Diving into the motorsport scene head first, SEAT announced the launch of a new once-make race series called Leon Eurocup. The six-weekend event reinforces the brand’s commitment to customer racing, and also helps find buyers for their all-new Leon Cup Racer.

Beginning in May 2014, SEAT Leon Eurocup will span six European countries offering a fair and level playground for Leon Cup customers to flex their motorsport muscle against identical cars. The Leon Cup race car is a fairly serious machine with 330PS and full racing gear. It is also one of the most affordable ways of doing professional motorsport.

Compared to the standard Leon, the race car features a massive aero kit with wide arches, large air intakes, ginormous splitters and spoilers, as well as 18-inch wheels with slick racing tires. Inside, there is a multi-function steering wheel and the high-resolution TFT display, a racing seat, and that’s about it. This business-like approach makes the Leon Cup fantastic joy to drive.

The car is still front wheel drive, which is a bit of a worry when you have a 330PS two-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged engine. But it comes with a trick differential and a six-speed DSG dual-clutch gearbox operated from the steering wheel that can handle all of the 400 nm of torque rather beautifully. So it should be alright.

The cost of SEAT Leon Cup race car is 70,000 Euros, which is no money at all for a racing car. What’s more, SEAT is promising substantial, attractive prize money for the winners of the Eurocup series. The exact race calendar will be defined over the next few weeks. Each weekend will run from Friday to Sunday and includes two free training sessions, qualification, and two races.