Virgin Australia LASTCAR Championship: Hard Crash leaves Pither last at Launceston

Monday 4 April 2016

Hard Crash leaves Pither last at Launceston

Chris Pither picked up his 4th last-place finish of his career when his #111 Ice Break Ford was involved in a hard single car crash that ended his race after 3 of the race's 84 laps. The finish came in Pither's 85th start.

Aaren Russell in the #4 Plus Fitness/Penrite Holden started the race in the rear, however by turn 4 Dale Wood in the #96 GB Galvnizing/ADVAM Holden had fallen behind Russell, then at the end of lap 1 Craig Lowndes in the #888 Vortex Holden had fallen to the rear after a first-lap pitstop which he held until lap 4 when catastrophe strikes for Chris Pither in the #111 Ice Break Ford after a collision with Nick Percat in the #222 ABRO/Repair Management Australia Holden sent Pither into the same barrier that also runs behind the straight between turns 3 and 4, triggering the 1^st Safety Car of the race. The crash left Pither in last, out of the race.

Next to retire was Rick Kelly in the #15 Sengeld Nissan, Brake issues forcing Rick to the garage on lap 55, dropping 8 laps. Then shortly after returning to the rack, the Left-Front Brake disc exploded, ending Rick's race. The remainder of the bottom five was determined on lap 81 when Cameron Waters in the #6 Pepsi Max/Castrol Ford, already 16 laps down after Engine issues suffered a complete engine failure and dumped a huge amount of oil in turn 4. Andre Heimgartner in the #3 ABRO/Repair Management Australia Holden speared off the road along with Jamie Whincup in the #88 Red Bull Racing Holden, then only a lap ahead of Heimgartner. While Whincup got out of the sand Heimgartner wasn't so lucky, finishing 22^nd.

Splitting Waters and Heimgartner was Tim Blanchard in the #21 Cooldrive Holden, who suffered Brake failure on lap 75, spearing off the road at turn 6.

The Bottom Five

Chris Pither	3 Laps	Crash
Rick Kelly	57 Laps	Brakes
Cameron Waters	63 Laps	Engine
Tim Blanchard	74 Laps	Brakes
Andre Heimgartner	77 Laps	Spun Off

2016 Australian V8 LASTCAR Standings

Driver's Championship

Tim Slade, Nick Percat, Aaren Russell, Scott McLaughlin, Chris Pither: 1

Team's Championship

BOC Racing, Lucas Dumbrell Motorsports, Erebus Motorsports, Gary Rodgers Motorsport, Super Black Racing: 1

Manufacturer’s Championship

Holden: 3

Volvo. Ford: 1

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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.