Repco Australia Superlastcar Championship

Sunday, 8 April 2018

Suspension failure leaves Stanaway last at Launceston, and leading the championship

Richie Stanaway picked up his 2^nd last-place finish of his career when his #56 MEGA Bulk Fuels Ford retired with Suspension failure without completing a single lap of the second race at Launceston. The finish came in Stanaway’s 18^th start.

Stanaway is another one of five rookies running in the 2018 Supercars championship. So far, however, Stanaway has had no luck this year. He was last in opening Practice 1, but rose to 23rd in Practice 2, and went further to 14th in Practice 3. Richie then fell to last again in practice 4 and lined up 24th.

James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden started the race in the rear, however by turn 1 Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden fell to the rear. By turn 4 Richie Stanaway in the #56 MEGA Bulk Fuels Ford suffered a left-rear suspension failure, dropping him to the rear, sending him to the garage at the end of lap 1, and to the rear.

Shane Van Gsibergen in the #97 Red Bull Racing Holden started having a throttle issue on lap 33. It got worse, and Van Gisbergen spun on lap 37. He locked up and almost went off on lap 39, then a third near off on lap 42, another off between 44 and 49. After a pitstop failed to sort the issue, he dropped to 25^th, a lap down.

Rounding out the bottom five was Michael Caruso in the #23 Drive Nissan, Lee Holdsworth in the #18 Preston Hire/Fuchs Holden and Will Davison in the #230 - Holden.

The Bottom Five

Richie Stanaway	0 Laps	Suspension
Shane Van Gisbergen	83 Laps	Running
Michael Caruso	83 Laps	Running
Lee Holdsworth	83 Laps	Running
Will Davison	83 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

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

Team’s Championship

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

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Nissan	4	2/4	4/4	9/4
Ford	8	3/8	8/8	12/8
Holden	14	3/14	12/14	17/14

Pit-Lane issues and a fire leaves Mostert last at Launceston

Chazz Mostert picked up his 3rd last-place finish of his career when his #55 Supercheap Auto Ford had a fire erupt on his car that ended his race after 22 of the race's 50 laps. The finish came in Mostert's 151st start.

This is Chaz Mostert's 6th season, though 4th full-time. He struggled during Practice, finishing 16th in 1st Practice, fell to 20th in 2nd Practice, but improved to 15th in 3rd Practice.

Mostert failed to get into the top 6 in first Qualifying and started the race in 17th.

Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Distribution Holden started the race in the rear, but by turn 1 Will Davison in the #230 Milwakee Holden had fallen to the rear.

On lap 3 Richie Stanaway in the #56 MEGA Bulk Fuels Ford made contact with Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman/LG Super Ultra HD TV Nissan. Initially this dropped De Silvestro to last, but the contact also damaged the steering on Stanaway's car, forcing him to the garage, dropping 6 laps in repairs, also dropping Stanaway to last.

On lap 24 Catastrophe struck for Chazz Mostert in the #55 Super Cheap Auto Ford, during a pitstop a fire started on car #55. At the same time, the left-rear wheel didn't get on properly. Once the fire was put out, Mostert was left in the garage, dropping him to last on lap 29. Mostert retired on lap 35.

Rounding out the bottom five was James Golding in the #34 Wilson Security Holden was pushed into the wall at turn 4 by Cameron Waters in the #6 Monster Energy Ford, dropping him to 24th, Simona De Silvestro in the #78 Harvey Norman/LG Super Ultra HD TV Nissan and Todd Hazelwood in the #35 BigMate Ford.

The Bottom Five

Chaz Mostert	22 Laps	Fire
Richie Stanaway	43 Laps	Running
James Golding	50 Laps	Running
Simona De Silvestro	50 Laps	Running
Todd Hazelwood	50 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

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

Team’s Championship

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

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer	# Drivers	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Nissan	4	2/4	3/4	8/4
Ford	8	2/8	7/8	11/8
Holden	14	3/14	11/14	14/14

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.