Taj Izrin Clinches Fourth Toyota GR GT Cup Malaysia E-Sport Title

The 2024 Toyota GR GT Cup e-sport sim-racing tournament came a thrilling conclusion recently with its two-day Grand Finale event held at the Sunway University campus.

The 2024 Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup Malaysia (GR GT Cup Malaysia) national-level e-sport racing championship concluded on a high note recently.

Altogether, series organisers UMW Toyota offered a total prize pool amounting at RM120,500 for this year’s edition, making it the most lucrative sim-racing championship series held in Malaysia.

Held at the Sunway University campus on July 27 and 28, the Grand Finale event of the leading e-sport series based on the popular Gran Turismo sim-racing title saw a series of nail-biting races across its two-day affair.

Over 1,000 seasoned competitors and up to 2,000 first timers, the latter entering via the tournament's campus tour, took part in this year's edition of the e-sport sim-racing tournament organised by UMW Toyota Motor.

Besides seasoned competitors, challenges were also held for first timers who participated in the series’ special nationwide campus tour. Altogether, this year’s edition of the Toyota GR GT Cup Malaysia attracted over 1,000 regular competitors and up to 2,000 first timers participating.

Things culminated on Sunday through its semi-final and final races. Reigning supreme here was 26-year-old Taj Izrin Aiman Taj Madira who clinched his fourth national-level title in a row. Taj’s victory came after he successfully amassed a total of 59 points.

For the seasoned competitors, the finals race was staged virtually as a one-make 30-minute sprint race held at France’s Circuit de La Sarthe – home of the renowned Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race. It also saw racers virtually piloting the Toyota GR010 Hybrid Le Mans Prototype machine.

26-year-old Taj Izrin Aiman clinched his fourth title in a row in this year's edition, earning the grand prize of RM25,000 in the process too.

“I took a huge gamble and decided to not pit in for a tyre change when it started to rain after just two laps and it paid off,” recalls Taj from his winning efforts in the finals race. Taj had beaten second-placed Chong Kai Chang and third-placed Muhammad Iqbal Suji through which.

The winning drives put forth by the trio saw them bring home a collective prize money pool totalling at RM42,000, with Taj taking the champion’s grand prize share of RM25,000. Prize monies were also awarded to winners in the special student’s challenge.

Apart from prize monies, Taj, Chong and Muhammad have earned their spots in the regional-level 2024 Toyota GR GT Cup Asia tournament where they will represent Malaysia. Whilst here, the trio will compete against the region’s best for a chance to represent Asia in the World Finals.