Multi-Car crash keep Blanchard in hunt for last-place championship at Newcastle

Original by Fox Sports, edited by me.

Tim Blanchard kept his hopes of a 2018 Virgin Australia LASTCAR championship alive when he picked up his 8th last-place finish of his career when his #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden was involved in a 3-car crash that ended his race after 41 of the race's 95 laps. The finish came in Blanchard's 165th start.

Tim Blanchard has been racing for 9 years, 6 of them full-time. He hasn't had much results, and he's simply a money ride. In his second-last race, he was slowest in Practice 1, but improved to 21st in Practice 2. In qualifying he picked up a fair bit of speed and qualified 13th.

Andre Heimgartner in the #7 Plus Fitness Nissan started the race in the rear and held it through the first few pit-stoppers, but at the end of Lap 2 James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden pitted and fell to the rear.

Golding held last until lap 19 when Richie Stanaway in the #56 Rabble.club Ford pitted, falling to the rear, a lap down.

Stanaway held last until lap 23 when Tim Slade in the #14 Freightliner Holden pits again, dropping to last.

Suddenly on lap 42, Fabian Coultard in the #12 Shell V-Power Ford crashed at turn 1, before being collected by Nick Percat in the #8 Timken Holden and Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden, the race over for all three drivers. With Blanchard behind Coulthard, Blanchard was declared last.

In the pitstops on lap 43, Craig Lowndes in the #888 Betta Electrical Holden crashed into the rear of Scott Pye in the #2 Mobil 1/Boost Mobile Holden, breaking the steering on Lowndes' car and sending him to the garage. Lowndes lost 5 laps in repairs and would eventually lose 7 laps over the rest of the race.

Rounding out the bottom five was Garth Tander in the #33 Wilson Security Holden, after contact left him with Bent Steering on lap 40, losing 5 laps in repairs.

The Bottom Five

Tim Blanchard	41 Laps	Crash
Fabian Coulthard	41 Laps	Crash
Nick Percat	42 Laps	Crash
Craig Lowndes	88 Laps	Running
Garth Tander	90 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver’s Name	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	James Courtney	4	5	6
2	Tim Blanchard	3	8	13
3	Michael Caruso	3	6	8
4	Todd Hazelwood	2	8	18
5	Richie Stanaway	2	7	12
6	Simona De Silvestro	2	3	11
7	Cameron Waters	2	3	5
8	Garth Tander	2	3	5
9	James Golding	1	9	11
10	Kurt Kostecki	1	3	4
11	Nick Percat	1	3	3
12	Jack LeBrocq	1	2	8
12	Macauley Jones	1	2	4
13T	Steve Owen	1	2	2
13T	Fabian Coulthard	1	2	2
14	Rick Kelly	1	1	4
15T	Jamie Whincup	1	1	1
15T	Chaz Mostert	1	1	1
15T	Alex Rullo	1	1	1
15T	Jack Perkins	1	1	1
16	Lee Holdsworth	0	4	10
17	Anton De Pasquale	0	4	6
18	Andre Heimgartner	0	4	4
19	Will Davison	0	2	3
20	Dean Fiore	0	2	3
21	Will Brown	0	2	2
22	Craig Lowndes	0	1	2
23T	Shane Van Gisbergen	0	1	1
23T	David Reynolds	0	1	1
23T	Mark Winterbottom	0	1	1
23T	Tim Slade	0	1	1
23T	Scott Pye	0	1	1
23T	Richard Muscat	0	1	1
24T	Jason Bright	0	0	1
24T	Jonathon Webb	0	0	1
24T	Will Brown	0	0	1
24T	Garry Jacobson	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team Name	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Walkinshaw Andretti United	4	5/4	5/2	7/4
2	Matt Stone Racing	2	1	5	10
3	Gary Rodgers Motorsport	4	4/4	14/4	16/4
4	Nissan Motorsports	8	8/8	18/8	32/8
5	Tickford Racing	8	5/8	11/8	18/8
6	Kostecki Brothers Racing	2	1/2	3/2	4/2
7	Brad Jones Racing	8	4/8	10/8	16/8
8	Tekno Autosports	2	1/2	2/2	8/2
9	Red Bull Holden Racing	4	1/4	2/4	2/4
10	DJR Team Penske Racing	4	¼	¼	¼
11	Preston Hire Racing	2	0	4/2	11/2
12	Erebus Motorsports	4	0	6/4	8/4
13	23Red Racing	2	0	2/2	4/2
14	Craig Lowndes Racing	2	0	1/2	½

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Nissan	8	6/8	15/8	29/8
Ford	12ish	9/12	13/12	22/12
Holden	32ish	17/32	59/32	94/32