Formula E

"Winning the manufacturers' title is crucial for the brand" - Porsche team principal Florian Modlinger reveals goals for the 11th Formula E season

Tim Neuhaus

Tim Neuhaus

The Porsche works team has its best Formula E season to date behind it. They narrowly missed out on winning the constructors' title, but were able to clinch the drivers' world championship with Pascal Wehrlein. Defending the title and having Kiro as the second customer team present the Germans with a new challenge for season 11. In an interview with e-Formula.news, Porsche team principal Florian Modlinger talks about his goals, ambitions and concerns.

"The goal is to compete for all three world championship titles (drivers, teams, manufacturers)," says Modlinger, without thinking twice. Porsche wants to remain at the top of Formula E in the Gen3 Evo era, although a trophy other than Pascal Wehrlein's drivers' title would be even more valuable to him: "For me, it's very clear: we do motorsport for the Porsche brand. Winning the manufacturers' title is crucial for the brand."

Kiro - new customer team with old technology

From season 11, not only Andretti and the Porsche works team will collect points for the German constructor in the manufacturers' championship. For the first time, Kiro (formerly ERT) will also be competing with a Porsche powertrain. However, the US team is using the old version from last year's title-winning car. Modlinger is happy to see the successful model for another year: "We are very proud that our world championship car is still on the track and that a team believes in our old powertrain."

However, it was not without further development: "The software of the old powertrain had to be developed further to fulfil the regulations. We are also continuing to work in these areas." For example, the all-wheel drive, which was permitted for the first time in season 11, had to be added. Modlinger believes that Kiro will probably have a slight performance disadvantage: "You can't change anything in the hardware, it's homologated and ready."

Modlinger criticises long break in the race calendar

Formula E will hold a total of 16 races in ten different countries in the coming season. The Porsche team principal was initially euphoric about the racing calendar: "The target markets are covered. Of course, the first double-header in Monaco is sensational. It's a very ambitious and good calendar." In addition to Monaco, Modlinger is particularly fond of Tokyo.

In the end, however, he was not completely satisfied. He takes a critical view of the two-month break between the E-Prix in Jeddah and Miami: "I don't like to have such a big gap in the calendar, and that should be avoided in future." He would have preferred more races: "Strategically, we will try to extend the calendar further. I would prefer 16 to 20 races divided into twelve to 14 events."

The first race of Season 11 will be held as a single round on 7 December in Brazil. Porsche will be doing everything in its power to score the first big points in Sao Paulo - fully focussing on the title defence!

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