A few days after taking the track for the first time for a battery test at Grobnik, in Croatia, the Cupra e-Racer – the first ever fully electric competition Touring Car – began its development programme with a testing session at Parcmotor Castellolí, near Barcelona.

Former WTCC race winner and Cupra testing and development driver Jordi Gené took the wheel of the car for a series of dynamic tests carried out by the Cupra technical team that were used to verify the maximum output of the electric motors, power management with regards to the temperatures of all the elements and especially the batteries, and its driveability, by closely examining accelerator response, the brake system and energy recovery.

The goal of these sessions is to continue making adjustments and maximise performance and reliability of every component.

During the next round of testing in September, engineers and technicians are going to focus on the lap times of the electric racing car, which aims to compete for victory in the first ever E-TCR championship.

Cupra Racing director Jaime Puig explained: “We want to prove that this is the future of competition and that an E-TCR car can be as competitive as a petrol-powered Touring Car and even more. We hope the track tests we are performing will encourage other brands to commit to the E-TCR championship.”

Gené was pleasantly surprised by his first foray into the world of electric competition cars: “It delivers impressive acceleration, and the excellent distribution of its batteries gives it a low centre of gravity with a much better than expected driving feel. The only scope for improvement we see is with the braking, as it is obviously a heavier car and more difficult to stop with precision.”