Repco Australia Superlastcar Championship

Sunday, 6 May 2018

Wheel Hub failure leaves Caruso last in Perth

Original by Nissan Nismo on Twitter, edited by me.

Michael Caruso picked up his 8th last-place finish of his career when his #23 Drive.com.au/Auto Glym Nissan finished under power, 15 laps down in the second race at Barbagallo. The finish came in Caruso's 326th start.

Michael Caruso is in his 11th full-time season in the Supercars. He was 7th in Practice 1, fell to 12th in Practice 2, fell further to 19th in Practice 3, but leapt to 11th in Practice 4. Caruso then improved further to qualify 8th.

Garth Tander in the #33 Wilson Security Holden started the race in the rear, but by turn 1 Craig Lowndes in the #888 Autobahn/STAR Holden. fell to the rear. Suddenly on the back

Coming out of turn 5 there was contact involving Scott Pye in the #2 SP Tools/Boost Mobile Holden, Fabian Coulthard in the #12 Shell V-Power Ford, Mark Winterbottom in the #5 Bottle-O Ford and Richie Stanaway in the #56 MEGA Bulk Fuels Ford. The incident left Pye spinning back to the rear.

Coming out of turn 6 Michael Caruso in the #23 Drive.com.au/Auto Glym Nissan attempted to pass Will Davison in the #400 - Holden, damaging the Wheel Hub on Caruso's car, sending Caruso to the garage and dropping him to the rear, losing 13 laps in repairs.

On lap 6 Garth Tander in the #33 Wilson Security Holden contacted James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden, pushing him into the back of Todd Hazelwood in the #35 BigMate Ford, causing Golding to spin into the sand, triggering the first safety car of the race, eventually droppinbg Golding 6 laps down.

Rounding out the bottom five was Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden after a cross-threaded wheel nut led to a right-rear tire lost on lap 58, Anton De Pasquale in the #99 Thermosphere Climate Technologies Holden after multiple off-road excursions early in the race and Todd Hazelwood in the #35 BigMate Ford.

The Bottom Five

Michael Caruso	68 Laps	Running
James Golding	75 Laps	Running
Tim Blanchard	81 Laps	Running
Anton De Pasquale	82 Laps	Running
Todd Hazelwood	82 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver’s Name	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1T	Richie Stanaway	1	6	7
1T	James Golding	1	6	7
3T	Todd Hazelwood	1	3	7
3T	Tim Blanchard	1	3	7
5	James Courtney	1	2	2
6	Simona De Silvestro	1	1	6
7	Rick Kelly	1	1	2
8T	Jamie Whincup	1	1	1
8T	Garth Tander	1	1	1
8T	Chaz Mostert	1	1	1
8T	Nick Percat	1	1	1
8T	Michael Caruso	1	1	1
9	Lee Holdsworth	0	2	5
10	Andre Heimgartner	0	2	2
11	Will Davison	0	1	2
12T	Craig Lowndes	0	1	1
12T	Shane Van Gisbergen	0	1	1
12T	Michael Caruso	0	1	1
13	Jack LeBrocq	0	0	2
14T	Cameron Waters	0	0	1
14T	Anton De Pasquale	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team Name	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Gary Rodgers Motorsport	2	1	7/2	8/2
2	Matt Stone Racing	1	1	3	7
3	Tickford Racing	4	2/4	7/4	9/4
4	Nissan Motorsports	4	3/4	6/4	12/4
5T	Brad Jones Racing	3	2/3	4/3	8/3
5T	Red Bull Holden Racing	2	1/2	2/2	2/2
7T	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	1/2	2/2	2/2
7T	Preston Hire Racing	1	0	3	6
8	23Red Racing	1	0	1	2
9	Craig Lowndes Racing	1	0	1	1
10	Tekno Autosports	1	0	0	2
11	Erebus Motorsports	2	0	0	1/2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Nissan	4	3/4	6/4	12/4
Ford	8	3/8	9/8	16/8
Holden	14	6/14	21/14	30/14

Unknown failure leaves Blanchard last at Barbagallo.

Original by Zimbio

Tim Blanchard picked up his 6th last-place finish of his career when his #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden retired for unknown reasons after 48 of the race's 50 laps. The finish came in Blanchard's 145th start.

Tim Blanchard is in his 5th full-time season in the Supercars.. He finished 20th in first practice, fell to 22nd in second practice, but improved to 16th in third practice. Blanchard qualified 24th.

Rick Kelly in the #15 Sengled Nissan started the race in the rear after an engine issue in Qualifying, however by turn 1 Todd Hazelwood in the #35 Bigmate Ford fell to the rear. At turn 5 Andre Heimgartner in the #7 Plus Fitness Nissan fell to the rear.

On lap 11 James Courtney in the #25 Boost Holden was spun out by Garth Tander in the #33 Wilson Security Holden, dropping Courtney to the rear during his subsequent pitstoip.

Courtney held last until lap 16 when Rick Kelly in the #15 Sengled Nissan pitted, falling to the rear in the process. Heimgartner pitted on lap 18 and fell to the rear in the process. Briefly, Hazelwood re-took last but got back past Heimgartner shortly afterward on lap 23.

Heimgartner held last until lap 24 when James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden pitted, dropping him to the rear.

Golding held last until lap 28 when Stanaway pitted, dropping him to the rear, and held last until lap 31 when Courtney pitted again, dropping him to the rear. Soon, Heimgartner returned to the rear.

Heimgartner held last until lap 48 when Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden suddenly retired on lap 48 for unknown reasons, dropping him to last.

Rounding out the bottom five was Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden, Richie Stanaway in the #56 MEGA Bulk Fuels Ford and James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden.

The Bottom Five

Tim Blanchard	48 Laps	Unknown
Andre Heimgartner	49 Laps	Running
Lee Holdsworth	50 Laps	Running
Richie Stanaway	50 Laps	Running
James Golding	50 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Pos	Driver’s Name	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Richie Stanaway	1	6	7
2	James Golding	1	5	6
3	Todd Hazelwood	1	3	6
4	Tim Blanchard	1	2	6
5	James Courtney	1	2	2
6	Simona De Silvestro	1	1	6
7T	Rick Kelly	1	1	2
7T	Jamie Whincup	1	1	1
7T	Garth Tander	1	1	1
7T	Chaz Mostert	1	1	1
8	Nick Percat	1	1	1
9	Lee Holdsworth	0	2	5
10	Andre Heimgartner	0	2	2
11	Will Davison	0	1	2
12T	Craig Lowndes	0	1	1
12T	Shane Van Gisbergen	0	1	1
12T	Michael Caruso	0	1	1
13	Jack LeBrocq	0	0	2
14	Cameron Waters	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Pos	Team Name	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
1	Matt Stone Racing	1	1	3	6
2	Gary Rodgers Motorsport	2	1	6/2	7/2
3	Tickford Racing	4	2/4	7/4	9/4
4	Nissan Motorsports	4	2/4	5/4	11/4
5T	Brad Jones Racing	3	2/3	3/3	7/3
5T	Red Bull Holden Racing	2	1/2	2/2	2/2
7T	Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	1/2	2/2	2/2
7T	Preston Hire Racing	1	0	3	6
8	23Red Racing	1	0	1	2
9	Craig Lowndes Racing	1	0	1	1
10	Tekno Autosports	1	0	0	2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Nissan	4	2/4	5/4	11/4
Ford	8	3/8	9/8	15/8
Holden	14	6/14	19/14	27/14

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.