Repco Australia Superlastcar Championship: Mechanical Black Flag helps leave Aaron Love last at Sydney Motorsport Park

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

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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.