GEOGHEGAN GETS IT

By Ava Stone

Date posted: 29 October 2024

James Lodge completes a perfect run on the Gold Coast, and Max Geoghegan secures the 2024 Toyota GAZOO Racing Australia GR Cup Championship.

Lodge starts on pole for the first race, after blitzing qualifying, with championship contender Geoghegan in second and invited driver Declan Fraser rounding out the top three.

It was a close battle for the title going into the final round of the series, Owen leading Matt Hillyer by 26 points, but with the WAU driver out due to damage at Bathurst, Geoghegan was on the charge.

There weren’t any incidents around the first chicane as the Toyotas took to the track for their first race ever on the streets of the Gold Coast.

Geoghegan stuck with Lodge as the pair were trying to escape the chasing pack.

The competitive field saw a lot of position changes throughout the ten-lap race.

On the final lap, Zoe Woods in the #210 pulled over with smoke coming from her Tekworkx Motorsport Toyota.

Lodge and Ashley Seward Motorsport continued their success from the last race at the mountain to win Race 1.

The championship is tied between Geoghegan and Owen at the top of the table.

Race 2 at the Gold Coast 500 and Lodge gets away to a great start, Fraser also claiming second position from Geoghegan at the first chicane.

Woods is back in the mix with a new boxer engine in her Toyota from the incident the day before.

Fraser gains on Lodge, trying to use his experience to pass the no.39.

Ryan Tomsett was putting the pressure on Geoghegan, appearing to have issues turning the car, but he managed to defend his position.

On Lap 7 at least three cars were involved in an accident, bringing out the first safety car of the weekend in the series.

As the track was cleared and the green flag was waved, the rain began to fall.

Owen tagged the #95 of William Seal and falls to the back of the pack, the chances of Owen’s championship looked unlikely.

Lodge drives on to win Race 2, with one race left to go.

Race 3 got underway as Geoghegan now led the championship, but Lodge held the lead in the first lap.

A large pack of in the middle of the group were fighting three wide for position to claim any remaining points for the season.

The top five were fighting for position, Fraser was clipped in the battle and crawled down the track with an issue.

Frasers day was done, dropping quickly and retiring the car.

Owen drove an amazing race, doing everything he could to compete for the championship, gaining 11 places in the race.

Queenslander Geoghegan will be crowned champion of 2024, passed on the last lap by Westbury but had done enough to claim the title.

Sixty years after his grandfather won his very first Australian touring car championship, Geoghegan pulled into the pits to celebrate with his Tumbi Tyres/Aust Payroll Sols team.

Lodge completed the perfect weekend, unable to be caught around the streets of the Gold Coast.

2024 TGRA GR CUP Award Winners

1^st	Max Geoghegan	1236
2^nd	James Lodge	1174
3^rd	Bradi Owen	1138
4^th	Brock Stinson	998
5^th	Clay Richards	968
6^th	Ben Gomersall	956
7^th	Lachlan Gibbons	878
8^th	Matthew Hillyer	842

Kaizen Award	James Lodge
Scholarship Series Winner	Max Geoghegan
Scholarship Evaluation Winner	Royce Lyne
Publicity Star	Summer Rintoule
Best Presented Team	Ryan Tomsett

READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF AUTO ACTION HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.

Recent Stories

array ( 0 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 11, 'name' => 'Latest News', 'slug' => 'latest-news', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 11, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 0, 'count' => 15837, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 11, 'category_count' => 15837, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'Latest News', 'category_nicename' => 'latest-news', 'category_parent' => 0, )), 1 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 5192, 'name' => 'Toyota 86/Excels', 'slug' => 'toyota-86-excels', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 5192, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 659, 'count' => 45, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 5192, 'category_count' => 45, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'Toyota 86/Excels', 'category_nicename' => 'toyota-86-excels', 'category_parent' => 659, )), 2 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 2029, 'name' => 'ZZZ-Email', 'slug' => 'email', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 2029, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 2031, 'count' => 6412, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 2029, 'category_count' => 6412, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'ZZZ-Email', 'category_nicename' => 'email', 'category_parent' => 2031, )), 3 => WP_Term::__set_state(array( 'term_id' => 2031, 'name' => 'ZZZ-RSSFeeds', 'slug' => 'zzz-rssfeeds', 'term_group' => 0, 'term_taxonomy_id' => 2031, 'taxonomy' => 'category', 'description' => '', 'parent' => 0, 'count' => 5766, 'filter' => 'raw', 'cat_ID' => 2031, 'category_count' => 5766, 'category_description' => '', 'cat_name' => 'ZZZ-RSSFeeds', 'category_nicename' => 'zzz-rssfeeds', 'category_parent' => 0, )), )

GEOGHEGAN GETS IT

There weren’t any incidents around the first chicane as the Toyotas took to the track for their first race ever on the streets of the Gold Coast.

Race 2 at the Gold Coast 500 and Lodge gets away to a great start, Fraser also claiming second position from Geoghegan at the first chicane.

On Lap 7 at least three cars were involved in an accident, bringing out the first safety car of the weekend in the series.

A large pack of in the middle of the group were fighting three wide for position to claim any remaining points for the season.

Queenslander Geoghegan will be crowned champion of 2024, passed on the last lap by Westbury but had done enough to claim the title.

Recent Stories

Dan looking to make an impact

Hamilton, Leclerc and Gasly disqualified from Chinese GP

New CEO to make a splash at PremiAir

Determined Waters makes honest Taupo assessment