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Cupra Electric Racing Car Hits The Track With 680 PS

Revealed in March at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, the Cupra e-Racer isn’t your average SEAT Leon. The “fully electric touring racecar” is now ready to rumble, with Cupra choosing a racetrack in Zagreb, Croatia to test the newcomer.
2019 Cupra e-Racer 9 photos
Photo: SEAT
Live: SEAT's CUPRA e-RacerLive: SEAT's CUPRA e-RacerLive: SEAT's CUPRA e-RacerLive: SEAT's CUPRA e-RacerLive: SEAT's CUPRA e-RacerLive: SEAT's CUPRA e-RacerLive: SEAT's CUPRA e-RacerLive: SEAT's CUPRA e-Racer
Even though it looks like a Leon, this e-Racer has 6,072 batteries instead of a fuel tank. What can be described as the equivalent to 9,000 mobile phones help the e-Racer accelerate to 65 mph (105 kph) in 3.2 seconds. 125 miles per hour (201 kph), on the other hand, comes in as little time as 8.2 seconds according to Cupra.

Tested in high-temperature conditions, the e-Racer is “ready to tackle the challenges of competition.” That’s right, ladies and gents! Cupra will enter this fellow in the E TCR championship. Expected to go official as early as 2019, the Electric Touring Car Racing series has a lot of potential considering how popular Formula E is nowadays.

There’s hearsay SEAT plans to launch the all-new Leon in 2020, and with it, an all-electric Cupra performance model. Make no mistake about it, what the automaker will learn on the racing track from the e-Racer, that know-how is certain to make it into the production model.

“With the Cupra e-Racer, we want to bring racing to the next level,” declared Matthias Rabe, vice-president for research & development. “We believe we can help reinvent motorsport and achieve success.” Dr. Rabe also believes that “motorsport is one of the pillars of Cupra,” though that claim isn’t exactly factual considering how young Cupra is.

The Cupra went from performance division to standalone sub-brand at the end of January 2018. Adding insult to injury, the Cupra Ateca isn’t anything else but a SEAT crossover with the 300-horsepower engine from the Volkswagen Golf R. So please, Mr. Rabe, don’t try to wax lyrical about something that isn’t true. Last, but certainly not least, bear in mind that Cupra also replaces the motorsport and racing division of the Spanish automaker, known as SEAT Sport from 1985 up to 2018.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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