Competition runs in our genes - just as it did 30 years ago. So buckle up for a few laps around SEAT's high-powered, history of racing. It was in the early seventies when SEAT made its first serious steps into motorsport by creating a racing formula for the Spanish circuits. And, being a SEAT formula, obviously we won every race! By the end of the seventies, racing started to give way to rally events. With the SEAT 1430 - known as 'The Rally Taxis' (the model was often used as a taxi in Spain) - SEAT achieved several international successes, among which was the Manufacturers Trophy in the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally of 1977. By 1985 SEAT had created its own motorsport branch, SEAT Sport. Soon after Audi won its World Rally titles with the Quattro and SEAT began rally racing in Spain with its own 4 wheel-drive. At this stage however, SEAT did not have the resources to develop a sophisticated 4 wheel-drive transmission, so it did it its own way: by fitting two engines into an Ibiza (one front and one rear) and transmitting power from each to one set of axles. It was SEAT’s first 4 wheel-drive car and it won several rallies in Spain in the ‘86 and ‘87 seasons. Afterwards SEAT returned to front-wheel drive and won their class of the Spanish Rally Championship with the tiny Marbella. 1996 to 1998 proved highly successful with the Ibiza Kit-Car taking three World Rally Championship titles in the 2-litre class. After that hat trick we stepped up to the first division of the World Rally Championship with the Cordoba World Rally Car. At the end of 2000 SEAT Sport announced a new direction: SEAT Sport shifted its focus from exclusive devotion to motorsport, towards development and production of the brand's top performance vehicles. Cars like the 150hp/114kw Ibiza Cupra R prototype or, more recently, the 225hp/165kw Leon Cupra R are the latest products of SEAT Sport's new orientation. Special attention has always been given to the promotion of young drivers in various national cups and promotional formulas. In 2007 the SEAT pilots made history when Yvan Muller came first in his SEAT Leon TDI at a WTCC race in Oschersleben: Never before had a car equipped with a diesel engine won a FIA competition. Three years after their return to official competitions, in 2006, SEAT finished their best season as runners-up in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), bettered only by BMW. In 2005 the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) was created in which SEAT participated with the evolution of the Toledo Cupra, although in the final stretch the SEAT Leon became the official vehicle. SEAT repeated their success of the campaign of 2004 to finish in third position once again. In 2004 SEAT consolidated their official race team with an excellent season in the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC), and came third. 2003 is officially the year when SEAT got back on track in the international competitions, more precisely joining the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) at the helm of the Toledo Cupra. The second edition of the SEAT Leon Supercopa was a momentous event with more than 100,000 spectators. Also, the Toledo GT became the star of the show in the first ever season of the Spanish Touring Car Championship. With the aim to focus on racing from 2003 onwards, SEAT Sport organised the SEAT Leon Supercopa in Spain in 2002. Held with 250 hp versions of the Leon Cupra R, it's the fastest promotional cup based on touring cars. Topped off with the latest high-performance vehicle - the Cupra for 'Cup Racing' - there's no doubt about the direction of SEAT for the future: To compete and win on every circuit, from Catalunya to a ‘trip down the shops’.