In 1996, SEAT made its debut in the 2-Litre FIA World Rally Championship for Makes with the Ibiza Kit Car - and took the world title in its first season. In 1997 SEAT Sport unveiled an evolution of the championship-winning car, the Ibiza Kit Car E2, and won the title again with an impressive run of eight victories in a row.

A resounding success that continued in 1998, with the third title in a row in the 2-Litre Cup for the Ibiza Kit Car, at the same time when SEAT was preparing its debut in the top category with the Córdoba WRC. SEAT’s teamwork and technological ability were the key factors for success.

The Ibiza Kit Car had marked SEAT’s return to world rallying for the first time since the Group 4 124-1800 heroics on the 1977 Monte-Carlo Rally, with the Spanish works cars third and fourth overall. In the tough world championship rallies, the Ibiza Kit Car turned out to be the best all-rounder in the 2-litre category, highly competitive both on gravel and tarmac, and clearly proving the virtues of the excellent platform of the SEAT Ibiza.

After winning the title in 1996, a season that actually should have been an apprenticeship period, SEAT began the 1997 season still with the Ibiza Kit Car E1, which added two more podiums, in Monte-Carlo and Portugal. At the same time, SEAT was developing the E2, with a new chassis, a more powerful engine, and improved suspensions and brakes. The debut of the E2 took place in the 1997 Catalunya-Costa Brava Rally, with the unit driven by Oriol Gómez, with the new engine but still with the previous E1 chassis.

The actual premiere of the E2 was the Argentina Rally, a tough event in which SEAT finished 1-2 with Harri Rovanperä and Oriol Gómez. It was the beginning of SEAT’s dominant run in the World Championship, with eight straight victories, 6 from Rovanperä and 2 from Gómez. SEAT took the lead in the championship with the latter's victory in the Greek Acropolis and finished the season with more than twice as many points as the rest of the makes.

Designed under the guidance of Benoît Bagur, the SEAT Ibiza Kit Car E2 was clearly recognizable by the body colour. While the E1’s star colour was kiwi yellow, the E2 got the distinctive Bengal yellow that would become synonymous with SEAT in the WRC, even during the Córdoba WRC era. This colour was also sported by the limited series Ibiza CUPRA 2, launched at the 1998 Geneva Motor Show.

With two consecutive titles in the bag, the 1998 season was to be historic for SEAT. Not only did the team win a third 2-litre World title with the Ibiza Kit Car E2, but by mid-season it also made its debut in the top category with the Córdoba WRC. Mixing WRC’s leading categories with two different cars was a major technical and logistical challenge for SEAT Sport. For example, in Rally Australia the team run a formidable five-car squad, two Cordobas WRC and three Ibizas Kit Car E2.

In 1998, the Ibiza Kit Car E2 was distinguished from the 1997 version by new round headlights on the front. Of the five victories achieved by the E2 that year, the most impressive one was the Safari Rally in Kenya. In the toughest rally event in the world (a 3-day marathon of 2,200 kilometres in the African savannah), Rovanperä not only won the category, but finished in an amazing fifth place overall, in a rally that both the brand and the driver contested for the first time. The result proved once more the reliability, competitiveness and strength of the Ibiza Kit Car, as well as the professionalism of SEAT Sport’s team members on a challenging new event for them.

Ahead of 1999, SEAT left the 2-litre category to focus on the overall championship with the Córdoba WRC. Thus, the Ibiza Kit Car remained undefeated throughout its time in the World Rally Championship, with 14 victories in three seasons. However, it is not far-fetched to claim that the Ibiza Kit Car could have added a fourth title if SEAT had not made the jump to the top category: in the first 1999 rally, in Monte-Carlo, SEAT driver Toni Gardemeister still took a privately-run Ibiza Kit Car E2 to victory.

SEAT HISTÓRICOS keeps two units of the Ibiza Kit Car: an E1 from the 1996 Rally of Great Britain and the E2 driven by Harri Rovanperä in Monte-Carlo in 1998. This unit is preserved in perfect running order and in 2014, SEAT’s Ibiza 30th anniversary year, took part in the exhibition of classic rally cars in the WRC Rally Catalunya-Costa Daurada, together with the Group B Ibiza and the Group 2 Panda, which are also part of SEAT’s Collection.