World Solar Challenge: Despite The Clouds Nuon Scorches Over The Border

Travelling over 90 kilometres per hour, the flying Dutch extended their lead today as they crossed the border into South Australia. Cloudy skies and threatening rain were no match for ‘Nuna 9’ whose advanced solar cells continued to shine. Tonight, three teams are spending their first night camping out under South Australian stars. Team Michigan from the US, in ‘Novum’, made up considerable ground today to finish Day 3 in second place approximately one hour behind the leader. Team Twente in ‘Red Shift’ still have a potential 30-minute time penalty hanging over their heads and are yet to finalise their official protest. Just south of Kulgera, Japan’s Team Tokai have slipped back to 4th as its ‘Tokai Challenger’ struggled to maintain its early pace. As predicted Belgium’s Punch Powertrain in ‘Punch Two’ are only just behind Tokai and will spend the night camping in Kulgera. The fastest Cruiser today was Team HS Bochum from Germany who are now north of Kulgera and on track to make the time window at their current pace. An hour behind, Team Eindhoven from the Netherlands have maintained a consistent speed all day of around 66 kph. Australia’s Clenergy Team Arrow are 30 minutes behind and, given the size of their battery, are capable of high speeds and still within reach of Adelaide and the critical time window. Hong Kong’s Team IVE in ‘Sophie’, Team Minnesota in ‘Eos II’ and Team Kuas in ‘Apollo VIII’ from Taiwan are all cruising, albeit a little too slowly and will need to pick up the pace. First time team Prisum from Iowa State, who showed such promise in their solar utility ‘Penumbra’ have now also joined the Adventure Class along with Polish Team Lodz in ‘Eagle Two’ leaving just six Cruisers to contest class honours.