Max Geoghegan Wins The 2024 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Australia (TGRA) GR CUP Championship Title

October 30, 2024

2024 Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, Event 11 of the Repco Supercars Championship, Surfers Paradise, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. 26 Oct, 2024.

Max Geoghegan has finished his TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Australia (TGRA) GR CUP season on a high, winning $50,000 and the 2024 Championship title after a weekend of action-packed Toyota GR86 racing on the Gold Coast.

The grandson of the late five-time Australian Touring Car Champion Ian “Pete” Geoghegan qualified in second place and went on to drive solidly in all three races finishing with a third and two second places, giving him a season total of 1236 points.

But it was James Lodge who won the weekend after qualifying on pole and finishing on top of the podium in all three races.

Going into the final round of the season, Lodge was sitting in third place overall and his three wins saw him jump to a total of 1174 points for the season and take out the runner-up title and a $30,000 prize, along with the Kaizen Award.

The Kaizen Award recognises the driver that has demonstrated the greatest continuous improvement over the course of the year and together with the prestige of the award, Lodge won a fully-funded trip to the iconic Daytona 500 in the US next year.

The 2024 TGRA GR CUP season had seen intense competition between Lodge, Geoghegan, Bradi Owen and Matthew Hillyer, all vying for the lead over the course of the year.

Owen, who led the field ahead of the final Gold Coast round, had a disappointing weekend and after qualifying in 12^th place, finished race 1 in 9^th before a rear-end shunt late in race 2 saw him cross the finish line in 26^th.

In race 3, he clawed his way back up the field to finish in 19^th with the points gained giving him a total of 1138 and enough for third place in the overall 2024 GR CUP season to take home the $15,000 prize.

Hillyer’s campaign ended before the Gold Coast racing began with an unfortunate crash at the top of the mountain at Bathurst earlier this month that saw him and the team withdrawing from the final round due to irreparable damage to the car.

Geoghegan, Lodge and Owen were presented with their trophies and prizes at the end of season Awards Dinner held on the Gold Coast last night with Toyota also recognising a number of other drivers for their achievements over the course of the 2024 season.

In addition to his TGRA GR CUP title, Max Geoghegan had also won the second-tier Scholarship Series, in respect to race wins.

As a series that aims to help build aspiring professional race drivers, Toyota also runs a final Scholarship Series Evaluation Day that assesses four young drivers who are selected not just for their on-track performance, but also whether they have the off-track skills and knowledge to potentially make it as a professional driver.

The winner of that for season 2024 was Royce Lyne, who won a fully-funded drive at the Bathurst round of the TGRA GR CUP, where his best finish over the weekend at Mount Panorama was a commendable 14^th.

Last year’s 2023 Kaizen Award winner Ryan Tomsett continued to make his presence felt winning this year’s Best Presented Team Award while the Publicity Star Award for the best promotion in media and on socials went to Summer Rintoule.

Toyota Australia Chief Marketing Officer Vin Naidoo congratulated all the winners on their awards in what has been a sensational season of GR86 racing where the passion, dedication, and the energy of the drivers, teams, families and friends had been at an all time high.

“At every round, the intensity and excitement in the air, in the paddock, and on the track is palpable, as the young drivers compete for the chequered flag and deliver thrilling racing action for fans across the country,” Mr Naidoo said.

“I want to congratulate all the 2024 award winners and the many other teams and drivers that make the TGRA GR CUP one of the best categories on the calendar and a recognised career pathway for aspiring professional race drivers,” he said.

Both the TGRA Scholarship Series and the GR CUP will be back on the motorsport calendar for 2025 with the latter featuring a five-round series as a premier support category for the Supercars Championship rounds at Townsville, Ipswich, Bathurst, Gold Coast and Sandown.

2024 TGRA GR CUP Award Winners

2025 Calendar