Daniel Evans picked up the 2nd last place finish of his SCRL Formula E Series career in the Season 1 Monte Carlo ePrix at the Circuit de Monaco when his #44 Mercedes fell out with engine issues after completing 1 of the 8 laps.
The finish, which came in his 5th start, was his first on the circuit since the Shanghai Sprint at the Shanghai International Circuit where he also fell out with engine issues without completing any of the 6 laps, 1 race ago. After trailing the field at Shanghai, the Mercedes team went back to their race shop in the United Kingdom to try and fix the problem as team owner Toto Wolff informed the press that Evans would have a brand new motor installed in his car to compete in the biggest FE event the calendar had.
On race day, Evans was rolled off starting 21st while starting in the final spot was Evans's teammate the #6 Mercedes of Ryan Pritchard. The two Mercedes drivers would engage in a friendly battle for the first lap, with Pritchard trailing the first lap and the two were nose to wing entering Turns 5 to 7, known as the Fairmont Hairpin, Evan's car began to lose power for the second race in a row, as he allowed Pritchard to pass him on the outside. Evans would limp back to the pits and into his paddock, as for the second time in a many races, the team looked over the car and found the engine had gone sour yet again, forcing the car to be retired from the race. Evans was visibility disappointed as he exited the car when he talked to reporters near by "The car was running good the first lap and me and Pritchard had a good battle going"the driver said after becoming the first driver in series history to trail in back-to-back races"but I guess whatever gremlins we thought we had fixed after Shanghai came back and bit us today."
Finishing 21st was #8 Haas F1 Team of Matt Johnson, who was running in 14th at the time when the #55 Scuderia Toro Rosso of James Barker tried to make a move coming out of Turn 19, but the two cars would make contact, sending Johnson into the guard rail at a 45 degree angle. Johnson's car would remain beside the guard rail as the driver climbed out of the car, shaken, but not injured, but his car was done for the day while Barker would continue on to finish 17th, just outside the Bottom Five.
The remaining Bottom Five would finish on the same circuit as the race leaders; 20th was the aforementioned #6 of Ryan Pritchard, 19th was Kyalami last-place finisher the #3 Red Bull Racing of Eli Bright and 18th was the #27 Sahara Force India F1 Team of Marc Lothaire-Irvine.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first SCRL Formula E Series last-place finish for the #44 at Monaco.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
22) #44-Daniel Evans / 1 lap / engine
21) #8-Matt Johnson / 2 laps / crash
20) #6-Ryan Pritchard / 8 laps / running
19) #3-Eli Bright / 8 laps / running
18) #27-Marc Lothaire-Irvine / 8 laps / running
Will Parrish picked up the 1st last place finish of his Shaker Memorial Race career in the 5th Annual Shaker Memorial Race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway when his #01 U.S. Army Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car crash after 9 of the 33 laps.
The finish came in his 1st start. The Shaker Memorial began in 2015 when the dog of this blog's author, Shaker, passed away in 2015, in her honor, a yearly race is held at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, the closest track to where she lived, with drivers completing in a one race showdown to see who is the best. The entry list for the 5th annual, but 6th running of the event, was for the second year in a 42 car field, with Jay Jefferson being the only former winner of this event in the field.
In qualifying, Casey Nanako would score his first career Pole Award in the Shaker Memorial with a time of 26.679 seconds, while Parrish would struggle, posting a time of 26.784 seconds, 0.105 seconds behind Nanako's time, placing him 22nd on the grid. Starting last was the #92 Taco Bell Chevrolet of Chase Harris, 0.251 seconds off Nanako's pole winning time.
With over one hundred twenty thousand people in the stands, the green flag waved with Harris trailing for the first circuit around the 1.540 mile track before knocking the #24 DuPont Chevrolet of Nathan Ormond into last on Lap 2. Just seconds later the event's first caution came out when multi-car crash broke out in Turn 1 when the #20 The Home Depot Chevrolet of Blaise Zebrataur was spun out after contact from the #4 Lucas Oil Products Chevrolet of Frodomar Otts, sending Blaise up the track and starting a chain reaction that would also involve the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet of Jay Jefferson and the #88 UPS Ford of Joshua Rush. Rush would trail for two laps under caution before Jefferson assumed last on the 5th circuit. Jefferson would remain in last until lap 8 when the #07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet of Christian Russell would be forced to make an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire and was about to go a lap down when the battle for last ended suddenly.
Otts had been forced to make a pit stop himself to repair damaged he had gotten from the Lap 3 crash and came out of the pits just behind the race leaders but held up the field before chaos broke out on the backstretch, with the #19 Dodge Dealers / UAW Dodge of Sammy Sabre Jr. make contact with the #38 M&M's Ford of Jack Lagasee sending both cars into Otts and taking the #1 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Chevrolet of Georgio Tsutomu and the #21 Motorcraft Genuine Parts Ford of Trevor Collins with them into the inside wall, hitting it head on where a part of the track did not have safer barriers. The impact of the crash was so powerful that it send Collin's car for a wild flip across the surface of the track and back onto the racing surface and right in front of Parrish, who had no time to react, and hit Collins's car while it was in the air on the passenger door, sending Collins for another ride and into the catch fence before landing on all four wheels. The crash had looked ironicly like the crash Ryan Newman had suffered in the 2020 Daytona 500 in February. Luckly for Collins, it was a virtual car and he was able to climb from his car, shaking, but uninjured. Parrish's and Collins's cars had to be towed back to the garage, their day over with after only 9 laps, while Lagasee would coast around for one circuit before pulling behind the wall on Lap 10.
The Remaining Bottom Five would be filled up on Lap 25 when another massive crash broke out on the frontstretch that sent Jay Jefferson for a wild flip, while the aforementioned #92 of Chase Harris and 38th was the #16 National Guard Ford of Carlos Rodriguez.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the second year in a row the #01 has finished last in the Shaker Memorial; the most recent time it had trailed was in the 4th annual Shaker Memorial event when Pritti Shah was involved in a multi-car crash after 3 of the 33 laps.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #01-Will Parrish / 9 laps / crash
41) #21-Trevor Collins / 9 laps / crash
40) #38-Jack Lagasee / 10 laps / crash
39) #92-Chase Harris / 25 laps / crash
38) #16-Carlos Rodriguez / 25 laps / crash
Jesse Turner picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Tim Hortons Canadian Series career in the Season 1 A&W Cruisin' the Dub 300 at the Motoplex Speedway & Event Park when his #89 Keltic Ford / Nova Construction Ford was involved in a multi-car crash after 1 of the 30 laps.
The finish came in his 8th career series start. Turner at this point in his career would be in the twilight years as he would begin to slowly come to an end, having competed for years in the SCRL. Turner had signed up in the pre-season that was the original Canadian Series, finishing 25th in the series first race at CTMP before scoring a 7th place finish at Cayuga before the series was cancelled and then re-branded to give the series a proper season, with Turner coming back to complete full time.
With the start of the new rebranded series, Turner started the season off on a high note, scoring a runner up finish to Zachary Fitzwater at CTMP and backed it up with a 7th at ICAR in the next round. A disappointing 27th at Delaware and a 30th at Mosport would follow before Turner finally rebounded by finishing 6th in the last round at Exhibition Place.
On race day, Turner started 9th while rolling off from the final spot was the #98 Roofing Connection Chevrolet of Chris Kyle, a position he would hold for the first circuit before the #66 Quaker State / Durabody Dodge of Tony Newman made a sharp turn to try and get onto pit road, with Newman spinning out and sliding up the track right in front of Turner, with Turner slamming into the back of Newman's car, destroying the front end of the car. Turner would limp back around the track, pulling onto pit road and then into the garage, his day over, the car being listed as "out" on Lap 4.
The next two spots would be filled just four laps later as another crash in Turn 3 as CTMP last-place finisher the #00 Aaron's Dodge of Al Lagasee and #22 Canadian Tire / MotoMaster Dodge of Derrick Edison would both crash hard, ending their days just before Lap 10.
It would take another 15 laps before another spot was filled, that being the unsponsored #99 White Motorsports Chevrolet of Betty Barrett, who would also find trouble in that same Turn 3, and would retire from the race just seven laps from the finish.
Rounding out the Bottom Five in 26th was the aforementioned #66 of Tony Newman, who would lose 5 laps during the race to the race leaders due to the damaged he had gotten in the first caution, but was able to limp across the start/finish line as the last car running.
Turner's career in the Canadian Series would never take off like it had in other series, with his runner up at CTMP would be his best finish in the series, but he would go on to score another runner up at Riverside, and would finish 20th in his last ever race in the series at Kawartha, and would finish 4th in the overall point standings.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #89 had finished last in the Canadian Series as well as at Motoplex.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
30) #89-Jesse Turner / 1 lap / crash
29) #00-Al Lagasee / 8 laps / crash
28) #22-Derrick Edison / 8 laps / crash
27) #99-Betty Barrett / 23 laps / crash
26) #66-Tony Newman / 25 laps / running
