Porsche has revealed that its second Formula E team will run on a cost-neutral basis, with no additional funding allocated to expanding its presence in the championship.
The German manufacturer raised eyebrows over the winter when it revealed that it would run two factory teams in Formula E when the series’ Gen4 era gets under way in December.
Porsche already has the largest footprint of any manufacturer in Formula E. In addition to its factory team, Porsche supplies powertrains to customers Andretti and Cupra Kiro, giving it six cars on the grid – more than any rival.
The number will remain unchanged the 2026-27 season, but four of those cars will be operated directly by the Weissach brand. Cupra Kiro is expected to run the remaining two cars on an independent basis, while long-time partner Andretti is set to join forces with Nissan, which has been left without a customer following McLaren’s exit from Formula E at the end of last season.
Dan Ticktum, Cupra Kiro
Photo by: Jordan McKean / LAT Images via Getty Images
Porsche’s Formula E chief Florian Modlinger stressed the company will not increase its overall spending on the programme, with the second factory team instead funded through a reshuffling of resources from customer operations.
“We have a clear job to do from our board, which we accepted. It must be cost-neutral,” Modlinger said about the second factory team in an interview with Motorsport.com. “This means I will not get additional money, and the rest is up to us how we set up the project.
“First of all, we will not increase the number of cars we have in the grid. We have six Porsche 9X9 Electrics. We will also have six [cars] in the future.
“We will reshuffle resources, which are at the moment there to support the customer teams. We will free up [these resources] and use them in a way. The rest at the moment is in the planning phase.”
Porsche announced its plans to expand its factory Formula E presence in November last year, just weeks after it revealed that it would leave the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship.
The proximity of the two decisions prompted speculation that Porsche was shifting investment from endurance racing into Formula E, leading to considerable backlash from fans.
However, Modlinger stressed that the two decisions were not linked to each other, as he explained the reasoning behind the company’s new motorsport strategy.
“We have to be separating the topics a bit. This was a project decision from the company that we reshuffle our Formula E engagement and how we operate, and it’s completely separated from the other decision.
Florian Modlinger, Porsche project manager Formula E
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
“Therefore, I focus on what we do and how the programme was reshuffled, and this job we got from the board to do this [on a] cost-neutral [basis]. This is a very important message to the outside world.”
Modlinger stated that running a second factory team would bring multiple advantages, offering Porsche a chance to integrate upcoming engineers, mechanics and drivers into Formula E.
“Four cars give us the opportunity to bring talents in, on the drivers’ side but also on the engineers’ and mechanics’ side,” Modlinger said.
“In Formula E, it’s quite tricky for rookies to deliver in the first season and to contribute big points, as we saw in the past. This [second team] gives us more opportunity for young talents but also to write additional stories, to bring new partners, new sponsors in.”
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