- A title in each category: a Porsche record after six years of Formula E
- First joint world championship title for factory and customers
- Shoulder to shoulder: track expertise for the road – and vice versa
32 podiums, 13 race wins, and 4 world championship titles: the review is in after six seasons in Formula E, coinciding with a significant date for Porsche. The 28th of July 2017 marks the day the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer announced its entrance into all-electric motorsport. Eight years later to the day, the brand can proudly claim to have reached the pinnacle of this sport.
Porsche completed the coveted title set by claiming the Formula E Teams’ and Manufacturers’ Championships at the Formula E season finale on Saturday and Sunday in London; the highly efficient Porsche 99X Electric having already won the Drivers’ Championship twice before in the English capital (Season 9 and 10).
Andretti Formula E and Cupra Kiro involved in world championship title
256 championship points were the final haul for the factory-owned TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team in the season that has just ended, the eleventh in the history of Formula E. And thanks to the successes of the two Porsche customer teams, Andretti Formula E and Cupra Kiro, Porsche technology also picked up more points than its rivals. Three poles, one race win, and ten podiums went to the factory team, including three double podiums for P2 and P3. The US team Andretti secured the best starting position once and finished on the podium twice.
The Kiro team, which also competes under the US flag, contributed a win and a second place to the Porsche title in the Manufacturers’ Championship, took pole position once. A factory car and a customer car being able to score points in the same race for the same FIA World Championship title is a first in Formula E. There was a similar situation in the Group C days of the World Sportscar Championship. But back then only one car scored points in each race, either the factory car or the customer car, not both.
“Customer racing is an important pillar of Porsche Motorsport, so we are proud to have won a world championship title alongside our customers for the first time,” said Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. “And our latest victory in electric formula racing proves once again just how varied our skillset is. Motorsport is at the heart of our brand – whether using conventional or electric drive systems, whether in our living room at Le Mans, or in single-seaters, which are less familiar to us, at least historically.”
Marathon runners turned sprinters
Formula E: single-seater fully electric racing cars with open wheels, designed for sprint races lasting under 60 minutes. When Porsche announced the move from endurance racing to Formula E in 2017, this also meant developing new skills. The LMP1 factory team had previously specialised in hybrid sports prototypes for races lasting a minimum of six hours. Which is why achieving the first Formula E podium at the debut race in Diriyah in 2019 was unexpected. The other factor making this unexpected was that the team joined the series at a time when other teams had already gained over a year of racing experience with the GEN2 cars, the second generation of Formula E cars.
Florian Modlinger, Director Factory Motorsport Formula E and Team Principal of the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team: “Lots of standard components, a budget capped by regulations, and an extremely high level of competition made it clear that it would be a difficult start for Porsche. When I moved to Porsche in spring 2022 you could tell that the team wasn’t used to sprint races. I came from the Abt Audi team in the DTM and then from Formula E – so sprints were my specialist focus. I believe that more experience in this area is one of the pieces of the puzzle that were missing for Porsche to be successful.”
Two irons in the fire
It was the arrival of the GEN3 cars that brought about success: In 2023, the factory team did battle for the title all the way to the final in London. However, ultimately it was not factory driver Pascal Wehrlein who won the first Porsche title in Formula E, but Jake Dennis of the Porsche customer team Andretti. Wehrlein claimed his title a year later at the same track – after a record season for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team with seven wins. Modlinger: “The major step between 2023 and 2024 was our qualifying performance. It is even more important to start at the front of the grid in sprint races. Pascal was the best qualifier at the end of his title-winning season. António had won one more race, but he didn’t do well enough in the qualifying sessions for much of the season. This is also where we lost points in 2024.”
While the team was celebrating Wehrlein’s title in London, test drives with the GEN3 successor, the GEN3 Evo, were well underway. The package for the latest 99X Electric with temporary all-wheel drive: another title contender. And António Félix da Costa was also strong in qualifying in the most recent season. Both factory drivers made the most duels appearances. “Olli was dominant in the race at times – and we didn’t manage to capitalise when he made mistakes. He is the well-deserved new champion.
However, we were still strong: Our two drivers were among the top three to four in the standings for most of the season. They performed well. What didn’t help us was several accidents that weren’t our fault, like Pascal rolling in São Paulo and a few unfortunate safety car phases. But that is part of motorsport and is no excuse – luck and misfortune even themselves out over the years. Ultimately, our strongest achievement was that we always had two irons in the fire, which is why we deserved to win the Teams’ Championship. Huge thanks again to all our team members at the track and at home in the factory!”
Motorsport with road car relevance
When Porsche announced its entry into Formula E exactly eight years ago, the intention was to underline the sports car manufacturer’s electric ambitions. Increasing scope for in-house developments also made the innovative electric race series attractive from a technical perspective. The same is true today. In Formula E, development and budget focuses on those vehicle components that are relevant for the road. These include the powertrain and the operating software. The latest showcase for these development efforts being the Pit Boost – rapid charging pit stops, during which the 99X Electric recharges 10 percent of its energy within 30 seconds with a charging power of 600 kW. The CCS charging system is the same as in the Porsche sports cars for the road.
“We wanted to make the fact that our motorsport is always relevant for series production even more visible in Formula E this year, which is why we decided to compete in new colours before the season started,” said Laudenbach. The symbolic colours chosen were Purple Sky and Shade Green, adopted from the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT, the most powerful Porsche sports car for the road to date, and the company’s spearhead of its electric range.
“The most striking example of the technology transfer from the track to the road is no doubt the Attack Mode in the Turbo GT, inspired by the 99X Electric. But that is more of a gimmick. The essence of technology transfer is the fact that our engineers in Weissach sit shoulder to shoulder, those working in motorsport and those working in series production. There is a daily exchange of ideas, which means expertise moves between the projects more quickly – and in both directions. Meaning that our race cars can also benefit from our cars for the road.”
Laudenbach continues: “No doubt the exchange is something that makes us strong – within our team, between our development teams in Weissach, and also with our customer teams. Everyone involved in sport and every entrepreneur knows that you achieve more together. That’s the only way to win titles like the Teams’ Championship and the Manufacturers’ Championship in Formula E. On behalf of Porsche, I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this success since the start of the project in 2017.”
Porsche in Formula E
2024/2025 saw Porsche contest its sixth Formula E season. In addition to the factory TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, American customer team Andretti Formula E entered the Porsche 99X Electric of the latest GEN3 Evo generation. With the addition of Cupra Kiro, the most recent season was the first time that a second Porsche customer team competed in the series; they were using 99X technology of the previous GEN3 generation. Formula E gives the brand valuable insights for its production sports cars.
