{"id":293918,"date":"2023-05-07T02:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-07T02:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=293918"},"modified":"2023-05-07T03:59:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T03:59:11","slug":"the-little-known-spanish-car-to-take-australia-by-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=293918","title":{"rendered":"The little-known Spanish car to take Australia by storm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cupra. It&#x27;s a name that&#x27;s relatively new to the Australian car market but one which is ready to make some noise.<\/p>\n<p>The Spanish brand \u2013 otherwise known as SEAT in other parts of the world \u2013 is a subsidiary of Volkswagen.<\/p>\n<p>The Cupra name is only five years old and in Australia just four models are sold; two SUVs (Formentor and Ateca) and two hatchbacks (Leon and Born).<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Stan Sport is the only place to watch the 2023 SpeedSeries.<\/strong><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/9.nine.com.au\/DnH61N\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><strong>All the action streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Cupra makes two race cars, a two-litre, turbocharged, four-cylinder version of the Leon and an all-electric option.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"41cc35bc-8474-4f07-9c08-c80943eab81c\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/41cc35bc-8474-4f07-9c08-c80943eab81c\" alt=\"The Cupra Leon Competicion makes 340hp.\" data-width=\"1490\" data-height=\"839\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now, one of the two-litre terrors has arrived in Australia and will be steered by Michael Clemente in the TCR Australia Series.<\/p>\n<p>It will make its debut at Phillip Island on May 12-14 as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/speedseries\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"SpeedSeries\">SpeedSeries<\/a> program, which also features GT World Challenge Australia, S5000, Trans Am, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/motorsport\/f1-2023-miami-grand-prix-lando-norris-oscar-piastri-pushing-me-harder-than-daniel-ricciardo-comments-practice-results\/750af3b9-5f62-402e-b50d-348c61111434\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>&#x27;Different&#x27;: Ex-teammate&#x27;s stinging Ricciardo swipe<\/strong><\/a><strong>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/tennis\/news-2023-madrid-open-aryna-sabalenka-beats-iga-swiatek-for-first-time-on-clay\/6cca7bd9-ec32-426c-81d2-018fc78c9e3a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Sabalenka claims Madrid title in &#x27;unreal&#x27; final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/news-2023-wayne-bennett-press-conference-dolphins-win-cronulla-sharks-valynce-te-whare-debut-haka\/e146f579-954c-44c6-8954-f4b9d5e0b667\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"\"><strong>Bennett&#x27;s ominous warning about gun debutant<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To date, Clemente has driven a Honda Civic Type R and an Audi RS3 LMS in the touring car class.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"82b89982-7a46-4711-a72d-5cd0f312eb0c\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/82b89982-7a46-4711-a72d-5cd0f312eb0c\" alt=\"Michael Clemente will become the first TCR Australia Series driver to race a Cupra.\" data-width=\"1902\" data-height=\"1070\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Cupra has mass appeal as one of the most successful cars in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>The car outputs 340hp and goes from a standstill to 100km\/h in just 4.5 seconds \u2013 reaching top speeds of 265 km\/h.<\/p>\n<p>It&#x27;s hoped moving to the Cupra Leon Competition will boost Clemente&#x27;s chances of scoring an elusive first race win.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;During 2022, the team and I had numerous conversations about where we go from here and how do we get there,&quot; Clemente said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;We know that as a privateer team, we have to be very careful about how and where we spend our funds, but at the same time, set out a plan to challenge, regularly, for podium places.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Once we all agreed on the plan, which was the easy part, we then had to work out how to make it happen.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"9d530ac1-e6aa-4e72-ae61-1d502dd10cb9\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/9d530ac1-e6aa-4e72-ae61-1d502dd10cb9-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"The new Cupra Leon Competicion with Michael Clemente&#x27;s old Audi RS3 LMS behind it.\" data-width=\"3000\" data-height=\"1688\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Clemente&#x27;s efforts are being aided by world-renowned DJ Carl Cox, who took naming rights of the team, this year.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Without the amazing support of Carl, none of this would be possible,&quot; said Clemente.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Back in November, given my experience of the Audi, and the MPC (Melbourne Performance Centre) team, we decided on Cupra.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;They had just started selling cars in Australia, but we would also be the only ones running a Cupra in the series.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;We ordered the car from Cupra, and knowing it would not make round one, set our sights on round two \u2013 and it just made it.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"f2c9d3ae-4922-4fa9-80be-abe60ab766ec\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/f2c9d3ae-4922-4fa9-80be-abe60ab766ec-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Clemente&#x27;s Cupra arrived just a week before the second round of the TCR Australia Series.\" data-width=\"3000\" data-height=\"1688\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0&quot;The new car really lightens up the entire picture. It truly is like a fresh start, and to be able to fight with this new and proven equipment is unreal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;ve never been so hungry in my life before.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>The car arrived in Australia just a week out from the second round of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Cupra becomes the seventh different manufacturer after Peugeot, Audi, Hyundai, Honda, Alfa Romeo and Lynk &amp; Co to join the series.<\/p>\n<p>Round two of the TCR Australia Series at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit will mark the first time Cupra and Lynk &amp; Co have featured in the category.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/login.nine.com.au\/edm?client_id=wwos&amp;redirect_uri=https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au&amp;newsletter=true\"><em><strong>clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><em><strong>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Cupra. It&#x27;s a name that&#x27;s relatively new to the Australian car market but one which is ready to make some noise. The Spanish brand \u2013 <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=293918\" title=\"The little-known Spanish car to take Australia by storm\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":293920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293918"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=293918"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293925,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293918\/revisions\/293925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/293920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=293918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=293918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=293918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}