In 1999 the SEAT Cordoba WRC completed its first full season in the World Rally Championship. Midway through the year, SEAT Sport unveiled an evolution of the prototype, the Cordoba WRC Evo 2, with a renewed image according to the restyling of the mass-production model. The Cordoba WRC E2 would get two more podiums for SEAT in the World Championship.

SEAT had just achieved its first podium in the World Rally Championship in 22 years, at the 1999 Rally New Zealand. However, the team continued to progress and in the next event, in Finland, the SEAT Cordoba WRC E2 made its debut - it was an evolution of the prototype that had been run for the first time exactly one year before in that same event.

The result could not have been more positive: Harri Rovanperä scored the fastest time in one of the stages - the second scratch of the Cordoba WRC in the World Championship - and finished fifth overall, while his teammate Toni Gardemeister was sixth, just behind him. For the first time, SEAT had placed two Cordobas WRC in the top 6 of a World Championship rally.

The SEAT Cordoba WRC E2 was clearly distinguished from its predecessor because it replicated the renewed aesthetics of the mass-production Cordoba, which in May 1999 had received a restyling, with a new front end with redesigned headlights and air intake divided into three openings. Actually, the Cordoba WRC E2 was unveiled at the 1999 Barcelona Motor Show, at the same time as the restyling of the standard Cordoba.

During the event, SEAT's rally car won the first prize for the Best Technological Innovations in the Automotive Sector, awarded by the Society of Automotive Technicians and the Automobile Motor Show. The jury particularly appreciated that the Cordoba WRC E2 was the first World Rally Car racing vehicle developed entirely by a European manufacturer, using the latest design, simulation and analysis technologies.

The E2 was also fitted with a new rear wing and was slightly longer than the E1, although the wheelbase remained the same. For its part, the engine had a new turbocharger, with a faster response, and all the differentials were active (also the rear one, which was still mechanical in the Cordoba WRC E1). Some of the old Cordoba WRC E1s were modified to the new E2 specifications.

The 1999 season continued with good results, with Rovanperä's fifth in China and sixth in Australia. Finally, in the last event of the year, the Rally of Great Britain, the Finnish driver bid farewell to SEAT in style with third place, the second podium of the year for the Cordoba WRC. The result consolidated SEAT's fifth place in the World Championship standings, among the seven works brands in competition. In addition to Rovanperä and Gardemeister, Piero Liatti and Gwyndaf Evans also drove the Cordoba WRC E2 in one-off rallies.

SEAT's progression in the World Rally Championship continued in 2000, with the signing of former 1994 world champion Didier Auriol as Gardemeister's teammate (Salvador Cañellas jr. would also drive a third Cordoba WRC E2 at Rally Catalunya). After Gardemeister's magnificent fourth position in the Monte-Carlo Rally, in Kenya's Safari Rally the Cordoba WRC E2 starred in arguably the most competitive performance of SEAT in the World Championship.

At the Safari, Auriol was fastest in the first section of the rally. SEAT therefore led the overall classification of a World Championship event for the first time in its history. The French driver remained on podium positions throughout the rally and arrived third in Nairobi, after 2,691 kilometres of total distance, of which 1,047 were competitive sections. The Cordoba WRC E2 had proved its competitiveness and reliability in what was considered the world's toughest rally.

SEAT HISTÓRICOS keeps in the Collection the very same chassis with which Auriol finished third in the 2000 Safari Rally, the 14th of the 20 Cordobas WRC built. This prototype is preserved as it was run in the African event, which required modifications that clearly distinguish it from the rest of Cordobas WRC. Thus, the Safari car is fitted with a snorkel on the front hood to ensure air intake in case of wading across a river and a bulky protective shield on the front, as well as long-travel suspensions and a reinforced body. It also has two spare wheels and a 35 litre auxiliary fuel tank.

The SEAT Cordoba WRC E2 continued to compete during the 2000 season until Rally New Zealand. In the next event, again in Finland, the Cordoba WRC E3 would make its debut - the latest evolution of the rally car designed by SEAT Sport in collaboration with SEAT's Technical Center in Martorell.