Porsche Taycan Turbo GT Safety Car Has Twice As Much Power As The Formula E Cars It’s Leading

Formula E is changing for 2024 and so is its safety-car support. The new Porsche Taycan Turbo GT takes on safety-car duties starting at this coming weekend’s double header in Berlin where it will be packing more than twice as much horsepower as the single-seat racers that are meant to be the headline act.

The Turbo GT is the flagship of the facelifted Taycan range, and sits above the Turbo S, which previously served as safety car in Formula E in pre-facelifted form. The old S safety made up to 751 hp (761 PS / 560 kW) during overboost situations, but the S has since been upgraded to 764 hp (775 PS / 570 kW) in normal driving, with overboost temporarily supplying 939 hp (952 PS / 700 kW).

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That would be more than enough for most drivers, but the Taycan Turbo GT is even more extreme, pumping out 777 hp (580 kW / 789 PS) in its default configuration and up to 1,019 hp (1,034 PS / 760 kW) for 10 seconds at a time when the Attack Mode is activated. That’s done by either pressing a switch to the side of the steering wheel, or tugging the right-hand shift paddle.

Porsche says the Attack Mode is derived from the system fitted to the brand’s 99X Formula E racers, though the Turbo GT massively out-powers the single seaters. In regular racing situations the Gen3 cars generate up to 402 hp (408 PS / 300 kW), but get a boost to 469 hp (476 PS / 350 kW) when their Attack Mode is activated for the Attack Charge in the final stage of a race.

The racers are, of course, much lighter than the Taycan, weighing in at around 1,852 lbs (840 kg) with driver to the Turbo GT’s 5,050 lbs (2,290 kg) without driver, although the sedan’s optional Weissach package adds more aero and ditches some sound insulation and the rear seats to cut some flab.

Porsche will supply two different safety cars, one, a Purple Sky Metallic car with the Weissach kit and the other a full four seater without it and finished in Shade Green metallic. Both are equipped with warning lights, fire extinguishers and communications equipment, but only one car will ever be on track at one time.

This season is the first to feature the Attack Charge, whose debut was originally slated for last year, but there’s a faster Gen3 Evo car coming next season before the all-new Gen4 racers hit the track in 2026.