Leuven University students finish in second position in the qualifying round at Sasol Solar Challenge in South Africa

The Sasol Solar Challenge gets under way in Johannesburg today (Friday). During the next 8 days, the competing teams will drive the solar-powered cars they have built between Johannesburg and Cape Town. The course is not a direct route between the 2 cities and the aim is to cover as much distance as possible during the next 8 days.

The KUL team hopes to cover at least 4,000 kilometres. Due to the long distance, the heat, the large differences in altitude and the poor condition of some roads, the South African race is considered to be the most challenging in the world.    

In Wednesday’s qualifying round the teams rode on the Red Star Raceway, a racetrack near Johannesburg that is around 4km long. The Leuven University students finished 2nd, behind a team from Delft in The Netherlands. A total of 10 teams are taking part. 

Innoptus Solar Team’s spokesman told journalists that "We are really happy. Due to the nature of the competition, it wasn’t really necessary to finish 1st on Wednesday. All the time were really very close together. We were able to ride both safely and competitively. During the competition proper we will have to ride a strategically as possible so that the battery will be put to optimal use”.

2 years ago the Belgian team finished 2nd, then too behind the team from Delft. This year the Leuven team is going full out for 1st place.

At the end of October last year, the KUL team won the solar vehicle world championships in Australia. Then they used the same vehicle as they are using in South Africa. However, since then it has been upgraded.