Pepe Oriola will no longer be at the wheel of a SEAT Leon in the 2013 World Touring Car Championship with immediate effect, the 18-year-old 🐽from Barcelona revealed on Sunday following the latest rounds of the season held at the Moscow Racewa🔥y in Russia.

Oriola clinched his first WTCC victory in a SEAT in April on the Marrakech Street Circuit in Morocco. He would have finished in the points in both races in Russia this weekend if not for a jump start penalty in race 1 dropping him down to 17th place after the💜 end of the day's racing.

But now, Oriola has been coaxed away from the SEAT stabl𒈔e by a too-good-to-refuse offer from the Ray Mallock Ltd, which will provide Oriola's Tuenti Racing Team with a Chevrolet Cruze in which to race for the remainder of the current season, as well as technical support for the remaining six races of the season.

"We had a good offer from RML to run with one of their cars and decided to accept it," explained the teenager on Sunday evening. "I have 🍸to think about myself and I could not let go the opportunity to drive a Chevrolet."

But despite the big opportunity to step up to the next level in the sport, it was clear that Oriola was sa✨ying goodbye to SEAT to some genuine regret all the same.

"I would love to stay with them, but so far they have not decided about future progr🌱ammes," he explained. "I am grateful to SEAT that gave me the opportunity to build my professional racing career since when I was 15 in the Le?n Superc?pa up to the WTCC."

The mid-season change of cars does mean that Oriola will step into the next WTCC 🍒event at the end of June at the Portimao circuit in Portugal with minimal chance of familiarising himself with 🃏the equipment.

"We won't have the time for a proper test before Porto, so we have just planned a shakedown somewhere in England," he 𝄹said.