Introduction: The Moment of Triumph
Eduardo Carlos Sanchez Quintero, a car enthusiast from Spain, recently became the luckiest guy in the world when he won the Gapped Toyota GR86 — a car that has not only captured the attention of car enthusiasts around the world but also earned a reputation at the Nürburgring, thanks to its performance and engineering excellence. A car driven by our main man Misha and built by the skilled hands of Atomic, the GR86 has been a true Gapped passion project.
The Legacy of the Toyota GR86 – When Misha Met GR
The project began in 2023, and as the season opened up at the Nürburgring, Misha went to pick up the Sapphire Blue Metallic 86 and have his first drive. The excitement, the weather, and a brand-new Toyota were the perfect blend for a good day.
Below, Misha’s first drive.
Atomic Starts Dabbling
The Gapped team had big ambitions to make the GR something special and wanted to see how far we could take it. So, between Misha and Atomic, a whole host of parts were applied to turn it into an on-track weapon. There are too many parts to list, so here is a video of Misha running through the extensive list!
Below, Misha runs through the engine damage report.
The Moment of Doom
It should come as no surprise that driving hundreds of laps on the Nürburgring could eventually lead to an accident here or there — especially when a part malfunctions and the car heads straight for the barrier. Well, that's exactly what happened, and 1 million eyes found it riveting entertainment. We were flooded with questions asking about the future of the GR86, with thousands of people worrying that their beloved future car was done for! Luckily for Gapped, Misha had a long-standing relationship with Atomic, which allowed us to fix the car quickly.
Below is the day the world stood still (well, the Gapped world, anyway).
Even More Bad News
After the car was repaired and spirits were back to normal, with the future looking exciting again, we received some news that ended up pushing back all our plans for an extended period. The engine had failed, and it turned out this was a common issue with track-used GR86 engines. So what did we do? Misha contacted HKS in Japan, discussed some stronger internals, and we were on our way to some first-of-its-kind modifications.
Below, Misha runs through the engine damage report.
Eduardo’s Winning Moment
Our first-ever live stream to randomly select our GR86 winner was eventful, almost bringing tears of happiness to everyone involved. After all of these ups and downs, the car finally met its new owner. (Watch Eduardo finding out how he became the winner in our 'Past Winners' section.)
From everyone at Gapped, congratulations Eduardo, and thanks for taking part!