together with the integration of the spanish brand to the volkswagen group, seat was able to strengthen even more its involvement in motorsport activities with the formation of the seat sport department in 1985. since the seat panda model had been replaced in seat's range by the seat marbella in 1986, it was the time that the 'copa panda' cup should be succeeded too by the 'copa marbella' one. the 'copa marbella' formed part of the 'campeonato de españa de rallyes de tierra' national track championship schedule during eight years, to be ultimately superseded by the 'copa ibiza' rally series. in the 'campeonato de españa de rallyes de tierra' championship it was the seat marbella proto, a car powered by a 1.8l 4-cylinder motor derived from the vw polo g40 equipped with a compressor delivering a horsepower of 140 hp, under which seat won the 1988 championship title while in the next season antonio rius on the wheel of the marbella won the two-wheel drive class. in the following years the marbella was also driven by many drivers among which àlex crivillé, juan garriga and jordi tarrés, with the latter competing successfully against much more powerful cars - like the lancia delta - on the driver's seat of a 620 kg lightweight marbella.