Cupra Racing, formerly known as SEAT Sport, is the high-performance

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

subsidiary of the Spanish automobile manufacturer

SEAT A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

, founded in 1985, succeeding the "SEAT Special Vehicles department" which had been formed in 1971 with the mission to enforce the brand's participation in rally championships, followed by 11 titles between 1979 and 1983. In 2018, SEAT created the

Cupra Cupra may refer to: * Cupra (marque), an automobile brand owned by the Spanish company SEAT ** Cupra Racing, a car racing team owned by SEAT * Cupra (goddess), a chthonic fertility goddess See also * Cupra Marittima, a commune in Marche, ...

brand as its independent high-performance branch and SEAT Sport was officially replaced by Cupra Racing. It has competed in

rallying Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...

and

touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move a ...

, and also develops high performance versions of road cars. The result of this effort has been rewarded through SEAT's most prestigious titles in FIA championships, three conquests with the SEAT Ibiza Kit-Car in the

FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup The ''FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup'' was a sub-section of the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 1999. It involved mostly or , naturally aspirated, front wheel drive cars. The series was discontinued due to high costs, and the new Super 2000 ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, 1997, 1998, and two wins with the SEAT León in the FIA

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sing ...

(WTCC) in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

.SEAT Sport history http://www.seat.com/com/generator/su/com/SEAT/site/company/SEATSport/main.html Cupra also won the

FIA ETCR – eTouring Car World Cup FIA ETCR – eTouring Car World Cup (Pure ETCR during its first season) was a touring car series for electric cars. It was the first multi-brand all-electric touring car championship and in 2022 obtained the status of an official FIA series. Ho ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

before the series was discontinued in 2023. Cupra partnered with

Abt Sportsline Abt Sportsline is an auto racing and auto tuning company based in Kempten im Allgäu, Germany. Abt mainly deals with Audi and the related primary Volkswagen Group brands—Volkswagen, Škoda, and SEAT—modifying them by using sports-type su ...

as Abt Cupra in the

all-electric An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road and rail vehicles, electric boats and submersibles, electric aircraft a ...

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definition ...

off-road racing Off-road racing is a form of motorsports consisting of specially-modified vehicles including cars, SUVs, trucks, motorbikes, quadbikes and buggies racing in off-road environments (e.g. snow, dirt, mud, etc.). North America Desert racing D ...

series

Extreme E Extreme E was an FIA-sanctioned international off-road racing series that used spec silhouette electric SUVs to race in remote parts of the world, such as the Saudi Arabian desert or the Arctic. All racing locations were chosen to raise awaren ...

from

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

and the

open-wheel single-seater An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...

electric motorsport championship

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars ...

from

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. Cupra later partnered with

Kiro Race Co The Kiro Race Co, competing as Cupra Kiro, is an American-owned, British-based motor racing team that currently competes in the FIA Formula E Championship, an all-electric racing series. The team was previously owned and managed by Chinese comp ...

in Formula E from

Models

Current

Cupra E-Racer Cupra may refer to: * Cupra (marque), an automobile brand owned by the Spanish company SEAT ** Cupra Racing, a car racing team owned by SEAT * Cupra (goddess), a chthonic fertility goddess See also * Cupra Marittima Cupra Marittima () is in th ...

* Cupra León TCR * Cupra León Competición TCR

Discontinued

*SEAT 1400 B (1957 - Juan Fernández - Copa Montjuïc de Cotxes Sport) *SEAT 850 Coupé (1967 - A. Pérez Sutil, D. Morán) *SEAT 1430-1600 (1970 - Del Vaz, Lazcano - London-Mexico) *SEAT 124 Sport (1970) *SEAT 124 Sport (1971 - Manuel Juncosa, M. Salas - Rally Basc-Navarrès) *SEAT Fórmula 1430 (1971) *SEAT 850 Spider Gr. 5 (1972 - Juncosa) *SEAT SELEX ST3 (1972 - Salvador Cañellas - SEAT Fórmula 1430) *SEAT 127 Gr. 2 (1973 - Salvador Servià - Montse Imbers) *SEAT 1430-1800 Gr. 5 (1973 - Jorge Babler, Ricardo Antolín - Rally d' Espanya) *SEAT Martini F-1800 (1975 - Villacieros) *SEAT 1430-1800 Gr. 4 (1977 - Salvador Servià, Jordi Sabater - Rally Montecarlo) *SEAT 124-2100 16v Gr. 5 (1977 - Antonio Zanini, Juan Petisco - Rally Costa del Sol) *SEAT 124-2000 Gr. 2 (1979 - Salvador Cañellas - Campionat d'Espanya de Turismes) *SEAT 131 Abarth (1979 - Salvador Servià, Alex Brustenga - Rally Montecarlo, Rally Nova Zelanda) *SEAT 131-2100 Gr. 5 (1980 - Santiago Martin Cantero - Campionat d' Espanya de Turismes) *SEAT Panda Gr. 2 (1981/1982 - R. Munoz) *SEAT Fura Crono (1983) *SEAT Ibiza Bimotor Proto (1988 - Josep Maria Servià, Lluis Corominas - Rally de Terra de Lloret de Mar) *SEAT Ibiza 1.5 GLX Gr. B (1989) *SEAT Marbella Proto (1989 - Antoni Rius, Manel Casanova - Rally de Toledo) *SEAT Toledo Podium (1992 - Special edition delivered to the medallists of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic games) *SEAT Toledo Sport (1992 - Special commercial edition built for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic games) *SEAT Toledo Olimpico (1992 - Official car of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic games) *SEAT Toledo Supertourisme (1993/1994 - Giroix) *SEAT Toledo Marathon (1994 - Josep Maria Servià, Enric Oller - Raid de Grècia) *SEAT Ibiza Gr. N (1994 - Stephen Roche) *SEAT Ibiza Gr. A (1995 - Weber/Rius) *SEAT Ibiza Kit car (1996 - Harri Rovanperä, Juha Repo - RAC rally) *SEAT Córdoba WRC (1999 - Toni Gardemeister, Paavo Lukander - Raŀly de Nova Zelanda, Rally de Toledo) *SEAT Ibiza Junior Gr. A (2000 - Dani Solá - Rally d' Ourense) *SEAT Córdoba WRC Evo 3 (2001 - Salvador Cañellas, Alberto Sanchís - Rally RACC) *SEAT Dakar TDI (2002 - Fernando Gil, Rafael Tornabell Arras - Madrid-Dakar) *SEAT Ibiza TDI Gr. N (2003 - Joan Font, Massip - Rally de Salamanca) *SEAT Córdoba Silhouette (2003 - Christophe Bouchut - Campionat de França de Superturisme) *SEAT Toledo GT (2003 - Ginés Vivancos, Jordi Gené - Campionat d'Espanya de GT) *SEAT Toledo Cupra ETCC (2003 - Jordi Gené - ETCC) *SEAT Cupra GT (2003) *SEAT Cupra GT (2004 - Gené, Vivancos) *SEAT León Supercopa (2004 - Luis Pérez-Sala) *SEAT Ibiza Proto 4x4 (2004 - Flavio Alonso) *SEAT Toledo WTCC (2005 - Rickard Rydell - WTCC) *SEAT Córdoba WRC Evo 3 (2006 - Crivillé) *SEAT León Supercopa (2006 - José Manuel Pérez Aicart - Supercopa SEAT León) *SEAT León WTCC (Jordi Gené - WTCC 2006) *SEAT León TDI WTCC (2007 - Yvan Muller) *SEAT León BTCC (2008 - Jason Plato - BTCC) *SEAT León TDI WTCC (2008 - Yvan Muller)

Rallying

SEAT's first serious attempt at a World Rally Championship (WRC) was in the 1977 season when the company took part with its 'SEAT 1430/124D Especial 1800' race car, and in its debut at the

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) is a rallying event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. From its inception in 1911 by Albert I, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert I, the rally ...

the SEAT team finished in third and fourth place with the official 1430-1800 cars being driven by Antonio Zanini and Salvador Cañellas. In recent years the consignment was burdened on the small

SEAT Ibiza The SEAT Ibiza is a supermini car that has been manufactured by Spanish car manufacturer SEAT since 1984. It is SEAT's best-selling car. The Ibiza is named after the Spanish island of Ibiza and was the second SEAT model to be named after a Span ...

, a 1.6L normally aspirated

front-wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of internal combustion engine, engine and transmission (mechanics), transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel-drive vehicles feature ...

car with its roots in the

Volkswagen Polo The Volkswagen Polo is a supermini car ( B-segment) produced by the German car manufacturer Volkswagen since 1975. It is sold in Europe and other markets worldwide in hatchback, saloon, and estate variants throughout its production run. As of 2 ...

. The Ibiza allowed the company to start building its rallying experience, and was officially engaged in some European national championships. The years went by and little success followed until a 2L version of the Ibiza was homologated as a kit-car, and extra wide tracks, larger wheels, brakes, etc., were fitted to it as the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) kit-car regulations allow. With these attributes, the car won the 2L World Championship three times ('96, '97, '98). SEATs three conquests of the 2L FIA title, and the sport's popularity in Spain, convinced

Volkswagen Group Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of passenger and commercial vehicles, motorcycles, engines and turbomachinery. Headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxon ...

management to go further, and allocate sufficient budgets to the SEAT Sport department so as to allow it a chance to reach its goal. SEAT's project to build a WRC-spec car was officially announced during the 1997 San Remo rally. It was in 1998 that the

SEAT Córdoba The SEAT Córdoba is the saloon, estate and coupé version of the SEAT Ibiza supermini car, built by the Spanish automaker SEAT. It was manufactured between 1993 and 2008, and was related to the second and third generations of the Ibiza. Fir ...

WRC was first enrolled by the company to compete at the highest level of WRC racing. The Córdoba was based on the family saloon of the same name but was, naturally, a WRC class car. It had a

4 cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categoriz ...

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...

petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American and Canadian English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends ...

, permanent

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

, and active differentials were involved in its transmission. However, the short

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

and high-mounted

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

(compared to its rivals) worked against the Córdoba, and results weren't impressive. The main drivers were ex-WRC champion

Didier Auriol Didier Auriol (born 18 August 1958) is a French former rally driver. Born in Montpellier and initially an ambulance driver, he competed in the World Rally Championship throughout the 1990s. He became World Rally Champion in 1994, the first drive ...

, along with Harri Rovanpera and rising Finnish star

Toni Gardemeister Toni Gardemeister (born 31 March 1975) is a Finnish professional rally driver in the World Rally Championship. After previously competing for SEAT's, Mitsubishi's, Škoda's and Ford's factory teams, as well as for privateer teams, he joined the ...

. They did achieve three podium finishes; at the 1999 Rally New Zealand (Gardemeister), the 1999 Rally of Great Britain (Rovanpera) as well as the 2000 Safari Rally (Auriol). SEAT pulled out of international rallying at the end of 2000.

Touring cars

In 2002 SEAT Sport set up the

SEAT León Supercopa The SEAT León Supercopa was a one-make racing series, organised by SEAT Sport, the motorsport division of Spanish car manufacturer SEAT. It used a modified version of the SEAT León road car, and championships have been run in Spain, Germany, Italy ...

in Spain, a one-make series featuring the

SEAT León The SEAT León (), also spelled Leon in some other languages (named after the city of León, Spain, León, which also means "Lion" in Spanish), is a small family car built by the Spanish car manufacturer SEAT since October 1999.ETKA The first ...

. This format has since expanded across Europe, with the formation of the

SEAT León Eurocup The SEAT León Eurocup was a one-make touring car racing series which uses SEAT Leóns, run by SEAT Sport. Background The championship began in 2008, making its debut at Circuit de Valencia, as a support series for the World Touring Car Champi ...

in 2008. In 2003, SEAT began entering the SEAT Toledo Cupra in the

European Touring Car Championship The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World ...

(ETCC) with drivers

Jordi Gené Jordi Gené Guerrero (born 5 December 1970) is a racing driver who competed in the World Touring Car Championship between 2005 and 2010. His younger brother, Marc is also an ex-racing driver and is currently a Brand Ambassador for the Scuderia ...

and

Frank Diefenbacher Frank Diefenbacher (born 19 March 1982 in Pforzheim) is a German auto racing driver. Career Diefenbacher won the German Junior Kart Championship in 1996. His first steps out of karting were in Formula Ford in Germany in 1998, where he finished t ...

. Former

British Touring Car Championship The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), officially known as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by ...

winner

Rickard Rydell John Rickard Rydell (born 22 September 1967) is a retired Swedish racing driver. He won the 1998 British Touring Car Championship, the 2011 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, and has also been a frontrunner in the European/World Touring Car ...

joined them in 2004, taking their first victory.

WTCC

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, the ETCC became the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC).

Peter Terting Peter Terting (born on 19 February 1984 in Kempten) is a German auto racing driver. Biography He won the Volkswagen Lupo Cup in 2002, earning him a DTM drive for Abt Sportsline in 2003, although this proved to be too big a step up, and the teena ...

replaced fellow German Diefenbacher.

Jason Plato Timothy Jason Plato (born 14 October 1967) is a British auto racing, racing driver who last competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BTC Racing. He has twice been List of BTCC champions, BTCC Champion, in 2001 British Touring ...

also joined the team for four rounds, and

Marc Carol Marc Carol Ybarra (born 14 February 1985) is a Spanish auto racing driver. Career Carol competed in the Formula BMW Junior Cup Iberia in 2001, where he finished fourth.

for one round. Later in 2005, the León model made its debut. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini (born 2 March 1962) is an Italian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between and , and World Touring Car from to 2021. In touring car racing, Tarquini won the World Touring Car Championship in with SEAT; ...

Yvan Muller Yvan Muller (born 16 August 1969) is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a four-time World Touring Car Championship, World Touring Car Champion, winning the title in 2008 with SEAT, in 2010 and 2011 wit ...

and James Thompson joined the team.

André Couto André Bragança Macedo e Couto ( zh, t=安德烈·高度; born 14 December 1976) is a Macau, Macanese

Oscar Nogués Óscar Nogués Farré (born 21 May 1978 in Banyeres del Penedès) is a Spanish auto racing driver. He won the Spanish SEAT León Supercopa in 2005 and 2006, and won the inaugural SEAT León Eurocup in 2008. He made one-off appearances in the Worl ...

and

Florian Gruber Florian Gruber (born 26 January 1983 in Vilsbiburg, Lower Bavaria) is a German auto racing driver. Career Gruber won Division 2 of the German Touring Car Challenge in 2003, in a Volkswagen Lupo.http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/6192/career/ Career ...

also raced in one-off rounds. In

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, Rydell, Thompson and Terting left the team and were replaced by

Michel Jourdain Jr. Michel Jourdain Lascurain, better known as Michel Jourdain Jr. (born September 2, 1976), is a Mexican racecar driver, best known for winning two Champ Car races in 2003. He is the 2020 Super Copa GTM Champion. Formula racing Jourdain started ra ...

and

Tiago Monteiro Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One between 2005 and 2006 for the Jordan Grand Prix, Midland and Spyker MF1 teams – all different iterations of the s ...

. Terting and Rydell later made one-off appearances for the team, as did Nogués. Towards the end of the season SEAT debuted the

TDi TDI may refer to: Science and technology * Tolerable daily intake, in toxicology * Toluene diisocyanate, an organic chemical * Time delay and integration, timing synchronization in an image sensor * Tissue Doppler imaging, a medical ultrasound ...

diesel version of the León. In

, Jourdain left the team, as the team scaled down from a six-car to a five-car team. Yvan Muller won SEAT's first driver's championship in the WTCC and SEAT also won the manufacturers title. In

, SEAT Sport continued with the same five drivers, with French team

Oreca ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French auto racing, racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives, AGS. Or ...

assisting with the operation. Gabriele Tarquini won SEAT's second in-a-row driver's championship in the WTCC and SEAT won the manufacturers title for a second consecutive year. After winning two consecutive driver's and manufacturers titles, SEAT withdrew from the WTCC at the end of the 2009 season as a manufacturer-backed team. However, in January 2010, it was announced that they would provide backing to the newly formed

SR-Sport Sunred (short for ''Sun Race Engineering Development S.L.'') is a Spanish-based auto racing team and constructor. They are best known for competing in the World Touring Car Championship. Racing History While in the past Sunred had participated in ...

team run by SUNRED Engineering, while also confirming Gabriele Tarquini, Jordi Gene, Tiago Monteiro and

Tom Coronel Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim Coronel, Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Masters of Formula 3, Marlboro Mast ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

drivers, as Yvan Muller departed for the works

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

team. For

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, SEAT announced that they will return to the WTCC Season as a Customer Supply team, SEAT Sport supplied engines in 2012 to the Lukoil Racing Team who run two 1.6T cars driven by veteran SEAT Driver Gabriele Tarquini and Aleksei Dudukalo. They also supplied 1.6T Engines to the Tuenti Racing Team who ran cars for Pepe Oriola and Fernando Monje, Tuenti Racing Team driver Tiago Monteiro ran a SEAT Sport TDI engine for the first weekend but then switched to a 1.6T engine supplied by SUNRED. Special Tuning Racing have run both a 1.6T engine and 2.0 TDI engine both supplied by SEAT Sport, Daryll O'Young has only used the 1.6T engine but Tom Boardman used the 2.0TDI from the start of the season till round 7. SUNRED engineering ran a SEAT Sport 2.0TDI engine at the start of the season in Andrea Barlesi's car but then switched to the SUNRED 1.6T engine from rounds 2-3.

BTCC

Between

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

, SEAT Sport competed in the

, under the SEAT Sport UK banner.

drove for the team for five years, while

Rob Huff Robert "Rob" Peter Huff (born 25 December 1979) is a British racing driver currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing UK. He was the 2012 World Touring Car Championship champion and the 2020 Scandinavia ...

James Pickford James Pickford (born 30 April 1979 in Macclesfield, Cheshire) is a British race car driver. As a child his interest was in motorbikes; his father Keith ran bike racing teams. James started at the beginning in karts in 1994. For a while he was co ...

Luke Hines Luke Hines (born 4 May 1982 in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire) is a British racing driver. He is the son of former karting champion and Zip Kart founder/owner Martin Hines. Career After a small amount of open wheel racing in Formula Ford, Hines te ...

Darren Turner Darren Turner (born 13 April 1974) is a British racing driver and owner of Base Performance Simulators. He races for Aston Martin Racing as a Factory-backed, factory driver and also works as a high performance test driver for Aston Martin. He w ...

, James Thompson and WTCC regular Tom Coronel (as a one-off) also competed. Initially the cars were run by RML Group until they began concentrating on the Chevrolet WTCC project. Plato finished as championship runner-up in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 the TDi version was used, but reliability was a problem. Two teams continued to campaign petrol SEATs in the championship during

with Adam Jones and series returnee

Dan Eaves Daniel John Eaves (born 3 June 1975 in Worcestershire) is a British auto racing driver. He competed in the British Touring Car Championship between 2000 and 2005, and again in 2009, winning a total of six races (including a triple-race clean s ...

competitive for the Cartridge World Clyde Valley team, while

Gordon Shedden Gordon William Shedden (born 15 February 1979) is a British racing driver currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship for Speedworks Motorsport, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA. He has previously won the series on three occasion ...

drove for Clyde Valley for a couple of events before it withdrew, but he returned to drive a Leon for the Club Seat outfit. In

, Tom Boardman drove a petrol SEAT Leon Under the team name Special Tuning UK with sponsorship from Club SEAT.

Phil Glew Philip James Glew (born 28 June 1983 in Grimsby) is a British racing driver. He has previously competed in the British Touring Car Championship and British GT Championship. He is currently a commentator for ITV Sport's coverage support races on ...

joined Tom in a SEAT for one weekend at Silverstone racing under the team name of YourRacingCar.com but the car was run by Special Tuning UK. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, Boardman and

Dave Newsham David Robert Newsham (born 7 July 1967) is a British racing driver and businessman. He is the managing director of Norscott Vending. He raced in the British Touring Car Championship from 2011 to 2017, but in 2016, he competed in the British Rall ...

drove petrol SEATs under the team name Special Tuning Racing. Special Tuning Racing where not associated with SEAT Sport or SEAT Sport UK. Boardman came first in the third race at Knockhill.LeonOC New

/ref>

ETCR

Cupra joined FIA ETCR – eTouring Car World Cup, Pure ETCR, a new touring car series for electric cars, in the inaugural season in 2021 alongside

Hyundai Hyundai is a former South Korean industrial conglomerate ("''chaebol''"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Asan, a real estate construction ...

and

Romeo Ferraris Romeo Ferraris is an Italian tuning and auto racing team based in Milan, Italy. The team has raced in the TCR International Series, since 2016, and in the FIA ETCR – eTouring Car World Cup, since 2021. Previously the team had raced in the Supe ...

. Cupra partnered with

Zengő Motorsport Zengő Motorsport is a Hungary, Hungarian motor racing team founded by Zoltán Zengő. They currently compete in the 2025 Formula 4 CEZ Championship championship. The team used to compete in the World Touring Car Cup, World Touring Car Championshi ...

and fielded

Mattias Ekström Bengt Mattias Ekström (born 14 July 1978) is a racing and rally driver from Sweden. He competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Audi from 2001 until his retirement in 2018, and has been competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship ...

Mikel Azcona Mikel Azcona Troyas (born 25 June 1996) is a Spanish auto racing driver who competes in the World Touring Car Cup for PWR Racing. He won the TCR Europe Touring Car Series championship in 2018 and 2021 and the WTCR championship in 2022. Racing c ...

and Dániel Nagy as the drivers line-up. Cupra and Ekström finished the season as the manufacturers' and drivers' champions respectively. In

, the series achieved FIA World Cup status and drivers and manufacturers competed for the FIA ETCR – eTouring Car World Cup. Cupra partnered with

EKS RX EKS RX is a Swedish auto racing team founded by racing driver Mattias Ekström. The team is competing in FIA World Rallycross Championship since 2014 and entered the team championship in 2015. In January 2017 it was announced that the team woul ...

, a team founded by Ekström, as Cupra EKS. The team retained Ekström and Gené and signed

Tom Blomqvist Tom Leonard Blomqvist (born 30 November 1993) is a British racing driver. He competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with Meyer Shank Racing. Blomqvist also competes in the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA World Endurance Champion ...

and

Adrien Tambay Adrien Patrick Marie Maurice Tambay (born 25 February 1991) is a French professional racing driver. He currently is an official CUPRA driver and is the 2022 ETCR Champion. He is the son of former Formula One driver Patrick Tambay, who won two Gr ...

for the season. Cupra and Tambay finished the season as the manufacturers' and drivers' champions respectively. In March 2023, Discovery Sports Events, the promoter of the series, announced that they will not be continuing for the 2023 season citing unresolvable differences among the various stakeholders concerning the sporting and regulatory format.

Extreme E

In September 2020,

confirmed a partnership with Cupra to form Abt Cupra XE for the inaugural season of the

SUV

series

with Mattias Ekström and

Claudia Hürtgen Claudia Hürtgen (born 10 September 1971 in Aachen) is a German racing driver. Biography Hürtgen started her career in karting and moved to German Formula Three. In 1993, during the F3 invitational race of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, she suf ...

as the original driver lineup.

Jutta Kleinschmidt Jutta Kleinschmidt (born 29 August 1962) is a German competitor of offroad automotive racing events. She is known for her numerous showings in the Paris Dakar Rally, and notably for having won the event in 2001, becoming the first woman driver ...

replaced Hürtgen after Round 2 for the rest of the season. The team earned their maiden podium by finishing second in the Island X-Prix and finished the season in fifth place. Abt Cupra retained Kleinschmidt and signed

Nasser Al-Attiyah Nasser Salih Nasser Abdullah Al-Attiyah ( : nāṣir ṣāliḥ nāṣir ʿabd allāh al-ʿaṭiyyah; born 21 December 1970 in Doha) is a Qatari rally driver and sport shooter. He was the 2006 Production World Rally Champion, 2014 and 2015 WR ...

for the 2022 season. The team received special permission to modify the bodywork of the Spark Odyssey 21 with the

Cupra Tavascan The Cupra Tavascan is a battery electric compact crossover SUV (C-segment) to be produced by Volkswagen Anhui, a joint venture between Volkswagen (75%) and Chinese company JAC Group (25%), and sold by Cupra, a subsidiary of SEAT. The concept ...

Extreme E Concept design. Klara Andersson replaced Kleinschmidt for the last two rounds of the season. The team earned their second podium by finishing third in the Copper X-Prix and earned their first race victory in the Energy X-Prix. The team finished the season in sixth place. Abt Cupra entered the 2023 season with Andersson and Al-Attiyah and will also introduce a new Cupra Tavascan Extreme E Concept design. For Rounds 5 and 6, 2022 season champion

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He ho ...

replaced Al-Attiyah due to the event clashing with the Baja World Cup, of which Al-Attiyah is leading. Loeb replaced Al-Attiyah again for Rounds 7 and 8. The team clinched their first podium finishes of the season by finishing in second in Round 7 and third in Round 8 at the Island X-Prix II. Abt Cupra also secured their first best qualifier in Extreme E in Round 8.

will partner Andersson for the final two rounds of the season. The team suffered its first DNS on Round 9 after Andersson crashed after colliding with

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

Hedda Hosås Hedda Hosås (born 2 March 2001) is a Norwegian rallycross driver who currently serves as the development driver for the future Extreme H series. She most recently competed for McLaren in the 2023 Extreme E season. Biography Early career Havi ...

during qualifying. Abt Cupra finished the season in sixth place. In December 2023, Abt Cupra announced that the team will not return for the 2024 season to focus on Formula E but are open to entering the new

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

-based off-road racing series

Extreme H Extreme E was an FIA-sanctioned international off-road racing series that used spec silhouette electric SUVs to race in remote parts of the world, such as the Saudi Arabian desert or the Arctic. All racing locations were chosen to raise awaren ...

in 2025.

Formula E

In May 2022, Abt Sportsline, who left

after the 2020–21 season, announced they would return for the 2022–23 season with Cupra as Abt Cupra Formula E Team using powertrains from

Mahindra Racing Mahindra Racing is a motor racing team based in Banbury, England, competing with an Indian racing license. It is part of the Mahindra Group. The team is currently competing in the electric FIA Formula E Championship and has been since the inaugu ...

. The team signed

Nico Müller Nico Sebastian Müller (born 25 February 1992) is a Swiss people, Swiss professional Auto racing, racing driver currently competing in Formula E for Andretti Global, Andretti Formula E. Career Karting Müller began his karting career in 2004 a ...

and

Robin Frijns Robin Christiaan Maria Frijns (born 7 August 1991) is a Dutch racing driver. He most recently raced in Formula E with Envision Racing, and in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Team WRT as part of the BMW in motorsport, BMW factory driver l ...

as drivers for the team.

Kelvin van der Linde Kelvin van der Linde (born 20 June 1996) is a South African and German sports car racing driver for BMW Motorsport. He is a two-time champion of the ADAC GT Masters, having won the championship in 2014 and 2019, and won the 24 Hours of Nürbur ...

was signed to replaced Frijns after the latter suffered a wrist and hand fracture at the Mexico City e-Prix. Mahindra withdrew from the Cape Town e-Prix after the qualifying session due to safety concerns over the rear suspension. Abt Cupra, as Mahindra's customer, withdrew as well. The team finished last in the Teams' Championship. Frijns left the team for the 2023–24 season. He was replaced by former Abt

Audi Sport {{Commons category, World Rally Championship teams Teams A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of ...

driver and 2016–17 series champion

Lucas di Grassi Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian racing driver, who competes in Formula E for Lola Yamaha ABT. In formula racing, di Grassi competed in Formula One in , and won the 2016–17 Formula E Championship with Abt. In endu ...

. In April 2024, it was reported that Abt's powertrain deal with Mahindra will end at the conclusion of the 2023–24 season and will be using

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lol ...

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

powertrains for the 2024–25 season onwards. The team will enter the season as Lola Yamaha Abt Formula E Team, leaving Cupra's partnership status up in the air. In November, it was announced that Lola has taken over Abt's Formula E entrants' licence, ending Cupra's run with the team. A month later, ahead of the 2024 São Paulo ePrix weekend, Cupra partnered with

to enter the 2024–25 season as Cupra Kiro.

Racing results

WRC Results

Extreme E results

Racing overview

Racing summary

Complete Extreme E results

(Races in bold indicate best qualifiers; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest super sector)

Formula E results

; Notes * * – Season still in progress. * – Driver was fastest in group qualifying stage and was given one championship point. * † – Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

References

External links

*
SEAT Sport

{{Extreme E teams SEAT Automotive motorsports and performance companies World Rally Championship teams World Touring Car Championship teams British Touring Car Championship teams Official motorsports and performance division of automakers Red Bull sports clubs and teams Auto racing teams established in 1985 Spanish racecar constructors Car brands