Repco Australia Superlastcar Championship: February 2025

Sunday, 23 February 2025

Mechanical Black Flag helps leave Aaron Love last at Sydney Motorsport Park

Original by Supercars, Screenshot and Crop by me

Aaron Love picked up the 2^nd last-place finish of his career when his #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford finished under power, 1 lap down in the final race at Sydney Motorsports Park in a full-race contest. The finish came in Love’s 29^th start.

Aaron Love is into his 2^nd full-time season with the Blanchard Racing Team, having had a very up-and-down rookie year. This weekend, however, he was known for crashing into teammate James Courtney in the #7 Snowy River Caravans Ford as the field went out for qualifying, for which he was penalised. He impressed with 4^th in Practice 1, then plunged to 24^th in Qualifying.

Cameron Crick in the #35 Doomer/HVAC Chevrolet started the race in the rear. In an eventful first lap, four drivers would share last place. First was James Courtney in the #7 Snowy River Caravans Ford after Cooper Murray escorted him wide in the #99 Chiko Chevrolet. By Turn 6 Crick had returned to last, only for Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet to fall to last place two corners later, followed by Aaron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford at the end of Lap 1. Love would hold last place during the early stages of the race.

Pitstops started on Lap 10 and there were more changes for last place. First was James Courtney in the #7 Snowy River Caravans Ford on Lap 10, followed by Richie Stanaway in the #62 Nulon Chevrolet on Lap 12, Nick Percat in the #10 Bendix Chevrolet on Lap 14, Jaxon Evans in the #12 SCT Logistics Chevrolet on Lap 15, Aaron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford on Lap 18 and Macauley Jones in the #96 Pizza Hut Chevrolet on Lap 22. With that, all the pitstops had been completed.

Macauley Jones would use fresher tyres to race down Aaron Love and pass him on Lap 28. The second rounds of pitstops start on Lap 32 with James Courtney in the #7 Snowy River Caravans Ford pitted and falling to last, followed by Ryan Wood in the #2 Mobile 1/Truck Assist Ford on Lap 33, David Reynolds in the #20 Tradie Energy Chevrolet on Lap 35, Aaron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford on Lap 36, and Aaron Love falls back to last on Lap 37.

Lap 38 saw Cameron Hill in the #4 Supa Glass Chevrolet take a fuel can with him during the pitstop, which had to be retrieved at the end of the pitlane, sending Hill to last. Cameron Crick would pit and fall to last place on Lap 38.

To mix things up a bit, rain started to fall on Lap 40, and Aaron Love would fall to last on Lap 41 with damage to the rear of his car. Cooper Murray would tangle with Broc Feeney in the #88 Red Bull/Ampol Chevrolet, costing Feeney a spot to Chaz Mostert in the #25 Mobile 1/Optus Ford. Cooper Murray would cop a penalty for the collision with Broc Feeney when combined with his pitstop on Lap 42, but his last-place time would be brief, as Aaron Love would cop a Mechanical Black Flag for loose bodywork on Lap 43, sending him to last, where he would remain for the rest of the race.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was Cameron Crick in the #35 Doomer/HVAC Chevrolet after a last-lap slide off the road, Cooper Murray in the #99 Chiko Chevrolet, David Reynolds in the #20 Tradie Chevrolet and Cameron Hill in the #4 Supa Glass Chevrolet.

The Bottom Five

Aaron Love	51 Laps	Running
Cameron Crick	52 Laps	Running
Cooper Murray	52 Laps	Running
David Reynolds	52 Laps	Running
Cameron Hill	52 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1T	Richie Stanaway	1	2	2
1T	Aaron Love	1	2	2
1T	Cameron Crick	1	2	2
4	Will Davison	0	1	2
5T	Kai Allen	0	1	1
5T	Cooper Murray	0	1	1
7	David Reynolds	0	0	2
8T	James Golding	0	0	1
8T	Nick Percat	0	0	1
8T	Cameron Hill	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Nulon Racing	2	1/2	2/2	3/2
2	Blanchard Racing Team	2	1/2	2/2	2/2
3	Matt Stone Racing	3	1/3	2/3	4/3
4	Dick Johnson Racing	2	0	1/2	2/2
5T	Grove Racing	2	0	1/2	1/2
5T	Erebus Motorsports	2	0	1/2	1/2
7T	Tradie Racing	2	0	0	1/2
7T	Team 18	2	0	0	1/2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Chevrolet	15	2/15	515	8/15
2	Ford	10	1/10	4/10	5/10

Saturday, 22 February 2025

Engine failure leaves Stanaway last at the Sydney Motorsport Park

Original by Speedcafe, cropped by me.

Richie Stanaway picked up his 7th last-place finish of his career when his #62 Isuzu Trucks/Nulon Chevrolet retired with Engine failure after 8 of the race's 52 laps. The finish came in Stanway's 173rd 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. After being let go for Kai Allen for 2025, Stanaway got a lifeline at Nulon Racing for 2025. He was 13th in Practice but fell to 19th in Qualifying.

David Reynolds in the #20 Tradie/Toyota Forklifts Chevrolet started the race at pit exit because of a crack in the fuel seal and held last initially, ten seconds behind James Golding in the #31 Nulon Chevrolet, despite the latter being spun in Turn 2 by Jaxon Evans in the #12 SCT Logistics Chevrolet, pushed into Golding by Nick Percat in the #10 Bendix Chevrolet. At turn 7 there was contact between Araron Love in the #3 Cooldrive Distribution Ford and Kai Allen in the #26 Pentire Oils Ford sent both cars into the sand, puncturing the right-front tyre on Allen's car, dropping him to last, over 40 seconds behind Reynolds.

Lap 8 saw Richie Stanaway in the #62 Isuzu Trucks/Nulon Chevrolet stop at Turn 3 with a Mechanical fire, ending his race and leaving him last.

The Bottom Five would switch around a lot during the remainder of the race owing to several penalties, including Kai Allen in the #26 Penrite Oils Ford who would finish 23^rd, Will Davison in the #17 Shell V-Power Ford finished 24^th after a Fuel Sensor issue, David Reynolds in the #20 Tradie/Toyota Forklifts Chevrolet and Nick Percat in the #10 Bendix Chevrolet, who also copped a penalty for bumping Jaxon Evans into James Golding.

Jaxon Evans finished 10^th.

The Bottom Five

Richie Stanaway	7 Laps	Engine
Will Davison	51 Laps	Running
Kai Allen	52 Laps	Running
David Reynolds	52 Laps	Running
Nick Percat	52 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Richie Stanaway	1	2	2
2	Cameron Crick	1	1	1
3	Will Davison	0	1	2
4T	Aaron Love	0	1	1
4T	Kai Allen	0	1	1
6T	James Golding	0	0	1
6T	David Reynolds	0	0	1
6T	Nick Percat	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Nulon Racing	2	1/2	2/2	3/2
2	Matt Stone Racing	3	1/3	1/3	2/3
3	Dick Johnson Racing	2	0	1/2	2/2
4T	Blanchard Racing Team	2	0	1/2	1/2
4T	Grove Racing	2	0	1/2	1/2
6	Tradie Racing	2	0	0	1/2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Chevrolet	15	2/15	3/15	6/15
2	Ford	10	0/10	3/10	4/10

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.