Ark Energy was thrilled to sponsor two student teams for Horizon Educational’s 2025 Hydrogen Grand Prix PRO series, and cheer them on at their final race event on 14 May.

The H2GP program is a STEAM-based program for high school students where they design, build and race remote-controlled hydrogen fuel cell electric cars.

Ark Energy sponsored teams from Collinsville State High School and Pimlico State High School in Townsville, and they joined 11 other teams from across the region for the North Queensland Final held at Townsville's Quayside Terminal.

Both teams managed to finish the gruelling four-hour endurance race. Pimlico SHS's Ark Energy team, the 'Mean Green Racers' placed 8th and Collinsville SHS's team, racing their car the 'Quackatron', placed 12th.

Pimlico SHS also earned the Innovation Award for the creative engineering improvements they made to their car. The Innovation award category is for the team that used modifications or innovative features found by the jury to be the most advanced.

Ark Energy's Engineering Manager Tim Davies was impressed by the teamwork and determination shown by both teams throughout the race.

"Ark Energy is a founding sponsor of the H2GP program in Australia. This is the third year we have sponsored teams and it's always exciting to see how engaged the students are, how much they are learning and how much they genuinely enjoy it."

The H2GP program combines science and engineering knowledge with skills like teamwork, project management and critical thinking.

"The H2GP provides students with practical, fun, hands-on learning for a current, real-world application for hydrogen," Tim said.

"It was fantastic to watch the race and see how well the teams applied themselves to the challenge - strategising and problem-solving in real-time. We were really proud of our teams. It's likely amongst these students are some of our future leaders in science, engineering and sustainable fuel technologies.”

The Townsville region is also home to Ark Energy’s renewable hydrogen production and refuelling station for road haulage, the SunHQ Hydrogen Hub. SunHQ will decarbonise the heavy vehicle fleet operating between the Sun Metals refinery and the Port of Townsville, and be one of the largest fully-integrated renewable hydrogen production and refuelling facilities in Australia.