TGRA 86 launch racing Scholarship Series

The Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia (TGRA) 86 Series launched its 2023 campaign today, with the brand new Scholarship Series kicking off at SMP this weekend.

Today’s season launch at SMP paves the way for the Supercars exclusive TGRA 86 season, with the new Scholarship Series running as a part of the NSW State championship, also at SMP, this weekend, April 14-16.

Designed to set the grid for the main game season, the TGRA Scholarship series starts off with three preseason qualifying events before the headliners start their season on July 7-9 at the Townsville 500, its eighth year as a Supercars support category.

Also at the launch was the brand new Toyoat GR86 test car, built by Neal Bates Motorpsort, and set to take over the grid in 2024.

2023 will be the last year of the 2016 Toyota 86 model, with the Neal Bates Motorsport built GR86 set to take over

The first three rounds of the new TRGA Scholarship Series will be pre-qualifying events for any new prospective main game drivers, or returning drivers that finished outside the top 20 last season who want to compete for a continued seat in the main series.

Drivers that did finish inside the top-20 last year, do not need to participate in the pre-qualifying concept.

The new feeder series will have three rounds in NSW and Victoria, but a further two rounds in Queensland and again in NSW, will offer those that didn’t qualify a further chance to race more. 

Also on offer after September’s SMP finale, five drivers will get a chance to compete for a fully funded seat in the main game’s finale at the Bathurst 1000 through a special evaluation day.

Formula Ford driver Matt Hillyer will race for WAU in the brand new Toyota 86 Scholarship series

Toyota Australia’s Chief Marketing Officer, Vin Naidoo, describes it as a watershed moment for the TGRA 86 series, as it offers more young aspiring professional drivers the chance to enter a race series that is seen by Supercars teams as a good pre-cursor talent field.

“With the introduction of the Scholarship Series, there are even more opportunities for drivers and teams to get involved and provide fans with an abundance of thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing action,” Naidoo explained.

“When we started the TGRA 86 Series in 2016, our vision was to provide a series that offered the opportunity for young up and coming drivers to hone their race craft, alongside some of the best in the business.

“It was designed as a professional, safe, one-make series that placed an emphasis on helping aspiring professional drivers develop their skills, alongside professional drivers and mentors, providing an affordable series for passionate weekend warriors who just want to race for the thrill of it.

“I would say that over the past seven years, we have well and truly achieved those aims with no fewer than four 86 alumni racing for top tier Supercars teams this year and several racing in the second tier Super 2 championship.”

The new Toyota GR86 hit the track for a test drive at the TGRA 86 series launch today

Toyota has also committed to the series up until the 2026 season, and next year will see the exciting edition of the new GR86 car to main game, a more powerful vehicle developed with Neal Bates Motorsport (NBM) that will be sold as a turnkey package for $89,990 to prospective entrants in the 2024 TGRA 86 Series.

NBM has already started building customer GR86 race cars and today handed over the first of those to the 2022 TGRA 86 Series Kaizen Award winner Jarrod Hughes.

2022 Kaizen Award winner Jarrod Hughes (left) has been handed the keys to the new TG86

The 17-year-old from Brisbane won the award for continuous improvement over the course of the 2022 season and received an all-expenses paid trip to the NASCAR Daytona 500 in the US where he met some of the Toyota drivers and toured the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing production facility.

Among the current crop of Supercars and Super2 drivers that cut their teeth in the one-make series, are Broc Feeney, Will Brown, Cameron Hill and Declan Fraser while Zach Bates, Cameron Crick, Jaylyn Robotham, Zane Morse, Ryan Wood, and Kai Allen.

The first GR86 customer racing car was delivered at SMP today to the 2022 Kaizen Award winner Jarrod Hughes.

2023 TGRA SCHOLARSHIP SERIES CALENDAR 

1. SMP – NSW State Championships April 14-16*
2. Phillip Island – Vic State Championships May 26-28*
3. SMP – Motorsport Australia Trophy Series June 16-18*
4. Queensland Raceway – Motorsport Australia Trophy Series August 4-6
5. SMP – 2023 Master Blast September 1-3
6. SMP – Scholarship Series Evaluation day – September 21

*Pre-qualifying events for new entrants and returning drivers that finished outside the top 20 in TGRA 86 Series in 2022

2023 TGRA 86 SERIES CALENDAR

13 April TGRA 86 Series Season Launch Sydney Motorsport Park

7-9 July NTI Townsville 500 Townsville, QLD

28-30 July Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight Sydney Motorsport Park

18-20 August OTR SuperSprint Tailem Bend, SA

15-17 September Penrite Oil Sandown 500 Sandown, VIC

5-8 October Repco Bathurst 1000 Bathurst, NSW

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