Team	2	0	3/2	2
6	Tickford Racing	2	0	5/2	5/2
7	Matt Stone Racing	2	0	½	2
8	Premair Nulon Racing	2	0	½	½

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	bottom 5
1	Ford	10	4/10	12/10	14/10
2	Chevrolet	14	1/14	3/14	11/14

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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.