The Group B SEAT Ibiza 1.5 takes pride of place among the racing cars in SEAT's history. Not for nothing, it was the first one based on SEAT’s Ibiza and, therefore, the first competition car in the new era of SEAT as an independent manufacturer.

With the Group B SEAT Ibiza 1.5, SEAT put together a one-make promotional rally championnship in the second half of the ’80s. It wasn't a new idea. Actually, in 1981 SEAT had already created a promotional rally cup with the newly introduced SEAT Panda. The aim was to bring to road competitions the success of the racing Formula SEAT 1430, which the previous decade had greatly boosted Spanish motorsport.

Four editions of the Panda Cup were held until 1984. That year SEAT launched the new Ibiza, the first SEAT created and developed from scratch in the Technical Center of Martorell. It was the right time to change the car in the rally cup, and in 1985 the Group B Ibiza 1.5 took over from the Panda. The car was homologated in Group B on April 1, 1985. SEAT had chosen Group B regulations because, from a basic homologation of 200 units, they allowed the homologation of a racing evolution of 20 units, complete with the necessary modifications for competition.

The new championship was called the I Inter-Ibiza Championship, although in later years it would simply be called Copa Ibiza (Ibiza Cup). Four editions were run between 1985 and 1988, one more of the three initially planned. The entry ranged from 14 to 20 teams, attracted by the generous prizes per event and per final standings offered by SEAT, and by the good driving school provided by the Group B Ibiza 1.5.

SEAT's effort to promote motorsport then continued with the Marbella Cup. The Marbella Cup had started in 1987 on gravel rallies, to complement the Group B Ibiza on tarmac rallies, and in 1989 it was also run on tarmac as a replacement for the Group B Ibiza.

The step forward made by the Group B Ibiza 1.5 compared to the old SEAT Panda Cup was huge. With its twin carburettors, the Group B sounded like a real racing car, despite being a virtually standard Ibiza 1.5 GLX, barely modified for safety reasons. SEAT’s objective with this promotional cup was to encourage the participation of drivers and to avoid cost-rising as much as possible.

Therefore, the first year of 1985 the engine potential was limited and even the tyres were standard (from the second edition racing tyres were used). The first championship was made of seven events, including one in France, to allow Spanish drivers a first contact with international competition. The first champion was Roland Holke - curiously, in 1982 he had already been the champion of the Panda Cup.

The end of the first season coincided with the founding of SEAT Sport, the brand's new competition arm. For 1986, SEAT Sport developed the car to make it faster and also more reliable. Salvador Cañellas, who had been a SEAT works driver in the ’70s, was in charge of testing the Group B Ibiza kit technologically developed at SEAT’s Technical Center.

Fitted with two double-choke carburettors and a new camshaft, the SEAT System Porsche engine went on to deliver 120 HP (compared to 85 HP in the standard Ibiza 1.5). Along with the aforementioned use of "racing" tyres, a good suspension set-up and a contained weight of 850 kg, the performance of the Group B Ibiza 1.5 was much improved, thus reinforcing the value of the Ibiza Cup as a formative and promotional championship.

An unsought consequence was that the fastest Ibiza Cup drivers began to climb their way up in the overall standings. At the 1986 Los Peñucas rally in Santander, eventual champion José Luis Graña was third overall, with four Group B Ibizas in the top 10. He was also fourth in the Cajalicante rally, with three Group B Ibizas in the top 10. Graña had already been runner-up in the Inter-Ibiza series in 1985, and in 1986 beat the previous winner, Roland Holke.

The Ibiza Cup was run for two more years, in 1987 with victory for Cele Foncueva and in 1988, for Josep Genoher. After the years of the Marbella Cup, in 1994 SEAT would create a new Ibiza Cup, now with the second-generation Ibiza 2.0 GTI, first in gravel rallies and from 1995 on tarmac (with the Ibiza 1.8 16v). It was the prelude to three SEAT titles in a row in the 2-litre World Rally Championship for Makes with the Ibiza Kit Car.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the path to such world success had started ten years earlier thanks to this Group B Ibiza 1.5. The unit preserved in the SEAT HISTÓRICOS’ Collection is the 1986 champion car with José Luis Graña. Actually, this unit was SEAT Sport’s test car, the very first one prepared with the 120 HP engine. When Graña lost his personal rally car, SEAT handed the test-car over to him so he could complete the 1986 championship.

The Spanish driver dressed SEAT Sport's Group B Ibiza up with his sponsors and, once the season was over, returned the car to SEAT. Since then, SEAT has kept it as Graña had run it, with the championship colours of 1986. Registered as a historic vehicle, the Group B Ibiza is a regular entrant in regularity rallies for classic cars, a living witness of the beginning of SEAT’s second era in motorsports.