Cupra: "The future of motorsport is electric".

For Xavi Serra, it was an interplay between joy and tension.

With every run and every race, he came to a decisive step closer to the big goal of the season. And at the end of September, he held the long-awaited trophy in his hands. With the Cupra EKS team, the boss of Cupra Racing had won everything that could be won at the FIA ETCR - eTouring Car World Cup: from the manufacturers' title to the drivers' title, which Adrien Tambay won as "King of the Season". The team also won second and third place in the drivers' championship. In an interview published by Cupra itself, team boss Serra spoke about the past season, the Cupra UrbanRebel and ventured an outlook.

"It has been quite a rollercoaster ride. Every single race was a new challenge, an up and down of emotions. We've had to adapt to different circumstances all the time," Serra said. He emphasised that the whole team "made very few mistakes and worked together at a high level" during the season - both the drivers and the Cupra EKS technical team.

Cupra drivers were "King of the Weekend" in four of the six races: Tambay in Hungary, Mattias Ekström in France as well as Spain and Tom Blomqvist in Germany. In all six races, at least two Cupra drivers were on the podium. The reward for the good results: Cupra EKS scored 1076 points and won the manufacturers' title by 330 points.

At the season finale at the Sachsenring, Cupra also offered exclusive rides on the race track with the UrbanRebel concept car. This is "basically more of a rally or rallycross car with a high fun factor," says Serra. The UrbanRebel is the template for a production model that will hit the road in 2025. It is "a big part of Cupra's brand future".

The transfer of knowledge from motorsport to the development of production vehicles is also an important point for UrbanRebel, as Serra points out. "At the end of the day, the electric technology is the same for road cars as it is for race cars. There is a battery, an electric motor and an inverter. The challenges that exist in both areas are the same," explains the team boss, for example in terms of thermal management of the batteries. "The experiences we make with the electric race car can also be transferred to production vehicles. Therefore, they can be very useful for development," says Serra.

The future in motorsport is "definitely electric", Serra continues. But there will be a transitional phase, he said, as with the electrification of production vehicles on the roads. "It is difficult to say how long this will last. But one thing is clear: electrification in motorsport has to come," Serra said. It is only a question of time, he adds. To get a broader audience excited about purely electric racing series and ultimately electric cars, venues like the Sachsenring are "ideal", Serra thinks: "Here, fans of racing series like the ADAC GT Masters - which took place at the same time on the final weekend - also become aware of us," he says. The visitors were very "curious".

That's why the Cupra EKS team's pit was "deliberately open" so that visitors could "almost look over our team's shoulder as they prepared the Cupra e-racers and ask questions". And also the charging of the vehicles was in the middle of the site in an open area for everyone to see and experience. "We are a comparatively new part of motorsport - and everyone can and should experience that," Serra concludes.