Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: Aaron Love last after lack of pace at Sydney Motorsport Park

Sunday 21 July 2024

Aaron Love last after lack of pace at Sydney Motorsport Park

Original by Aaron Love Instagram, edited by me.

Aaron Love picked up the 1st last-place finish of his career when his #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford finished under power on the lead lap in the final race at Sydney Motorsport Park. The finish came in Love’s 18th start.

Aaron Love is one of the rookies racing this year, running for the Blanchard Racing Team. Unlike Ryan Wood, Aaron Love has struggled, with his best result being 12th in the final race at Melbourne, but 3 top 15s this year. He was 13th in the only practice session but plunged to 21st in Qualifying.

Lochie Dalton in the #5 Fiducian Ford started the race in the rear and held last during the early stages. When the pit stop started on lap 12, Broc Feeney, driving the #88 Red Bull/Ampol Chevrolet, pitted and fell to last. On the following lap, Bryce Fullwood in the #14 Middy’s Electrical Chevrolet pitted and fell behind Feeney.

On Lap 14, Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet pitted and fell behind teammate Fullwood. Three laps later, Aaron Love in the #3 CoolDrive Distribution board pitted and fell behind Jones after a troubled pit stop.

Love held last for 21 laps until David Reynolds in the #20 Tradie Chevrolet pitted for the second time and fell behind him. Over the next three laps, three of the four Brad Jones racing cars would briefly inherit last, meaning all 4 BJR cars spent time in last place. Firstly, Andre Heimgartner in the #8 R&J Batteries Chevrolet pitted and fell behind Reynolds, then Fullwood fell behind Heimgartner the following lap and finally, Jaxon Evans in the #12 SCT Logistics Chevrolet fell behind Fullwood after pit stops. Two laps later, wildcard Logan Dalton in the #5 Fiducian Ford pitted and fell behind Evans. Finally, Love would pit for the 2nd time, dropping behind Dalton on Lap 45 and remaining last for the rest of the race.

Completing the Bottom Five was Logan Dalton in the #5 Fiducian Ford, James Courtney in the #7 Snowy River Caravans Ford, Macaulay Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet and Richie Stanaway in the #26 Penrite Oils Ford after stalling and then spinning his wheels in the pit-lane during his 2nd stop due to a Clutch failure.

The Bottom Five

Aaron Love	51 Laps	Running
Logan Dalton	51 Laps	Running
James Courtney	51 Laps	Running
Macauley Jones	51 Laps	Running
Richie Stanaway	51 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Ryan Wood	2	4	4
2	Jack LeBrocq	2	3	4
3	Brodie Kostecki	2	3	3
4	Anton De Pasquale	2	2	3
5	Aaron Love	1	6	10
6	Jaxon Evans	1	2	6
7T	Tim Slade	1	2	2
7T	David Reynolds	1	2	2
9T	Cooper Murray	1	1	2
9T	Richie Stanaway	1	1	2
11T	Matt Payne	1	1	1
11T	Will Brown	1	1	1
13	James Courtney	0	4	6
14	Thomas Randle	0	4	4
15	Cameron Hill	0	2	4
16	Cameron Waters	0	2	2
17T	Bryce Fullwood	0	1	3
17T	Nick Percat	0	1	3
19T	Mark Winterbottom	0	1	2
19T	Lochie Dalton	0	1	2
21T	James Golding	0	1	1
21T	Chaz Mostert	0	1	1
21T	Will Davison	0	1	1
24	Macauley Jones	0	0	7
25T	Andre Heimgartner	0	0	1
25T	Broc Feeney	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Erebus Motorsports	2	4/2	5/2	6/2
2	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	1	5/2	5/2
3	Shell V-Power Racing	2	2/2	3/2	4/2
4	Penrite Racing	2	2/2	2/2	3/2
5	Red Bull Racing	3	2/3	2/3	3/3
6	Blanchard Racing Team	2	1/2	11/2	15/2
7	Team 18 Racing	2	½	4/2	4/2
8	Premair Nulon Racing	2	1/2	3/2	4/2
9	Brad Jones Racing	4	¼	3/4	17/4
10	Tickford Racing	3	0	7/3	8/3
11	Matt Stone Racing	2	0	3/2	9/2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Chevrolet	15	9/15	20/15	40/15
2	Ford	11	7/11	28/11	35/11

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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.