Abu Dhabi, Feb 1 (IANS/WAM): Team Gernas 114, an all-girls team from Qatar University, won the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region's first hybrid-electric car challenge held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Sponsored by Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) and hosted by the Abu Dhabi-based Petroleum Institute with support from Emirates Foundation for Youth Development the event, held over Thursday and Friday, welcomed 120 students from 11 teams to the track.
Team Gernas 114 took home the champion's title with an impressive score of 101 laps in the final race. Their strategy proved to be the winning formula and they were crowned 2014 TAQA GCC Hybrid-Electric Challenge champions.
The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
"We are so proud to be titled as champions of the first ever TAQA GCC Hybrid-Electric Challenge,” team leader Chresteen Fareed from Qatar University said.
“Taking part in this event has been a great experience and has given us the chance to take what we have learnt in the classroom and apply it to a real life situation. It has been hard work and we have learnt a lot but most importantly we have had fun," she added.
Among others, the event was attended by dignitaries like Saif Al Sayari, executive officer and head of energy solutions in TAQA, Abdulla Saif Al Nuaimi, vice-chairman of TAQA and advisor to Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA), Fares Obaid Al Dhaheri, acting director general of ADWEA and Murshid Saleh Al-Romaithi, senior vice-president for administrative support at The Petroleum Institute.
In all, 120 students from both sexes were drawn from the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi University, UAE University, Khalifa University, the Masdar Institute (all of the UAE), the Nizwa College of Technology in Oman, the College of Technological Studies in Kuwait and Qatar.
Each team spent the past five months designing and constructing their single-seater, lightweight hybrid car to stringent race design and safety rules.
"We at TAQA are thrilled and extremely proud to have brought the region's first ever hybrid-electric car challenge to Abu Dhabi,” Saif Al Sayari said while congratulating the winners.
“The event has been a huge success and we hope to welcome more teams back to Abu Dhabi next year," he added.
Team Gernas 214 (all boys) from Qatar University came second and team MCT-Oman (all boys) from Oman's Nizwa College of Technology came third.
Besides being overall winners, the Qatari girls also won the final race by completing 101 laps in three hours with a best lap time of 88.4 seconds.
The Qatari boys came a close second in the final race and also completed 101 laps with a best lap time of 90.23 seconds.