SEAT revamps one-make series
Although SEAT Sport UK is yet to finalise details of costs, the cars are set to be offered as part of an all-in package which will give teams a ready-to-race car and a full season's entry fees. The cars cost 48,000 euros new, but are expected to be significantly cheaper to attract the necessary competitors. The regulations dictating testing and car set-up will also be relaxed, with full details of the format and regulations to be announced at Donington Park on September 25/26.
The series, which is contracted to the TOCA package until 2005 at present, is scheduled to run an expanded calendar next season, and could run at all BTCC races barring Mondello Park.
SEAT Sport UK national motorsport manager Dennis said: "We've struggled to fill grids. For whatever reason no-one wants to race in a one-make championship run under one roof. You could say that we've reacted to market forces. We could have walked away, but we didn't. We've made some changes, and we think these are the changes people want."
Although SEAT's contract with TOCA currently runs only until the end of next season, the company is eager to establish the championship in this form in the longer term.
Dennis said: "We will run it to at least 2006, and who knows what the future will be with the second- generation Leon Cupras. Maybe it could even become like the Volkswagen Racing Cup, with a number of different SEAT models competing in it."
A number of existing Cupra Championship racers have expressed their support for the change in emphasis of the category. Cupra frontrunner Gordon Shedden said: "More freedom with the set-up and preparation of the cars will make the championship a lot more appealing. It's good, as grids have not been so good this year."
This Week with Will Buxton: Episode 5
This Week with Will Buxton: Episode 3
How to Stay Out of Crashes
This Week with Will Buxton: Episode 1
The one-time Schumacher rival rebooting his career Down Under
Joey Mawson made waves in the middle of the last decade, beating future Haas Formula 1 driver Mick Schumacher - among other highly-rated talents - to the 2016 German F4 title. A run in F1's feeder GP3 category only caused his career to stall, but now back in Australia Mawson's S5000 title success has set that to rights
The lesson football’s would-be wreckers could learn from racing
OPINION: The greed-driven push for a European Super League that threatened to tear football apart is collapsing at the seams. Motor racing's equivalent, the football-themed Superleague Formula series of 2008-11, was everything that the proposed ESL never could be
The F1 and Indy 'nearly man' that found contentment in Japan
Having had the door to F1 slammed in his face and come within three laps of winning the Indianapolis 500, the collapse of a Peugeot LMP1 shot meant Japan was Bertrand Baguette's last chance of a career. But it's one which he has grasped with both hands
The female all-rounder who arrived "too early"
From Formula 3 to truck racing, Dakar and EuroNASCAR via a winning stint in the DTM, there's not much Ellen Lohr hasn't seen in a stellar racing career that highlights the merit in being a generalist. But she believes her career came too early...
How Radical's latest machines fare on track
The lightweight sportscar manufacturer has not rewritten the rulebook with its latest machines, but the new SR3 XX and SR10 still provide a step forward on its previous successful models
The real-life racing rogues stranger than fiction
The forthcoming Netflix film linking the world of underworld crime and motorsport plays on a theme that isn't exactly new. Over the years, several shady figures have attempted to make it in racing before their dubious dealings caught up with them
How a GP is thriving in a COVID-free territory
The New Zealand Grand Prix's mix of rising talent and big-name stars thrilled the crowds (yes, remember crowds?) assembled for the Toyota Racing Series meeting at Hampton Downs last weekend and left distant observers craving a repeat
How a much-changed Macau GP kept the party going
OPINION: The 67th edition of the Macau Grand Prix might have been a largely muted affair to the outside world without its international influx and star line-ups, another victim to the COVID-19 pandemic, but organisers deserve huge credit for keeping the party going
