Abt technical director Florian Modlinger leaves the Audi top team and takes over the Formula E project at Porsche: How the spectacular coup came about
Bang for the buck at the Abt team: As has been learned from Audi circles, an absolute cornerstone is leaving the Audi top team from Kempten, which currently competes in the DTM and the Extreme E Series, in the shape of Operations Manager and Head of Engineering Florian Modlinger. Modlinger will soon be taking up his post at Porsche – as the new overall project manager for Formula E racing.
How did the spectacular coup come about? Since the previous overall project manager for Porsche’s factory programmes, Frenchman Pascal Zurlinden, resigned from his post for private reasons, the Zuffenhausen-based company was looking for a replacement. Zurlinden, who had previously held various positions at Audi Sport in the DTM and was aware of the Bavarian’s abilities, was probably involved in the appointment of Modlinger.
The decision, however, was implemented by the new Porsche sports director Thomas Laudenbach, who can thus chalk up a first success for himself.
Modlinger Coup in the Course of Porsche Restructuring
The internal Porsche restructuring of recent months means that Modlinger will not be responsible for the entire works sport, as Zurlinden was before, but can concentrate fully on the Formula E project.
In the LMDh project, Urs Kuratle, a Swiss with Formula 1 experience, took over this role at the end of 2021. This is to ensure that responsibility is spread over several shoulders, whereas Zurlinden was constantly travelling in the past because of the numerous projects.
What the loss means for Abt
For the Abt team, the loss of Modlinger is a heavy damper: the 40-year-old, who joined the team from Kempten as technical director in 2018 and additionally became operations director in 2019, is considered one of the few engineers who have an all-round view and are versed in different areas.
Modlinger had already worked directly for German manufacturers before that: in 2012, he was responsible for chassis performance and aerodynamics at the track during BMW’s successful comeback in the DTM. In 2013, he then moved to Audi Sport, where he served as Mattias Ekström’s race engineer in the DTM, before first becoming test operations manager in 2014 and then race operations manager in 2016.
In 2017, the next step in his career came with his promotion to Head of DTM Technology at Audi Sport – and the greatest success in Modlinger’s career with all DTM championship titles. Having achieved his goal, he moved to the Abt team in 2018, where he was responsible for the DTM and Formula E works projects and won a team title in each series.
Why Abt couldn’t keep Modlinger
The fact that he is now back directly with a manufacturer with Porsche comes as only a limited surprise: after all, the end of the DTM as a manufacturers’ championship after the 2020 season and Audi’s Formula E withdrawal in 2021 mean that Abt is no longer a works team these days.
Apart from some factory support, the GT3 project in the DTM has to be financed by the team itself, and the Extreme E entry is also privately financed, which means they have less budget at their disposal.
In addition, Modlinger is less able to use his skills in the homologated GT3 cars, where you can only make the difference through the set-up, than in the Porsche project in Formula E, where the new Gen3 car will be used for the first time at the end of 2022. And with his Formula E experience, he brings valuable know-how to Porsche, where he is already expected to be on site at the season opener in Saudi Arabia at the end of January.
Apart from that, Formula 1 could also be a prospect in the future, as Porsche is working intensively behind the scenes to enter the premier class of motorsport.