Spilt diesel down flanks not visible from this angle
Double champions SEAT will achieve a major first in this year's British Touring Car Championship by becoming the first team ever to race with diesel-powered cars.
The news comes after SEAT successfully competed with a 280PS Leon TDI in the 2007 World Touring Car Championship, scoring two poles, three wins and seven podiums in just 10 races, making the team the first to win a WTCC race with a diesel car.
However, neither of SEAT Sport UK's drivers, Darren Turner and Fifth Gear presenter Jason Plato, have raced diesel cars before.
The move to diesel cars also follows the shift in car-buying patterns in the UK, says Scott Dennis, SEAT UK Motorsport manager.
He said: "More than 40% of new cars sold in the UK last year were diesels, the Leon was the best-selling SEAT model in the UK and the sporty FR TDI derivative was the best-selling Leon, so there are strong marketing and commercial reasons why we are entering a pair of Leon TDIs in the 2008 British Touring Car Championship."
This year's championship starts at Brands Hatch on March 30th and takes in rounds at Rockingham, Donington and Silverstone, before finishing at Brands Hatch again on September 21st.
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)