Despite a solid, if unspectacular start to the season, EuroBrun were struggling as money ran low. There was internal trouble when in May 1988 Brun unsuccessfully tried to replace Larrauri with German driver Christian Danner. It turned out that the German driver was too tall for the monocoque of the ER188. Since the team had no money for any modification it kept Larrauri in the second car to the end of the season, much to the annoyance of most of the other drivers as the Argentine had gained the unwanted reputation of being slow and hard to pass, especially when being lapped as the EuroBruns were often.

In the first eight events Larrauri only missed the cut twice and Modena would have qualified for them all were it not for two disqualifications for missing a weight check in practice at Monaco, and for having too high a rear wing in Mexico. Starts didn't turn into finishes, with engine failures, clutch and gearbox problems, and even a flat battery meaning that Modena's 11th place at the Hungarian Grand Prix would be the car's best result.