Only a few days after the team returned victorious from Austria, it made its way to Germany. The time in between was used to further optimize the vehicle and to train specific disciplines of Formula Student Germany (FSG). The event at the Hockenheimring is an event of superlatives in every respect. In 2006, Formula Student Germany was founded for cars with combustion engines; this year 65 of them were competing. Together with pilatus, 35 racing cars competed in the electrical category launched in 2010. All in all, 115 teams from more than 26 nations competed against each other in three different categories. 15 slots were reserved for a brand new category: Formula Student Driverless. The challenge here is modifying existing Formula Student racing cars to drive autonomously. AMZ decided to take on the challenge and with flüela driverless the team was able to win the first edition of the new series. You can read more about this success in the newsletter of the driverless team.

The award ceremony began with the announcement of winners of the so-called special awards. AMZ was rewarded Porsche's award for the best innovation in vehicle performance for pilatus’ hydraulic suspension system. After that came the presentation of the prestigious Engineering Design Award: «And the winner is: Car Number 33, Zurich»! Nothing would have prevented the overall victory if it weren’t for the two-minute penalty in the Endurance that put the AMZ team in second place in the overall ranking. A splendid result nonetheless! In six intense days of Formula Student Germany, pilatus was able to set the fastest time of all 100 teams at the most important race of the year and was awarded the Engineering Design Award for the best engineered vehicle by the expert jury. A result, the team celebrated wildly with existing and new friends of the community.

Read our newsletter to find out how the students managed to achieve a strong second place in the overall classification despite a big time penalty.