Porsche will be one of the teams to beat in Formula E in 2024/25 season as the series heads into the Gen3 Evo era.
The German outfit have taken a huge stride forward in recent years after initially struggling to fight at the front when they joined Formula E in 2019/20,
After securing just one win in their first three seasons, Porsche shot up the table with drivers Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix Da Costa in 2022/23, grabbing three wins and seven podiums between them to finish fourth in the Teams’ Championship.
Season 10 was the team’s best to date, as Wehrlein fended off Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy to win the world championship at the final race in London. Jaguar would get the upper hand over Porsche and win the teams’ title thanks to their Kiwi drivers’ consistency.
Florian Modlinger says the state of the tyre on the Gen3 Evo car will be ‘key’ in Porsche’s title defence
FE will head into the Gen3 Evo era for Season 11, with the new machine being the fastest accelerating car in an FIA-governed championship.
With the revolutionary new car, it is difficult to tell where each team stands given the chances they have had to make. But for Porsche, while they will sport a striking new purple livery, the 99X Electric will be an evolution of last year’s car rather than it containing outright new designs.
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This was revealed by Porsche’s director of factory motorsport in Formula E Florian Modlinger, and speaking with The Race, he outlined that with the Gen3 Evo car, managing the soft Hankook tyres will be the ‘key’ to the their title defence.
He said: “The key will be to have the correct tyre state in the correct laps where you need peak performance, and this means the front tyre with the rear tyre, not only one axle in the perfect state.
“We will have degradation, thermal degradation and you will need to see on which tracks which axle will suffer more, and this we have counteracted with the correct measures.”
According to Modlinger, the higher peak performance of the Gen3 Evo car will create “a complex system around the tyre” and subsequently it will save mileage during free practice.
He added: “The driver who is best prepared and needs the least runs in free practice will benefit in qualifying the most. That is because he has the freshest tyres, and you will see a lot of different action compared to last year.”
Can Pascal Wehrlein defend his title in 2024/25 season?
Porsche will be eager to challenge Jaguar for the Teams’ Championship in the 2024/25 season, but they have a title of their own to defend through Wehrlein.
The German grabbed three victories across the 2023/24 season – the season-opener in Mexico, the second race at Misano and the first race in London – to win the drivers’ title by just six points over Evans.
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Wehrlein displayed great consistency in Season 10 as he only finished outside the points only twice. Teammate Felix Da Costa grabbed more wins than any other driver with four, but his less consistent points finishes left him sixth in the standings.
With the new era of machine coming to the sport, Season 11 is set to bring exciting action across the field throughout the season. But with fierce competition around them, Porsche will be under pressure to continue their brilliant form.