University of Minnesota is second in Junior Class of 1995 World Solar-Car Rallye in Akita, Japan

Ogata-mura, Japan -- Aurora-II, the University of Minnesota's entry in the 1995 World Solar-Car Rallye, is currently in second place in Junior Class after the first of three days of racing. The team today completed 205 miles(330 km) by completing 11 laps on the closed course. The team is in 8th place overall at the end of today's race.

The race is three days long with eight hours of racing each day making the race 24 hours long. Team's positions in class and overall are determined by their number of laps completed in the available time. Laps are done on a closed track which is 18.6 miles(30 km) long, and does not have any public road intersections thus making the race a endurance one.

"The team today has been very busy verifying their technical understanding of the changes made to Aurora-II before the start of the race, and in this new race environment." said Jessica Gallagher, Co-Project Manager. "We set a goal for today that we wanted to maintain our starting position overall, and/or climb higher in our class. We accomplished both of these with solid team work."

The team's fastest lap today has been 32 mph (52 kph). "While this speed is slower than the average speed used in Sunrayce 95, the races have two technical differences which prevent us from performing at the same speeds. The reduced battery capacity, and the frequent driver changes will limit our fastest speed on the track." commented Jessica Gallagher.

In the moving of the team from 5th to 2nd today in the Junior Class, the team became one lap down from the class leader. Overall, the team is in 8th position, and is three laps down from Honda's Dream which is the leader in the Free, unlimited, Class and overall race leader.