Solis ends its Australian race short of the full route

Știri de Cluj reports the end of Solis UTCN's campaign at the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2025, where the students drove Hyperion through hundreds of kilometres of Australian desert under the Romanian flag. The race ran from 24 to 31 August over 3,020 km from Darwin to Adelaide, in extreme heat and strong winds.

“We may not have managed to finish the whole race, but we gave it everything, and we still had more to give. We learned an enormous amount and we are grateful that we crossed the finish line with the vehicle on its own wheels. We are proud of the result and we are convinced that in two years we will come back stronger”

Solis UTCN team members

The article quotes the team at the end of the race. The students say they did not manage to finish the whole race, but gave everything they had, learned a great deal and are grateful to have crossed the finish line with the vehicle on its own wheels. They are proud of the result, they say, and sure they will come back stronger in two years.

Hyperion, built in UTCN's labs, was designed to exceed 100 km/h on solar power alone. Știri de Cluj writes that the adventure ended earlier than the team had hoped, that Solis was one of the few Eastern European teams in the race, and that the students were already preparing a more capable vehicle for the next edition.

The headline speaks of more than 2,500 km covered. The official results put Solis 18th of 26 in the Challenger class, and the last control stop Hyperion reached was Port Augusta, about 2,700 km from Darwin, before the vehicle dropped out of the race.