Repco Australia Superlastcar Championship: Richie Stanaway out at Tickford. Why?

Sunday, 9 December 2018

Richie Stanaway out at Tickford. Why?

The news is official, Richie Stanaway is out at Tickford Racing. This wasn't unexpected, there were multiple reasons why this has happened, and in this article, I will attempt to explain why.

First though, the statement from Tickford.

"Tickford Racing and Richie Stanaway have elected to terminate their partnership, This decision is mutual, as team and driver believe it is best to part ways at this time.
Despite a challenging 2018 Supercars season, we think highly of Richie and wish him well in the next chapter of his career.
Tickford Racing’s 2019 plans continue to progress, and we look forward to announcing our driver line-up for the upcoming Supercars season in the coming weeks"

So why did Richie Stanaway lose his seat? Well, it's for several reasons, mostly around Stanway himself.

First: Ford
This is probably the main non-Stanaway reason why he's out. The team struggled, and this made it even harder for Stanaway to hit his Key Performance Indicators (He did have a Performance clause in his contract after all).

Secondly: Attitude
Let's face it, Stanaway. didn't quite have the attitude, and it showed a couple of times. The main one being his drifting action at Townsville, which was very silly, even if it did entertain the fans.
Also, it doesn't help when you and the engineer aren't communicating.

Thirdly: Team
Let's face it, Stanaway doesn't seem to get on too well with the team. He's bagged them in the past, including recently, and doesn't seem comfortable there.

Fourthly: Results
https://juniorgeneric.blogspot.com/2018/04/suspension-failure-leaves-stanaway-last.html

https://juniorgeneric.blogspot.com/2018/10/heavy-crash-leaves-stanaway-and-owen.html

25 Richie Stanaway 1214

Pos

Driver’s Name

Last

Bottom 3

Bottom 5

Richie Stanaway

When you finish just 13 points ahead of the driver who's driving for the slowest team in the field, for the factory team no less, something's wrong. Yes, Tickford did struggle this year, But Stanway especially struggled.

I think those are the four main reasons why Stanaway's out at Tickford. As to his replacement? Lee Holdsworth and Jack LeBrocq are apparently major candidates.

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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.