AUBURN – After qualifying in a statewide competition, two teams from Auburn Middle School will compete Sunday in a regional solar car challenge.

Eleven of 48 teams that competed in the 10th Annual Junior Solar Sprint State Championship June 5 will advance to the Northeastern Championship at the Museum of Science in Springfield, Mass.

Auburn Middle School will send two teams to Springfield. At the state competition at the Owls Head Transportation Museum near Rockland, The Flying Flame, brainchild of Michael Pohl and Jake Naum, earned second place for speed, second for technical merit, and third place for craftsmanship. Explorer, entered by Neil Pomerleau, Kevin Landry and Stephen McDonough, took third place for technical merit.

Teams competed in the categories of speed, innovation, craftsmanship, technical merit and kids’ choice.

The Junior Solar Sprint, coordinated by the Maine Education Program, is a national competition that challenges students in grades five to eight to design, build and race model cars powered by electricity from sunlight.

While MEEP coordinates the program in Maine, the Sprint’s primary sponsor this year is the Bureau of Air Quality within the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, with additional support from Friends of MEEP.