The Sapuangin team celebrated their victory at the 2018 Shell Eco-marathon Drivers’ World Championship (DWC) in London.

ITS Campus, ITS News – After failing for two consecutive years, Sapuangin Team from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Indonesia finally won the first prize at the prestigious international level Shell Eco-Marathon Drivers’ World Championship (DWC) 2018 at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Circuit, London, England, Sunday (8/7) local time.

In this energy-efficient car racing event, the Asian region is represented by three teams, all from Indonesia. Beside ITS Team 2 from ITS with Sapuangin car, there is also Semar Urban team from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and Garuda team from Yogyakarta State University (UNY).

The three leading Indonesian teams managed to reach the DWC 2018 grand final in London, has become the three fastest in the 2018 DWC Asia final which was held after Shell Eco-Marathon (SEM) Asia 2018 in Singapore last March. The top three positions in the race have the right to advance to the DWC grand final in London, fighting with the top three from various other regions of the world.

DWC 2018 final race is held at noon in the summer with a temperature of about 30 degrees Celsius. For some participants who come from a four-season country, of course, this is a problem in itself. But for Sapuangin Team and other teams from Indonesia, this is not a problem.

In this final race, with a track along the 6.7 km and elevation up and down between three to 12 meters, each team will design its own strategy. “There are faithful keep the speed in the strategy that is measurable because the race takes place in 10 laps. Sapuangin includes one of them, “said Billy Firmansyah, Non-technical Manager of ITS Sapuangin Team via online message.

According to Billy, ITS Sapuangin Team deliberately put a strategy by continuing to use medium speed on the first lap. Drivers must set a speed that should not exceed 40 km/h for energy efficiency to be balanced. Even so, ITS is always in the top four leading position. Seeing the condition of fuel is still adequate, Sapuangin steps on the gas pedal deeply. “In the last lap, Sapuangin finally able to overtake the opponent’s car and managed to occupy the leading position,” he said.

Sapuangin ITS car while competing in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Circuit, London, England.

General Manager of ITS Sapuangin Team, Rafi Rasyad expressed his joy after his team succeeded in winning the competition for this energy-efficient car. “This is a remarkable achievement,” said Rafi touched.

With relentless thanksgiving, he felt the hard work of the team and supervisor for months already paid off. He also felt happy to be able to present the best achievement, not only for the ITS alma mater but also for Indonesia.

Rafi expressed his gratitude for the support provided by many parties, both morally and materially. “We would like to thank Shell Indonesia for full support for ITS Sapuangin Team to our car who achieved the fastest and energy-efficient car in the world,” said Rafi who also delivered through an online message.

Finally the good cooperation between team members, efforts and prayers have yielded encouraging results. “We became champions as the fastest and most energy-efficient cars, and can beat Sask Eco UC team from Canada and INSA de Toulouse team from France who finished second and third,” said Moch Hafis Habibi, driver of ITS Sapuangin Team proud. (nov/ITS Public Relation Officer)

Rafi Rasyad as General Manager (GM) Team Sapuangin ITS received the 1st winner of the Drivers’ World Championship 2018 in London.