Evo pitted the Leon Cupra R against the Lotus Elise Club Racer in its November track battle feature, to see how a regular hot hatch fared against a lightweight sports car.
“I’m expecting good things from the SEAT because I’ve driven it here [on the West Circuit at Bedford Autodrome] before on an Evo track evening, where it felt impressively quick and exploitable,” wrote Roger Green. “The lap time of 1.28.7 is a very good one – only 0.9 seconds off the track-focused [Renault Megané].”
“The [143PS] Club Racer is faster through the quick corners, but it isn’t quite quick enough all-round to overcome the power-to-weight advantage of the Cupra, completing the lap half a second behind,” said Green. “Tighter ratios alone may have been enough to swing the balance, though there is no doubt this hot hatch was a very worthy adversary and makes a very entertaining trackday machine.”