Repco Australia Superlastcar Championship: May 2024

Sunday, 19 May 2024

Overheated Engine leaves Brodie Kostecki last at Wannerroo

Original by V8 Sleuth, edited by me.

Brodie Kostecki picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his career when his #1 TFH Chevrolet retired with an Overheating Engine after 20 of the race's 55 laps. The finish came in Brodie's 104th start.

Brodie Kostecki, arguably the most talented of the Kostecki family, is in his 4th season of the Championship. He ran a few races for Kostecki Brothers Racing alongside his brother and cousin, but the rest of his races have been for Erebus Motorsports. 2023 saw Brodie Kostecki win the Championship for the first time, only for 2024 to start with Brodie Kostecki stepping away from Erebus Motorsports due to poor treatment by the team internally, which triggered a sponsor walkout and weeks of attacks by Brodie's manager, Peter Adderton. Todd Hazelwood would replace Kostecki for the first two rounds before Kostecki would return to Erebus Motorsports for the Taupo round, triggering Adderton to pull everything he could from motorsports. Brodie was 7th in Practice 1 but dropped to 12th in Practice 2. He fell to 16th in Practice 3 but jumped to 6th in Qualifying.

Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet started the race in the rear and held last in the early stages.

Lap 8 saw Jack LeBrocq in the #9 BIC Chevrolet spun out by Nick Percat in the #10 Bendix Chevrolet, sending him to last. Percat would cop a 15-second penalty for it, served at his pitstop, leaving Percat only one spot ahead of LeBrocq.

Pitstops started lap 16 with Mark Winterbottom in the #18 DeWalt Chevrolet, pitting and falling to last. Suddenly, Lap 21 saw Brodie Kostecki in the #1 TFH Chevrolet retire from the race with an Overheated Engine, dropping him to the rear of the field. Mark Winterbottom in the #18 DeWalt Chevrolet and Macauley Jones in the #96 Piza Hut Chevrolet rounded out the Bottom Five.

The Bottom Five

Brodie Kostecki	20 Laps	Overheating
Jack LeBrocq	54 Laps	Running
Nick Percat	55 Laps	Running
Mark Winterbottom	55 Laps	Running
Macauley Jones	55 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ryan Wood	2	3	3
2	Jack LeBrocq	1	2	3
3	Brodie Kostecki	1	2	2
4	Jaxon Evans	1	1	3
5T	Matt Payne	1	1	1
5T	Tim Slade	1	1	1
5T	David Reynolds	1	1	1
5T	Richie Stanaway	1	1	1
9	Aaron Love	0	3	5
10	Thomas Randle	0	3	3
11	Cameron Hill	0	2	4
12	Cameron Waters	0	2	2
13	Bryce Fullwood	0	1	3
14T	Anton De Pasquale	0	1	2
14T	James Courtney	0	1	2
16T	James Golding	0	1	1
16T	Chaz Mostert	0	1	1
16T	Will Davison	0	1	1
16T	Nick Percat	0	1	1
20	Macauley Jones	0	0	6
21T	Andre Heimgartner	0	0	1
21T	Broc Feeney	0	0	1
21T	Mark Winterbottom	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	1	4/2	4/2
2	Erebus Motorsports	2	1	3/2	4/2
3	Penrite Racing	2	2/2	2/2	2/2
4	Shell V-Power Racing	2	1/2	1	5/2
5	Premair Nulon Racing	2	1/2	1	3/2
6	Team 18 Racing	2	½	1	1
7	Brad Jones Racing	4	¼	2/4	12/4
8	Blanchard Racing Team	2	0	5/2	7/2
9	Tickford Racing	2	0	5/2	5/2
10	Matt Stone Racing	2	0	3/2	7/2
11	Red Bull Racing	2	0	0	½

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ford	10	5/10	18/10	20/10
2	Chevrolet	14	5/14	12/14	25/14

Saturday, 18 May 2024

Fuel Pump issue and crash leaves Stanaway last in Wannerroo.

Original by Fox Sports, screenshotted by me.

Richie Stanaway picked up the 5th last-place finish of his career when his #26 Penrite Oils Chevrolet finished under power, 11 laps down In the first race at Wanerroo. The finish came in his 78th start.

Richie is one of five drivers who started full-time in 2018. Internationally, Richie is the most well-known of the five drivers. Locally, Richie has been in and out the most. This year is only Stanaway's 2nd full-time season, his only other full-time season being his rookie year. He raced for Tickford Racing in 2018 and moved to Garry Rodgers Motorsport in 2019. However, his attitude would cause him to be benched twice during the season, and eventually, he would be let go in 2020. Stanaway would return for endurance racing in 2022 and 2023 before securing a full-time drive for Grove Racing in 2024. And he's done well this year, with 1 top 5 and 2 top 10's, and until today, no finish worse than 13th. He was 17th in Practice 1 and improved slightly to 16th in Practice 2. Stanaway then improved to 11th in Qualifying.

Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet started the race in the rear. However, on the warm-up lap, Jack LeBrocq in the #9 TFH Chevrolet stalled off the start with a battery issue, dropping him to last. LeBrocq would get going after the race began.

LeBrocq would hold last place until the end of lap 2 when Richie Stanaway in the #26 Penrite Oils Ford had a Fuel Pump issue coming out of the final corner. Immediately behind, Aaron Love on the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford ran into the back of Stanaway, sending the latter into the outside wall, causing significant damage to the front of Stanaway's car. Stanaway limped back to the pits, losing 9 laps in repairs.

Pitstops started Lap 23 with Thomas Randle in the #55 Castrol Ford, then David Reynolds in the #20 Tradie Chevrolet pitted on Lap 24. Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet was among another group of pitters on Lap 28, dropping behind Reynolds. Jaxon Evans in the #12 SCT Logistics Chevrolet pitted on lap 29 and dropped behind Jones. LeBrocq would pit on Lap 30 and fall behind Jones after getting muscled out of the way on Lap 33, and Love would drop behind LeBrocq after pitting on Lap 33. Brodie Kosetecki in the TFH #1 Erebus Chevrolet pitted on lap 52 and would lose a lap, anchoring him to 22nd.

Will Davison pulled into the garage on Lap 41 with an Engine issue, losing 8 laps in repairs. Rounding out the Bottom Five drivers were Aaron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford and Jack LeBrocq in the #9 TFH Chevrolet.

The Bottom Five

Richie Stanaway	44 Laps	Running
Will Davison	46 Laps	Running
Brodie Kostecki	54 Laps	Running
Aaron Love	55 Laps	Running
Jack LeBrocq	55 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ryan Wood	2	3	3
2	Jaxon Evans	1	1	3
3	Jack LeBrocq	1	1	2
4T	Matt Payne	1	1	1
4T	Tim Slade	1	1	1
4T	David Reynolds	1	1	1
4T	Richie Stanaway	1	1	1
8	Aaron Love	0	3	5
9	Thomas Randle	0	3	3
10	Cameron Hill	0	2	4
11	Cameron Waters	0	2	2
12	Bryce Fullwood	0	1	3
13T	Anton De Pasquale	0	1	2
13T	James Courtney	0	1	2
15	James Golding	0	1	1
16T	Chaz Mostert	0	1	1
16T	Will Davison	0	1	1
18	Macauley Jones	0	0	5
19T	Andre Heimgartner	0	0	1
19T	Broc Feeney	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	1	4/2	4/2
2	Penrite Racing	2	2/2	2/2	2/2
3	Shell V-Power Racing	2	1/2	2/2	5/2
4T	Premair Nulon Racing	2	1/2	1	3/2
4T	Team 18 Racing	2	½	½	½
4T	Erebus Motorsports	2	½	2	3/2
7	Brad Jones Racing	4	¼	2/4	11/4
8	Blanchard Racing Team	2	0	5/2	7/2
9	Tickford Racing	2	0	5/2	5/2
10	Matt Stone Racing	2	0	1	6/2
11	Red Bull Racing	2	0	0	½

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ford	10	5/10	18/10	20/10
2	Chevrolet	14	4/14	9/14	20/14

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.