SEAT will continue to compete at the highest level at the 2008 World Touring Car Championship with a team made up of four drivers from the 2006 roster - Jordi Gené, Tiago Monteiro, Yvan Muller, and Gabriele Tarquini, who will be joined by former Seat driver Rykard Rydell, who is returning to the WTCC with backing from the Spanish maker. 

This year, Seat was runner-up for both the manufacturers’ and drivers’ titles after putting in a magnificent performance that kept them in the running for both distinctions up until the last race held in Macau. At the same time, Seat made racing history with the first victory achieved by a Diesel powered car, the León TDI WTCC, at a FIA World track racing Championship.

Despite the misfortune that prevented the team from clinching a well-deserved title in the last race, the team faces the new season with renewed spirits after proving to be the only ones able to fully and simultaneously develop both its petrol and Diesel engines. 

Jaime Puig, Seat Sport director: “Next year we’ll have a team of five expert drivers who have all been up on a podium and started from pole position. I’m sure we’ll once again be highly competitive and strive to take home the world manufacturers’ and drivers’ titles. With the first race on Brazil’s Curitiba track on 2 March, the 2008 WTCC features 11 race events with the last one held in Macau on 16 November.

As announced by Seat last October in Monza, one of the highlighted novelties of the 2008 season is that the WTCC meetings to be held in Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, France and England will also play host to the new Seat León Eurocup, the European-wide competition featured after the success of the Supercopa Seat León in several countries. Like the WTCC, it will also get broadcast live on television.