Repco Australia Superlastcar Championship

Sunday, 3 March 2019

Pit-Lane crash leaves Rick Kelly last at Adelaide

Original by Supercars and Fox Sports, screenshotted and edited by me

Rick Kelly picked up his 8th last-place finish of his career when his #15 Castrol Nissan finished under power, 16 laps down in the second, shortened to 71 laps, race at Adelaide. The finish came in Kelly's 523rd start.

The field returned to 24 after a miracle rebuild for Macauley Jones in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden.

Rick Kelly has been racing in the series since 2001, though his first full-time season was in 2002. He was 2nd slowest in Practice 1, and only slightly improved to 3rd slowest in Practice 2. Practice 3 only saw him improve to 19th, and Practice 4 saw him march up to 18th. He qualified a bit better and lined up 16th.

After Power Steering issues during qualifying, Mark Winterbottom in the #18 Irwin Tools Holden started the race last. However, at turn 4, Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman/LG Super UHD TV Nissan out-braked herself and went down the escape road, dropping her to last.

At the end of lap 1 James Courtney in the #22 - Holden pitted and fell to the rear. Courtney held last until lap 4 when Macauley Jones in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden pitted, falling to the rear.

Simona De Silvestro fall back to last on lap 6 after her 1st pitstop. Macauley Jones went to the garage on lap 7 with an electrical and fuel filler issue, losing 14 laps in repairs.

After Jack LeBrocq in the #19 Truck Assist Holden stalled at turn 11 on lap 27, triggering the first Safety Car of the race, there was chaos in the pit-lane and the last-place race was eventually decided.

Rick Kelly in the #15 Castrol Nissan was driving down the fast lane of Pit-Lane when he collided with Chazz Mostert in the #55 Supercheap Auto Ford, spinning Mostert and causing chaos in the pit-lane. The collision damaged the suspension on Kelly’s car, sending him to the garage on lap 31, the same lap Mostert was penalised. (Here is an article I wrote outlining why I think the penalty Mostert received wasn’t harsh enough). Kelly fell to last on lap 45 and returned to the track. Mostert eventually finished 15^th.

Splitting LeBrocq and Jones was Garry Jacobson in the #3 Rabble.club Nissan, who was spun into the wall by final bottom 5 position holder Fabian Coulthard in the #12 Shell V-Power Ford. Jacobson lost 4 laps in repairs, and Coulthard was given a drive-through penalty for his troubles. This combined with a lug nut problem earlier in his 2^nd stop left Coulthard the best of the bottom five.

The Bottom Five

Rick Kelly	55 Laps	Running
Macauley Jones	57 Laps	Running
Garry Jacobson	67 Laps	Running
Jack LeBrocq	68 Laps	Running
Fabian Coulthard	71 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Driver	Car #	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Scott Pye	2	1	1	1
Rick Kelly	15	1	1	1
Macauley Jones	21	0	1	1
Garry Jacobson	3	0	1	2
Cameron Waters	6	0	1	1
Lee Holdsworth	5	0	1	1
Jack LeBrocq	19	0	0	2
Fabian Coulthard	12	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Team	# Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	½	½	½
Tickford Racing	4	0	½	½
Tekno Autosports	1	0	0	2
Nissan Motorsports	4	1/4	1/2	¾
Brad Jones Racing	3	0	1/3	1/3
DJR Team Penske	2	0	0	½

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Holden	14	1/14	1/7	3/14
Ford	6	0	1/3	1/2
Nissan	4	1/4	1/2	3/4

Saturday, 2 March 2019

Pye pissed after Turn 7 crash left him last at Adelaide Superloop 500

Original by Supercars/Fox Sports, Screenshot and Edited by me

Scott Pye picked up his 13th last-place finish of his career when his #2 - Holden was involved in a 2-car crash that ended his race after 25 of the race's 78 laps. The finish came in Pye's 191st start.

Scott Pye has settled in pretty good to Supercars after an extremely rough first couple of years in Supercars. Pye was 10th in Practice 1 but leapt to 4th in Practice 2. Pye fell to 10th in Practice 3, then fell to 15th in Qualifying. Pye then finished 6th in Practice 4.

Anton De Pasquale in the #99 Penrite Holden started the race in the rear after crashing early in qualifying, however, before the first race, Macauley Jones in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden crashed heavily at turn 9 after Brake failure and was unable to compete in race 1, elevating Anton to Position 23.

Anton held last through the early stages, briefly trading last with Simona De Silvestro in the #78 - Nissan. In the first pitstop cycle on lap 10, Simona De Silvestro pitted, dropping to last, but passed Jack LeBrocq in the #19 Truck Assist Holden when Jack pitted on lap 15.

The last-place race heated up on lap 19 when Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy Ford pulled into the garage with a cool suit failure, dropping him to last. Waters would lose 14 laps.

While Waters was in the garage, more specifically on lap 26 when Lee Holdsworth in the #5 Bottle-O Ford crashed into the tyre wall at turn 7, was collected Tim Slade in the #14 Freightliner Holden and Scott Pye in the #2 Mobil 1/Mega Bulk Fuels Holden, sending Holdsworth and Pye to the garage. Holdsworth lost 6 laps in repairs, but Pye's car was too damaged to continue. Pye dropped to last on lap 41. For Holdsworth, to add further insult to injury, he cut a left-rear tire on lap 60, dropping even further back.

Rounding out the bottom five was Jack LeBrocq in the #19 Truck Assist Holden, and Garry Jacobson in the #3 Rabble.club Nissan.

The Bottom Five

Scott Pye	25 Laps	Crash
Cameron Waters	64 Laps	Running
Lee Holdsworth	72 Laps	Running
Jack LeBrocq	77 Laps	Running
Garry Jacobson	77 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Driver	Car #	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Scott Pye	2	1	1	1
Cameron Waters	6	0	1	1
Lee Holdsworth	5	0	1	1
Jack LeBrocq	19	0	0	1
Garry Jacobson	3	0	0	1

Tuesday, 26 February 2019

2019 Supercars: Many Milestones! Some other stuff too.

So, this is going to be a combination of the fact-facts article on Supercars, as well as my thoughts about the upcoming 2019 season.

So first off, there are many milestones that will be reached by drivers and tracks in 2019.

Firstly, and most importantly, the fourth race at Albert Park will be the 1000th race in Supercars history.

Secondly, the Adelaide 500 will be hosting its 20th events.

Thirdly, the Auckland Supersprint will be holding its 15th event. (this will be #14 as a championship round).

And, provided they don't miss any races for whatever reason, the following drivers will reach race milestones.

At the 1st race at Newcastle, Chazz Mostert will celebrate his 200th race start.

At the 2nd race at Tailem Bend, Fabian Coulthard will celebrate his 400th race start.

At the 1st race at Winton, Scott Pye will celebrate his 200th race start.

At the 2nd race at Symmonds Plains, Scott McLaughlin will celebrate his 200th race start.

At the 2nd race of the Superloop 500, James Courtney will celebrate his 200th race start.

At the 1st race at Hidden Valley, Tim Slade will celebrate his 300th race start.

At the 2nd race at Queensland Raceway, David Reynolds will celebrate his 300th race start.

All 5 rookies will rack up 50 races this year, though due to past appearances they will reach that number at different times.

At the 2nd race at Albert Park, Jack LeBrocq will celebrate his 50th race start.

At the 2nd race at Symmonds Plains, James Golding will celebrate his 50th race start.

At the 1st race at Winton, Richie Stanaway will celebrate his 50th race start.

At the 2nd race at Hidden Valley, Todd Hazelwood will celebrate his 50th race start.

Finally, at the 1st race at The Bend, Anton De Pasquale will celebrate his 50th race start.

At the 1st race at Philip Island, Andre Heimgartner will celebrate his 100th race start.

And finally, the 1st race at Auckland, Simona De Silvestro will celebrate her 100th race start.

Aside from the obvious rounds, I’m particularly looking forward to the Barbagallo night race. I’m., of course, a bit disappointed that Eastern Creek isn’t getting a night race, but I understand why, and I’m OK with it.

For several drivers, most notably Todd Hazelwood, Richie Stanaway, Fabian Coulthard and Lee Holdsworth, this season is make-or-break. Coulthard could be replaced by Chazz Mostert in the #12 if he doesn’t perform. This is also Stanaway’s chance, he must grab this chance by the horns and perform or he won’t get a third chance. Hazelwood must live up to expectations more this year and should be running around Jack LeBrocq for most of the year, as the teams they drive for are both satellite teams of Holden Red Bull Racing. Finally, Tickford has performance clauses in their contracts, so Holdsworth must perform.

This will be an interesting year, I will also be interested to see how the new Mustang performs, also, looking ahead to 2020, see how the Chevy Camaro will compete.

Overall, with this weekend being the first round, this is going to be intense, especially as it’s going to be VERY HOT (37-40 every day except Sunday, and even Sunday will be about 30), so we’ll see how everybody copes, and how many DNF due to the heat.

I will, of course, be tracking every last-place finish of this series, as well as a lot of other things related to this series. Please follow this blog, and share it with your friends who also enjoy Supercars.

Monday, 11 February 2019

2019 Supercars Entry List CONFIRMED! W/Garry Jacobson Confirmation

Entry list for the 2019 Virgin Australia Supercars series.

This list is as much for me as it is for you readers.

Driver	No.	Team	Sponsor
Jamie Whincup	88	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Holden/Red Bull
Shane Van Gisbergen	97	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Holden/Red Bull
Jack LeBrocq	19	Tekno Autosports	Truck Assist
Scott McLaughlin	17	DJR Team Penske	Shell V-Power
Fabian Coulthard	12	DJR Team Penske	Shell V-Power
David Reynolds	9	Erebus Motorsports	Penrite Oils/Enviro Box
Anton De Pasquale/	99	Erebus Motorsports	Penrite Oils/Enviro Box
Rick Kelly	15	Kelly Racing	Castrol
Andre Heimgartner	7	Kelly Racing	Plus Fitness (NZ Livery)
Simona De Silvestro	78	Kelly Racing	Harvey Norman
Garry Jacobson	3	Kelly Racing	Rabble.club
Tim Slade	14	Brad Jones Racing	Freightliner Trucks
Nick Percat	8	Brad Jones Racing	Timken
Macauley Jones	21	Brad Jones Racing	Cooldrive Distribution
Lee Holdsworth	5	Tickford Racing	Bottle-O
Cameron Waters	6	Tickford Racing	Monster Energy
Chaz Mostert	55	Tickford Racing	Supercheap Auto
Will Davison	23	23Red Racing	Milwaukee Tools
Scott Pye	2	Walkinshaw Andretti United	Winning Appliances/Mobil 1
James Courtney	22	Walkinshaw Andretti United	Appliances Online/Mobil 1
Mark Winterbottom	18	Irwin Racing	Irwin Tools/Fuchs
Richie Stanaway	33	Garry Rodgers Motorsports	Boost Mobile
James Golding	34	Garry Rodgers Motorsports	Boost Mobile
Todd Hazelwood	35	Matt Stone Racing	SS Signs

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.