The SEAT Leon Supercopa was the star of the first editions of the Supercopa Leon, a spectacular one-make championship created and organized by SEAT from 2002. The Leon Supercopa was so effective and competitive that it even prevailed in endurance races such as the Barcelona 24 Hours.

The Leon Supercopa was the first step in SEAT's return to international competition once the cycle in the World Rally Championship was over. SEAT Sport then focused on the development and production of exclusive high-performance models called CUPRA R, in collaboration with the Martorell Technical Centre. The most powerful was the SEAT Leon CUPRA R, unveiled as a prototype at the 2001 Barcelona Motor Show, which went on sale from April 2002.

In parallel with the development of the final production model, SEAT Sport developed a racing version that gave life to the one-make Supercopa Leon championship from 2002. The standard SEAT Leon CUPRA R delivered 210 HP, which in the Leon Supercopa increased to 251 HP, thanks to the specific work of SEAT Sport. Thus, the Supercopa Leon became the most powerful one-make touring car championship in Europe.

The Leon Supercopa cars were built at SEAT Sport from scratch, from a standard body reinforced on the Martorell factory assembly line. The gearbox was standard, an H-pattern 6-speed manual (it became sequential in the Leon Supercopa II). The result was a customer-racing car with a high level of performance, handling and reliability.

The Spanish Supercopa Leon was a resounding success since the first year, both with drivers and the public. SEAT did a great deal of promotion to attract spectators to the racing tracks, which allowed up to 80,000 people in the grandstands. The racing show was of a high standard, with hard-fought races between 25 identical cars, which brought out the talent and courage of the drivers.

The success of the first edition of the Spanish Supercopa Leon encouraged SEAT to export the Supercopa recipe to other countries. In 2003, coinciding with the debut of the SEAT Toledo CUPRA in the European Touring Car Championship, the Supercopa Leon landed in Great Britain (under the name SEAT CUPRA Championship) and, from 2004, in Germany.

The Supercopa Leon was contested for four seasons with the SEAT Leon Supercopa I. When the second generation of the SEAT Leon was launched in 2005, SEAT Sport developed the Leon Supercopa II, even more powerful, which became the Supercopa Leon car from 2006.

The champions of the Spanish Supercopa Leon at the wheel of the Leon Supercopa I were Joan Vinyes (2002), Luis Miguel Reyes (2003), Marc Carol (2004) and Òscar Nogués (2005). In keeping with the tradition of promoting the best drivers out of the SEAT one-make championships, the last two contested some World Touring Car Championship races as works SEAT drivers. For his part, Rob Huff, the first SEAT CUPRA Champion in 2003, became World Touring Car Champion in 2012, confirming the value of the Supercopa Leon as a platform for promoting drivers.

The popularity of the Supercopa Leon, and the competitiveness and reliability of the Leon Supercopa, led many drivers to run the cars in other competitions, especially endurance racing. For example, the SEAT Leon Supercopa I swept the podium at the 2005 Barcelona 24 Hours at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

This Leon Supercopa that is part of the SEAT HISTÓRICOS Collection was the winning car at the 2005 Barcelona 24 Hours, driven by former F1 driver Luis Pérez-Sala, Marcel Costa and Manel Cerqueda Sr. and Jr. It was a historic win, because they completed 643 laps of the track and broke the event’s previous record of 625 laps covered.