The finish came in hir 12th career start. In the SCRL Formula E Series, it's the 1st for car #77 and the 1st for fuel pump issues. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 6th for the #77 and the 2nd for fuel pump issues.
Lightingblaze, the daughter of Blaise Zebrataur and 6 time SCRL Champion and all time race winner Chakat Whitelion, decided to follow in hir parents hoof/paw steps and begin a career in racing, signing up to compete in Season 1 of the SCRL Sun Energy Whelen Euro Elite 2 division, where shi would win in hir first two starts at Red Bull Ring and Monaco, before choosing to focus on hir school work, choosing to skip a few series before a break in school gave hir free time to compete in the SCRL's second highest Formula division. Lightingblaze finished 13th in hir FE debut at Adelaide, 5th at Shanghai, 19th at Vancouver, 13th at Monaco, 8th at Toronto, 20th at Long Beach, 6th at Mexico City, 14th in the first ever SCRL event held in the rain at Watkins Glen, 9th at Montreal, 6th at Suzuka before finishing 13th in the last round at St. Petersburg.
Entering the season finale, 8 drivers have a mathematical chance of winning the SCRLASTCAR Championship; Aaron John-Steel, Sammy Sabre Jr., Danyal Gitirokh, Kerri Love, Anthony Stewart, Gregg Speed, Jeff Cornils and Nick Productions. If Steel or Sabre Jr. finished last, they would win the championship out right, if any of the other six drivers finish last they could win the championship. If any driver driver finished last, Steel could lock up the championship as long as Sabre Jr. doesn't finish in the Bottom Five with Sabre Jr. having more Bottom Ten finishes to break the tiebreaker.
On race day, Lightingblaze rolled off starting 14th while starting in the final spot was the #12 Verizon of Karl-Jong Bensson, a postion that he would hold for only three turns before knocking the #9 Target of Mikali Kose into the final spot, a position she would hold for the first lap before she passed the #8 NTT Data / TNT Energy Drink of Eli Bright into the final spot. Bright would struggle around the 2.800 mile road course for the next few laps until the lone caution came out that would end the race under caution. As the field was catching back up to the pace car, Lightingblaze's car began to slow as shi pulled onto pit road and into the paddock. The team would look over the car and found that the problem was a fuel pump issue, and with the race going to end under caution, the team retired the car as the field took the white flag.
The remaining Bottom Five would finish on the same lap as the race leaders: 21st was Montreal last-place finisher the #63 Susan G. Komen Foundation of Kerri Love, 20th was the #16 Mi-Jack of Nick Speed, 19th was the aforementioned #9 of Mikali Kose and 18th for the second race in a row was the #98 Integrity Energee Drink of Joshua Rush.
The SCRLASTCAR Championship was decided when the checkered flag waved as with Lightingblaze finishing last and Sabre Jr. finishing outside the Bottom Five, Aaron John-Steel locked up the championship on the strength of two last-place finishes, at Mexico City and Watkins Glen, his first ever SCRLASTCAR title.
The Season 2 SCRL Formula E Series Presented by Twitter Championship went to Karl-Jong Bensson. Making his SCRL debut in this series, Benson impressed in his first ever race, finishing runner up to Gregg Speed at Adelaide. It wouldn't be until Bensson's 8th start that he would score his first win, coming in the league's first ever event held in the rain at Watkins Glen, and scoring his second win at Suzuka just two races later. Bensson scored no last-place finishes in his championship season, his worse finish being a 21st at Vancouver.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #77 has finished last in a Formula E race as well at Surfers Paradise.
*This marked the only the second time in the history of the SCRL that a driver has finished last due to fuel pump issues; the only other time that it happened was in Season 1 of the SCRL V8 Supercar Series Coates Hire Ipswich 300 at the Queensland Raceway when Kevin McHugh fell out after completing 12 of the 16 laps.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
22) #77-Chakat Lightingblaze / 4 laps / fuel pump
21) #63-Kerri Love / 5 laps / running
20) #16-Nick Speed / 5 laps / running
19) #9-Mikali Kose / 5 laps / running
18) #98-Joshua Rush / 6 laps / running
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