Wehrlein has “good first impression” of Porsche Gen3 Formula E car

The all-new Gen3 car will be used in Formula E for the upcoming 2022-23 season, and features a 350 kW drive motor alongside a 250 kW front-mounted regenerative engine – for a total regeneration capacity of 600 kW

This means that about 40% of all energy used in next season’s races will come from regeneration, compared to about 25% on the current Gen2 car.

The car also features all-new Hankook tires and the body features recycled carbon fiber in the championship’s attempt to improve on its sustainability credentials.

Wehrlein completed Porsche’s first run in the new machine, albeit not at full power, but he praised his first experience with the new car.

“It was a very interesting day and a great experience to drive our new Gen3 car for the first time,” said Wehrlein.

“It feels great and I’m excited to test it at full throttle soon. Today’s first impressions were really good too and it left me hungry for more.”

Florian Modlinger, director of Porsche Formula E, added that the first run of the new car will give the team the capacity to continue working on getting the systems of the Gen3 machines in order ahead of the first group tests on an unknown date.

“We took the first step towards Gen3 today, with the successful rollout on our test track at the development center,” Modlinger said.

“I would like to thank the team for their enormous commitment to making this possible. It was a lot of work technologically and operationally to get our new car for season 9 on track and drive the first kilometers.

“We are now looking forward to the coming days and weeks to make further progress with the car. We will work on fine-tuning the systems and then the performance of the car.”

Porsche will become a supplier to Formula E for the first time next season, having previously struck a deal with Andretti – who will take the manufacturer’s powertrains on a “long-term deal” after the deal with BMW ends.