February 10, 2021
Camden, N.J. – February 10, 2021 – Subaru today released Launch Control: Road to Gymkhana, a two-part miniseries documenting the design, build, testing and shoot of the wildest WRX STI ever constructed—Travis Pastrana’s Gymkhana 2020 STI. As the capstone of Season 8 of the award-winning Launch Control documentary series, Road to Gymkhana wraps up a rally season unlike any other with a build destined to take Hoonigan’s Gymkhana series to a new level. The full season is available now on both YouTube and Amazon Prime Video.
“Gymkhana 2020 was my chance to take the series in a direction no one had seen before, and Road to Gymkhana is beyond anything fans have seen from Launch Control,” said Pastrana. “The level of engineering that went into building this crazy STI, and the effort from the Subaru team to make it happen, especially with everything 2020 threw at us, it was just massive.”
The miniseries’ first episode picks up on a challenging Day 1 of the Annapolis shoot and tells the story of the early build in a series of flashbacks—from initial planning and design in the shadow of early COVID-19 lockdowns, to the challenge of transforming a production Subaru shell into a high-flying Gymkhana machine, including the development of a custom 862-horsepower SUBARU BOXER engine for the project.
Episode 2 covers the remaining three days of the shoot as Pastrana and the Subaru Motorsports USA team deliver more of the video’s signature stunts—including the high-speed country road jump, the dock-edge slide, and tandem donuts with a cameo from teammate Scott Speed—while delving deeper into advanced aerodynamics and the high level of detail needed to complete the build.
The previous five episodes of Season 8 follow the Subaru Motorsports USA rally program and drivers Pastrana and Brandon Semenuk through a pandemic-shortened but high-action season, with the team racking up seven podium finishes and a pair of rally wins in just four events.
Launch Control is a production of Formula Photographic and Bowes Media with the support of Subaru of America.