Thomas Laudenbach
Vice President Porsche Motorsport
Adapting motorsport to the ever-changing automotive industry, and leading it to a successful future – these are the challenges that Thomas Laudenbach (53) plans to tackle as the Vice President of Porsche Motorsport. On October 1, 2021, the graduate engineer stepped into the shoes of Fritz Enzinger, who has shaped an era over the past ten years with major victories and title wins.
Thomas Laudenbach was born in Santiago de Chile. After studying mechanical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, his path led him to the DTM and to a service company that developed powertrains for various European vehicle manufacturers. In the autumn of 1998, he switched to Porsche. As Head of Powertrain Development, he was involved in racing and sports car projects such as the Carrera GT, 918 Spyder, 911 RSR, 911 GT3 R and the 911 GT3 Cup until 2013. As the head developer of the 3.4-litre direct-injection V8 engine for the Porsche RS Spyder, which was first fielded in the USA, he also became well acquainted with the North American motor racing scene.
He outlines his goals for the next few years, which will be defined by major changes: “We have our 20th Le Mans victory securely in our sights and want to win world championships – both at endurance events and in Formula E.”
Florian Modlinger
Director Factory Motorsport Formula E
He thrives on such challenges. Adding Formula E victories and titles to Porsche’s illustrious motorsport history – Florian Modlinger aims to achieve this goal with the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team. Born in the town of Friedberg in 1981, the Bavarian joined Porsche in January 2022 as the Director Factory Motorsport Formula E.
Modlinger is well qualified for this role with his vast experience in motorsport. In 2010, he worked for the Maserati customer squads Triple H and Vitaphone Racing Team as the race engineer and technical director – and won the driver and team titles in the FIA GT1 World Championship. In November 2010, he moved to BMW Motorsport as an aerodynamicist/development and track aero engineer. Winning the championship titles for drivers, teams and manufacturers at BMW’s comeback to the DTM in 2012 marked a highlight.
In 2013, he clinched the DTM drivers’ championship as a test engineer with Audi Sport. The following year, he added the manufacturers’ title to his list of successes. In 2016, Florian Modlinger was promoted to DTM race and test operations manager, but continued as Mattias Ekström’s race engineer and also took over the technical management of the EKS-WRX project. It turned into one of the most successful years of his career with the driver and team titles in the FIA World Rallycross Championship as well as the DTM team and manufacturers’ titles.
The following season brought the next step up the career ladder: As technical director of the Audi Sport DTM project, he was jointly responsible for Audi’s best DTM season in years, sweeping the pool with driver, team and manufacturer titles in 2017. On 1 January 2018, Florian Modlinger joined ABT Sportsline as the technical director. With the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team, he won the team championship after a sensational charge up the rankings. In 2020, ABT Sportsline celebrated the fifth DTM team championship title in its history.
He formulated great expectations for his first season with Porsche: "The goals are very clear: consistently strong performances and race wins." Florian Modlinger delivered shortly afterwards - with his team's first race win thanks to Pascal Wehrlein at the 2022 Mexico E-Prix.
Carlo Wiggers
Director of Team Management & Business Relations at Porsche Motorsport
Carlo Wiggers made his way through different corporate roles, starting his career at BMW. Born in Cologne, he moved to the UK at the age of 26, working as Motorsport Executive for BMW UK. In 2005 Wiggers was offered the role as Project Manager Formula BMW in Munich, which he did for the next three years. In 2007 the German took on the role as Head of Commercial & Touring Car Affairs at BMW Motorsport before he joined the Motorsport Marketing team at BMW AG in 2011. After two years of leading the BMW Motorsport marketing department and its DTM duties, Wiggers joined Porsche in 2013. As Head of Team Management LMP1, Wiggers fondly remembers the success of winning Le Mans three times in a row (2015-2017). In his new role as Director Team Management & Business Relations Porsche Motorsport, Wiggers has been responsible for various team and business aspects within GT sport and Formula E since the beginning of 2019.
