iLumen European Solar Challenge 2026

Silvretta on the track at Circuit Zolder, wind turbines under a blue sky
iESC 2026SilvrettaBWSC 2025SilvrettaiESC 2024AletschBWSC 2023Aletsch
The whole team on the podium after the finishSilvretta with its lights on, on a lap in the nightA driver in the cockpit in the pit box, under the Swiss flagThree team members with a trophy at the prize-givingSilvretta at full speed on the trackA pit stop seen from above, the team around SilvrettaA driver in Silvretta’s cockpit, the canopy open

Laps in 24 hours
253
Kilometres
1'015
Place in the Challenger class
8th
Fastest lap
3:31

Silvretta · Circuit Zolder · 19–20 September 2026

Silvretta, our car from the World Solar Challenge 2025, raced 24 hours on Circuit Zolder in Belgium, in rain and changing light, with new parts to test for the next car.

On the first afternoon Silvretta rolled over in the Villeneuve chicane. The driver was unhurt. Two and a half hours later the car was back on the track without its canopy; a new one was brought from Zurich overnight and fitted at half past four in the morning.

Silvretta finished with 253 laps, 90 more than Aletsch two years before, and the team won the Spirit of the Event award.

Start / Finish

How the race works

The iLumen European Solar Challenge is the only 24-hour race for solar cars. It runs every two years on Circuit Zolder in Belgium, a former Formula 1 track of 4.011 km, from Saturday noon to Sunday noon.

We race in the Challenger class: light single-seaters built for speed and efficiency. The most laps win, and the fastest lap earns a few points more.

By day the sun charges the car while it drives; through the night it runs on its battery. Each team may stop to charge from the grid only a few times, at least once in the night, so how fast to lap is a question of strategy. The drivers change in the pits.