The NZ Toyota 86 E-Cup (NZTEC) is undoubtedly one of if not the most competitive New Zealand sim racing series going. The recent 2026 season brought out the best of the best fighting for a spot in the CareVets Toyota 86 Scholarship Day and a chance to take their skills from sim to reality.

But what you might not realise is coming into the NZTEC a lot of the top drivers were already coming from traditional motorsport backgrounds bringing that experience to the sim.

Below we take a look at all the awesome success stories in traditional motorsport coming from this years top NZTEC competitors.

Cooper Prout - NZTEC Champion
Winning NZTEC earned Cooper the privilege of testing the Toyota 86 as part of the CareVets scholarship day but that wasn’t his first time in a real drivers seat. Cooper has also been competing in Formula First. Racing across the country Cooper has progressed through the pack to be fighting for wins and podiums in his second season.
Follow Cooper on Instagram and Facebook.

Josh Silcock - NZTEC 2nd
Josh made a big impression in his first season of rallying in the Mainland Rally Championship. So much so that the Paddon rally group took notice and have picked him as one of four Winmax Junior Drivers for 2026 that Winmax and Hayden Paddon will be supporting and training. Now driving an MSport Fiesta R2 in the NZ Rally Championship Josh is one to watch.
Follow Josh on Instagram and Facebook.

Alex Sprague - NZTEC 4th
If it wasn’t for some misfortune in early rounds of NZTEC Alex was sure to have been in the title fight this year. His first season in the 2KCup South Island was without such troubles. In his first season of full metal race cars Alex bested the entire field winning races and ultimately the championship. Alex has most recently stepped up to racing a Toyota 86 in the SS Cup where he continues to make a big impression.
Follow Alex on Facebook and Instagram.

James Corban - NZTEC 7th
James has his sights set high with ambitions of racing in Le Mans as a professional one day and so far he’s doing it all right. A previous winner in BMW Open, Formula Open, and the Honda Racing Series James has this year been stacking up wins in the Production Racing Series in his Honda EK Civic.
Follow James on Instagram, James’ Website, Facebook.

James McIver - NZTEC 8th
James has proven his track racing skills in the sim but when in comes to traditional motorsport it’s out on the gravel where he has excelled.
James recently came home 2nd overall in the Westland Rally in his Subaru Impreza H6 (beaten only by a much quicker Rally 2 car). In a fun turn of events James beat out Josh Silcock to the spot, Josh winning the 2WD 1301-1600cc class in his Ford Fiesta R2.
Much like Josh, James is also a Winmax Brakes Junior Driver in 2026.
Follow James on Facebook.

Ayven Dunn - NZTEC 10th
Ayven is another top driver transferring his skills between traditional and online motorsport. With three seasons of race wins and broken cars in the MX5 cup and now big event experience racing in Formula First Ayven has proven competitive in everything he tries.
Follow Ayven on Youtube.

Graeme Wall - NZTEC 13th
Graeme is a Summer Series SF Cup champion in Manfield behind the wheel of his Levin BZR.

Matt Priest - NZTEC 16th
Matt has shown how quick he can be in the sim but in a full metal race car he’s most accustomed to sitting in the passenger seat as a rally co-driver. Competing alongside Daniel Haines they’ve won Open 2WD titles in their Ford Escort Mk II. Matt also drives his own Toyota Levin AE11 rally car in club events.

Mitch Sparrow - NZTEC 25th
Mitch is a regular at the top of NZ iRacing events but after it didn’t go his way early on this season he dropped out and missed the final round of NZTEC.
However his racing has been going much better behind the wheel of his V8 Ute. At the last round in Taupo not only was he pole sitter, race winner, and round winner but he managed all that while going up against three former champions. Mega.
Follow the NZV8 Utes on Facebook.

Hugo Allan - NZTEC Wildcard Driver
As a wildcard driver you probably already realised Hugo had a traditional motorsport background but Hugos sim and traditional background runs deeper than it first appears.
Hugo has been at the top of NZ iRacing for years, he won the Taimana Series by LPL in 2023, was second best kiwi in the Tri-Nations in 2023, came 2nd in NZEHL in 2024, and has featured as a wildcard in NZTEC for 2025 and 2026.
Alongside that Hugo has been setting the standard in the full metal Toyota 86 series, winning the rookie cup in the 21/22 season, winning outright in 24/25, and recently finishing 3rd in the 25/26 season.
Follow Hugo on Facebook.

Nieko Scoles - NZTEC Wildcard Driver
With three out of the four selected Winmax Junior Drivers having competed in NZTEC it’s a real testament to the series and how beneficial sim racing can be to junior drivers.
Follow Nieko on Facebook, and Instagram.

Antal Sabo - NZTEC 2025 Champion
While he didn’t race in 2026 the former NZTEC champion is also a big success story in traditional motorsport. Antal got his start in the SsangYong ute series thanks to his impressive efforts in the 2kcup iRacing series. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands, winning his first round and going on to earn second in the championship. Antal also impressed in the 2kcup, BMW series, Honda Cup, and Nazcar endurance before his success last year in NZTEC. After winning NZTEC Antal got the opportunity to race in the Toyota 86 series, again hugely impressive on debut qualifying 2nd and taking home solid results.
Follow Antal on Instagram.