Editing SEAT (section)

=== Rallying ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2024}}
SEAT's first serious attempt at a [[World Rally Championship]] (WRC) was in the [[1977 World Rally Championship season|1977 season]] when SEAT took part with its SEAT 1430/124D Especial 1800 race car, and in its debut rallying event at the [[Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo|Montecarlo Rally]], the SEAT team finished in the third and fourth places with the official 1430-1800 cars being driven by Antonio Zanini and Salvador Cañellas. In recent years, the consignment was placed on the small [[SEAT Ibiza]], a 1.6-L, normally aspirated, [[front-wheel drive]] car with its roots in the [[Volkswagen Polo]]. The Ibiza allowed the company to evolve its rallying experience further and was officially engaged in some European national championships. The years went by until a 2-L version of the Ibiza was [[homologation|homologated]] as a kit car, and extra wide tracks, larger wheels, brakes, etc., were fitted to it as the [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]] (FIA) kit-car regulations allow. With these attributes, the car won the 2-Litre World Rally Cup three times (1996, 1997, 1998), proving its maker had accumulated enough experience, and budget, to move to the top category, the [[World Rally Car]] class of rallying cars.
[[File:SEAT Cordoba D. Sola (R.cangas).jpg|thumb|[[Daniel Solà]] driving the [[SEAT Córdoba]] WRC at the Rallye de Tierra de Cangas del Narcea]]

SEAT's three conquests of the FIA 2L WRC title, and the sport's popularity in Spain, probably convinced [[Volkswagen Group]] management to go further and allow the [[SEAT Sport]] department a chance to reach its goal in the top-class WRC category. This situation ended in September 2000, when the company's German upper management revoked its decision forcing SEAT Sport to retire from the World Rally Championship.

SEAT's project to build a WRC-spec car was officially announced during the 1997 San Remo rally. It was in 1998 that the first evolution of the [[SEAT Córdoba]] WRC car was presented at the Porto Motor Show and then first enrolled by the company to compete at the highest level of WRC racing. The Córdoba was based on the family saloon of the same name but was, naturally, a WRC class car equipped with an [[Straight-four engine|inline-four]] [[turbocharger|turbocharged]] [[petrol engine]], permanent [[four-wheel drive]], and active differentials involved in its transmission. The Córdoba WRC made its debut at the 1998 [[Rally Finland|Rally of Finland]], while a further race car development was incarnated on the SEAT Córdoba WRC E2 which was presented at the Barcelona Motor Show in 1999. However, the short [[wheelbase]] and high-mounted [[internal combustion|engine]] (compared to its rivals) worked against the Córdoba and results were not competitive. Despite hiring ex-WRC champion [[Didier Auriol]], and a new [[evolution]] of the car, the SEAT Córdoba WRC E3, SEAT pulled out of international rallying at the end of 2000.