Building the CUPRA e-Racer electric race car was an unprecedented move by Spanish car maker SEAT. Naturally, they want to milk the thing for all it’s worth, beginning with a new electric racing series called the E TCR, which is a touring car championship for electric machines. 

It would be ideal for SEAT to enter the CUPRA e-Racer in the regular TCR championship to show how much better the electric powertrain in this car is compared with the petrol units in the “old-fashioned” race cars. But that wouldn’t be fair to the other cars, since the e-Racer makes around 680 horsepower, which is nearly double what a petrol-powered touring car makes. So they are considering guest appearances for the e-Racer in in some of the TCR events during the 2018 season in order to make some hype for the E TCR series which kicks off in 2019.

CUPRA e-Racer is a pretty remarkable machine. It weighs 400 kg more than the regular CUPRA TCR, but bests its performance with 0 to 100 km/h acceleration in 3.2 seconds and 0 to 200 km/h in 8.2 seconds.

SEAT Vice-president for R&D, Dr. Matthias Rabe, said that “we are committed to the E TCR because we are convinced that the future of competition is in electric engines. Just as the SEAT Leon Cup Racer laid the technical foundations of the TCR championship, once again we are blazing trails in this new experience.” For this reason, Dr. Rabe encourages “the rest of the car manufacturers to join us in this amazing adventure.”