The Punch Powertrain Solar Team has unveiled it entry to the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, which takes place in Australia this October. The car, Punch 2 built by engineering students from the University of Leuven, is painted in white, blue and green colours, all of which were specially developed for the Team by Cromax, one of the premium refinish brands of Axalta Coating Systems and a silver partner of the team.

Dries Van den Bergh, Cromax Brand Manager Europe, Middle East and Africa said, “Following our partnership with the Team for the 2015 World Challenge, we knew we wanted to support it again. This time, as Silver Partner, we are supplying not only technical know-how and paint, but also helping the Team to achieve its energy saving goals by limiting energy use during paint application.” 

The car’s carbon fibre body presented some challenges due to an experimental resin. Cromax was able to address this by using its PS1081/PS1084/PS1087 Ultra Performance Energy Surfacer. In combination with activated Cromax Pro Basecoat and CC6700 Ultra Performance Energy Clearcoat, everything was air dried, which helped to save energy consumption.

Van den Bergh adds, “Our aim was to get the highest quality paint build-up while keeping weight to a minimum, which is crucial for the race.”

Cromax worked with the student team throughout the production process in order to achieve the best final look and weight for the carbon fibre car body.