Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: June 2024

Sunday 16 June 2024

First Lap mounting leaves Wildcard Cooper Murray last at Hidden Valley

The original was by Fox Sports, and I edited it.

Cooper Murray picked up the 1st last-place finish of his career when his #888 SuperCheap Auto Chevrolet finished under power, 5 laps down in the final race at Hidden Valley. The finish came in Murray's 2nd start.

Cooper Murray is running in Super2 in 2024. He has done a great job in the series, although not without controversy, as he was disqualified from a race at Wanneroo after turning Cameron McLoed into an ugly rollover during the race.

Aaron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford started the race in the rear, but Matt Payne in the #19 Penrite Oils Ford had to start from the pit lane after a Fuel Pressure issue. Andre Heimgartner in the #8 R&J Batteries Chevrolet was pushed by Nick Percat in the #10 Bendix Chevrolet into Cooper Murray in the #888 SuperCheap Auto Chevrolet, sending Andre over Murray, tearing up the entire right side of car #888. sending car #888 to the Garage, losing 5 laps in repairs. Murray would remain last for the rest of the race.

Aaron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Ford spun and fell to 24th.

Pitstops started Lap 17, and David Reynolds in the #20 Tradie Chevrolet pitted first. Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet pitted Lap 18 and fell behind Reynolds, split by Thomas Randle in the #55 Castrol Ford.

Andre Heimgartner in the #8 R&J Batteries Chevrolet, Ryan Wood in the #2 Mobil 1/Truck Assist Ford and Aaron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Ford all copped pit lane penalties for Safety Car breaches, which would leave them all in the Bottom 5. Rounding out the Bottom Five was James Courtney in the #7 Snowy River Caravans Ford.

The Bottom Five

Cooper Murray	42 Laps	Running
Ryan Wood	47 Laps	Running
James Courtney	47 Laps	Running
Aaron Love	47 Laps	Running
Andre Heimgartner	47 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ryan Wood	2	4	4
2	Brodie Kostecki	2	3	3
3	Jack LeBrocq	1	2	3
4	Jaxon Evans	1	1	4
5	Cooper Murray	1	1	2
6T	Matt Payne	1	1	1
6T	Tim Slade	1	1	1
6T	David Reynolds	1	1	1
6T	Richie Stanaway	1	1	1
10	Thomas Randle	0	4	4
11	Aaron Love	0	3	5
12	James Courtney	0	3	4
13	Cameron Hill	0	2	4
14	Cameron Waters	0	2	2
15	Bryce Fullwood	0	1	3
16	Anton De Pasquale	0	1	2
17T	James Golding	0	1	1
17T	Chaz Mostert	0	1	1
17T	Will Davison	0	1	1
17T	Nick Percat	0	1	1
21	Macauley Jones	0	0	6
22T	Andre Heimgartner	0	0	1
22T	Broc Feeney	0	0	1
22T	Mark Winterbottom	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Erebus Motorsports	2	3/2	4/2	5/2
2	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	1	5/2	5/2
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	Red Bull Racing	3	1/3	1/3	2/3
8	Brad Jones Racing	4	¼	2/4	14/4
9	Blanchard Racing Team	2	0	7/2	9/2
10	Tickford Racing	2	0	6/2	6/2
11	Matt Stone Racing	2	0	3/2	7/2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ford	10	5/10	22/10	25/10
2	Chevrolet	15	7/15	14/15	30/15

Friday 14 June 2024

More Engine issues leaves Brodie Kostecki last, and tied for the lead, at Hidden Valley

Original by V8 Sleuth. Edited by me.

Brodie Kostecki picked up the 4th last-place finish of his career when his #1 TFH Chevrolet retired with Engine issues without completing a single lap of the first race at Hidden Valley. The finish came in Brodie's 105th start and elevated him into a tie for the lead with Ryan Wood.

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. Unfortunately, Kostecki has had mechanical issues during his return and has failed to overtake Hazelwood in the points so far, and this round was no different, with persistent Engine issues limiting their time on the track. He was 17th in Practice 1 but improved to 11th in Qualifying, narrowly missing out on the Top 10 Shootout. Brodie would slip to 16th in Practice 2.

Aaron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford started the race in the rear. However, Brodie Kostecki in the #1 SS Signs Chevrolet stalled on the grid with Engine issues. Brodie attempted to escape the pits, but the engine wouldn't cooperate, ending his race.

The battle for 2nd last was more interesting, as Cooper Murray in the #888 SupercheapAuto Chevrolet was turned around at Turn 1 on Lap 8 by Jaxon Evans in the #12 SCT Logistics Chevrolet. Evans gets a 15-second time penalty for the hit.

Ryan Wood in the #2 Mobile 1/Trust Assist Ford pitted first on Lap 16, and he would hold the last car running spot until Evans pitted on Lap 24 and had to take his 15-second time penalty, dropping him behind Wood. Murray would pit on Lap 26 and drop behind Evans.

Lap 36 saw Thomas Randle in the #55 Castrol Ford and James Courtney in the #7 Snowy River Caravans Ford collided at Turn 5 as Randle attempted to move on Courtney. Randle mounted Courtney and damaged the wheels on both cars, but they could continue. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Cooper Murray in the #888 SuperCheap Auto Chevrolet and Jaxon Evans in the #12 SCT Logistics Chevrolet.

The Bottom Five

Brodie Kostecki	0 Laps	Engine
Thomas Randle	47 Laps	Running
James Courtney	47 Laps	Running
Cooper Murray	48 Laps	Running
Jaxon Evans	48 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1T	Ryan Wood	2	3	3
1T	Brodie Kostecki	2	3	3
3	Jack LeBrocq	1	2	3
4	Jaxon Evans	1	1	4
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	Thomas Randle	0	4	4
10	Aaron Love	0	3	5
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	2	3
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
21T	Cooper Murray	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Erebus Motorsports	2	3/2	4/2	5/2
2	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	1	4/2	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	13/4
8	Blanchard Racing Team	2	0	6/2	8/2
9	Tickford Racing	2	0	6/2	6/2
10	Matt Stone Racing	2	0	3/2	7/2
11	Red Bull Racing	3	0	0	1/3

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ford	10	5/10	20/10	22/10
2	Chevrolet	14	6/14	13/14	28/14

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.