Wildcards from Whyalla return to win grand prix after earlier heartbreak

Simon Coppins had not taken his eyes off his car for four hours.

At least, that is how it felt to the 17-year-old lead driver of the wildcard entrant team in the H2 Grand Prix Finals in Switzerland as the race neared its end.

He and his teammates had been in this exact position at the 2025 world qualifiers, and so close to victory they could taste it, when disaster struck, and they were disqualified on a technicality.

"I just spent three hours and 30 minutes driving without blinking,"

Simon said.

"We were so close to our end goal."

As a wildcard entrant, the fact they even got a shot at the title this year was a small miracle in itself.

The five boys were from a city so small, the Swiss commentators kept mispronouncing it. But that was not going to discourage them.

It was thanks to Whyalla, the "Steel City" of South Australia, that the boys were even here at all, racing their hydrogen-fuelled remote car on the world stage.

As the team secured the win that had slipped through their fingers last year, cheers went up in the Swiss stadium and at a watch party thousands of kilometres away in regional SA.

"The redemption was … it felt very sweet," Simon said.

"I was lost for words on the day, as I am now."

Hometown heroes

Simon, along with his teammates, will return as hometown heroes after taking out the top spot at the World Championships.

The event sees competitors build hydrogen-powered remote-controlled cars (RC) and battle to complete the most laps in four hours.

Teams need to be strategic with their lap times, ensuring they set a good pace or exceed their fuel and battery limits.

Consisting of Eli Coppins, Caelan Kaminski, Simon Coppins, Shannon Bayogos and Karman Randhawa, the Whyalla team had been together for the past two years.

The boys had been in first place in the 2025 World Championships by a heavy margin when, 30 minutes before the end, they were disqualified over a technical fault.

According to race officials, the mistake was a simple misunderstanding when the team swapped out one of their batteries during a mandatory maintenance check.

For Simon and the team, it was a heartbreaking moment.

But the story was far from over.

The race changed its scheduling format, hosting its world competition earlier in the year to better align with the Northern Hemisphere's calendar.

Going forward, qualifying events for countries in the Asia Pacific will be held the year before.

But as this decision was only made recently, qualifiers for the Switzerland competition could not be held in Australia.

According to the organisers, several high-performing teams were subsequently invited to the June meet, including Whyalla, as the team previously came so close to victory.

However, the late invite meant they had no time to prepare. And even less time to find the funds to get to Switzerland.

A win for the wildcards and Whyalla

The driving force behind the town's H2 racers is Sunrise Christian School's Trudi Wynn.

For the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teacher, it was a daunting task figuring out how to get the boys and their parents to Europe in time.

"When we found out that we had the opportunity to go to Switzerland … it was like stepping off a cliff," she said.

"It was a huge undertaking."

But the town rallied behind the team, raising roughly $80,000 in just a few short months to ensure they had their shot at redemption.

For this reason, Simon credits the team's win to the "entire community of Whyalla" who got them to Europe.

"This win … was clearly not possible if we didn't have the Whyalla community on our side," he said.

"Just to hear how many people stayed in and watched us … cheered on for us … even just at their houses, watching the live stream.

"That feeling of an entire community batting you."

Though Shannon was unable to make it to Switzerland, he was instrumental in the early stages of preparing the car.

Team manager Caelan Kaminski, who had to sub into the pit crew, said he spent a lot of time practising the new role so that "everybody knew what they were doing".

First girls team

But as the teens return, Whyalla's H2 racing legacy is continuing to grow.

An all-female team will be heading to Victoria in August to compete in a 2027 world qualifier.

There has been a strong drive to get girls into STEM, and it is clearly working, with over half the cohort from Sunrise Christian School putting their hat in the ring to compete.

After moving from Kuwait this year, team manager Evita Elias said it is a chance for her to get some hands-on experience in a field she wants to work in.

"I never really had that many opportunities in my old school, and this was such a great chance for me," the 15-year-old said.

"I really love STEM and science and math, and I do see myself getting a job in the future related to all of that."