Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: Late-Race Engine failure leaves LeBrocq last at Sydney Motorsport Park

Saturday 20 July 2024

Late-Race Engine failure leaves LeBrocq last at Sydney Motorsport Park

Original by Supercars, edited by me.

Jack LeBrocq picked up the 15th last-place finish of his career when his #9 Wake-Up Chevrolet retired with Engine failure after 47 of the race’s 51 laps. The finish came in LeBrocq’s 222nd start and is LeBrocq’s second last-place finish this season.

Jack LeBrocq is in his 7th full-time season and is one of the five drivers who came through in 2018 alongside Richie Stanaway, Anton De Pasquale, Todd Hazelwood and James Golding. Technically, Jack is one of only two drivers who have had a ride through his seven years, with Stanaway and Golding in their second entry into the main game, which Hazelwood was called up at the last minute to Erebus Motorsports to cover Brodie Kostecki after the latter stopped racing unexpectedly. Jack LeBrocq started at Tekno Autosports, then switched to Tickford Racing for 2020 and 2021, where he won his first race. LeBrocq then moved to Matt Stone Racing in 2022. In 2023, he won his second race before moving to Erebus Motorsports in 2024. LeBrocq was 16th in the weekend’s only Practice session and Qualified 20th.

Aaron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford started the race from the rear after steering issues ended his qualifying. At Turn 2 on Lap 1, Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet tangled with Mark Winterbottom in the #18 DeWalt Chevrolet, sending both off and Frosty to last. Frosty would pull into the garage the following lap with right-front damage, losing nine laps in repairs.

The race for the rest of the Bottom Five spread across the race. Pitstops began on Lap 13 when Brodie Kostecki in the #1 SS Signs Chevrolet pitted and fell to second last, then Tim Slade in the #23 Nulon Chevrolet pitted on Lap 14, then Aaron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford pitted on Lap 15, then James Courtney in the #7 Snowy River Caravans Ford pitted on lap 18. Macaulay Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet would wind up second last after depending on lap 25.

Jones would remain second last until lap 30 when Tim Slade in the #23 Nulon Chevrolet pitted for a second time and dropped behind Macca. After an early race spin, David Reynolds in the #20 Tradie Chevrolet pitted on lap 31 and fell behind Slade. Aaron Love would pit lap 33, followed by Lochie Dalton in the #7 Fiducian Ford after their second pitstop.

Just as it seemed like Frosty would finish last, Jack LeBrocq in the #9 Wake-Up Chevrolet suffered engine failure with four laps to go, ending his race and leaving him last despite completing more laps than Frosty. Completing the Bottom five was Aaron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford, Lochie Dalton in the #5 Fiducian Ford and James Courtney in the #7 Snowy River Caravans Ford.

The Bottom Five

Jack LeBrocq	47 Laps	Engine
Mark Winterbottom	41 Laps	Running
Aaron Love	51 Laps	Running
Lochie Dalton	51 Laps	Running
James Courtney	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	Jaxon Evans	1	2	6
6	Tim Slade	1	2	2
7	David Reynolds	1	2	2
8	Cooper Murray	1	1	2
9T	Matt Payne	1	1	1
9T	Richie Stanaway	1	1	1
9T	Will Brown	1	1	1
12	Aaron Love	0	5	9
13	Thomas Randle	0	4	4
14	James Courtney	0	3	5
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	James Golding	0	1	1
19T	Chaz Mostert	0	1	1
22	Will Davison	0	1	1
23T	Macauley Jones	0	0	6
23T	Andre Heimgartner	0	0	1
23T	Broc Feeney	0	0	1
23T	Lochir Dalton	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	2/2
5	Red Bull Racing	3	2/3	2/3	3/3
6	Team 18 Racing	2	½	4/2	4/2
7	Premair Nulon Racing	2	1/2	3/2	4/2
8	Brad Jones Racing	4	¼	3/4	16/4
9	Blanchard Racing Team	2	0	9/2	13/2
10	Tickford Racing	3	0	6/3	7/3
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	39/15
2	Ford	11	6/11	25/11	31/11

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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.