Porsche’s Florian Modlinger: Third and fourth place ‘makes me so proud’

The inaugural Hyderabad E-Prix turned out to be a successful one for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, despite the fourth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship having started in worrying fashion.

A huge crash for championship leader Pascal Wehrlein in Free Practice One saw the German go to hospital for a check-up, whilst the remaining three Porsche-powered cars remained in the pits due to concerns over what caused the crash. It was later discovered that Wehrlein’s crash was due to a fault with the VCU, which effectively resulted in a jammed throttle. As a result, Wehrlein and António Félix da Costa struggled in qualifying, after losing so much running.

The duo started the race twelfth and thirteenth, yet made stellar progress. The pair capitalised on a plethora of incidents which took place ahead of them, meaning that by the end of the race Da Costa finished fourth, with Wehrlein in fifth. However, there was late drama, as Sébastian Buemi was awarded a seventeen-second time penalty, promoting Da Costa to third and Wehrlein to fourth.

It marked a dream result for Da Costa in his one-hundredth Formula E race, whilst Wehrlein extended his championship lead to eighteen points despite his horrible start to the weekend. To make things even better, the team moved to the top of the Constructors’ Championship, which they now lead by twenty-three points.

Team Principal Florian Modlinger was incredibly pleased with the team’s “very strong performance” considering how tough the weekend started. He also shared his “thanks” to the mechanics for repairing Wehrlein’s car so well.

“The team put in a very strong performance today. António secured his first podium for the team, which I’m very pleased about. After his accident in free practice, Pascal fought his way up to fourth place in the race and increased his lead in the world championship. This is also thanks to the team who worked through the night to get his car back on the track for the race.

“Finishing the race in third and fourth place after a less than satisfactory qualifying is a strong effort that makes me proud. I want to thank the entire team. The fact that we’ve moved into the lead of the world championship is a fantastic reward.”