SEAT WRC E2 DEBUTS AT THIS WEEKEND'S FINLAND RALLY

Ready to do battle for the first time yesterday (August 20) was the brand new SEAT WRC E2 which makes its entrance in Finland in the World Rally Championship. The new Cordoba road car's debut is at the London Motor Show on October 20. This is a brilliant marketing move.

Launched with the distinctive exterior styling and grille treatment of the new street legal Cordoba range, the SEAT WRC E2 also sports the striking new SEAT red and silver corporate identity that marks the brand's recent dramatic transformation from unreliable and cheap to sporty, exciting cars. The SEAT range is now taken as a serious rival for established marques such as Alfa Romeo. SEAT's attack on the rally world has surely helped in this.

This 300 bhp, four-wheel-drive monster is the very latest rally car to emerge from the highly successful Barcelona-based SEAT Sport team. The official factory team will be looking to better its third place finish in New Zealand last month achieved with the outgoing, original SEAT WRC car.

SEAT is fast gaining a sporting reputation following the huge success of the Ibiza supermini which took the F2 World Rally Championship three years in a row. This weekend two SEAT WRC E2s will attack the gruelling 234 miles of challenging gravel roads in Finland over three frantic days in the Thousand Lakes Rally piloted by two flying Finns with vital local knowledge.

Uniquely SEAT builds its own rally cars at its factory at Martorell near Barcelona. While the new road-going Cordoba range is launched with 75 bhp, 1.6-litre and 90 bhp TDi engines, the SEAT WRC generates an enormous 300 bhp as well as 376ft.lbs of torque - three times that of the road versions! The competition car also differs in having six-speeds with a sequential gearbox, three active differentials and huge 18-inch wheels when in tarmac trim. Other than that, add the stickers........

Neil Blackbourn is in Finland right now, and we will have a full report and photographs from him when he returns. However, for an current update on the rally positions, click here....

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