ADELAIDE: Dutch team “Nuon” on Thursday won an epic 3,000-kilometre solar car race across Australia’s outback for the third-straight year, continuing its dominance of an innovative contest showcasing new vehicle technology.

The World Solar Challenge, first run in 1987 and last held in 2015, began in the northern city of Darwin on Sunday morning, with 41 competing cars heading to the final destination of Adelaide in South Australia.

Cheers and chants of “Nuna” roared from the large Dutch contingent as the “Nuna 9” car — travelling at an average speed of 81.2 kilometres per hour (55.5 mph) — crossed the finish line mid-afternoon.

“Welcome to #Adelaide @NuonSolarTeam, winner of the @bridgestone #BWSC17 Schneider Electric Challenger Class,” race organisers tweeted.

The US’ University of Michigan “Novum” finished just under two hours behind in second place ahead of Belgium’s Punch Powertrain, which completed the race half an hour later.

The event has become one of the world’s foremost innovation challenges with teams looking to demonstrate designs that could one day lead to commercially available solar-powered vehicles for passengers.

Google co-founder Larry Page and Tesla co-founder J B Straubel are past competitors who credit the event in influencing their careers

The win is the seventh for Nuon, with their car overcoming cloudy skies as they took the lead early and stayed ahead in the elite Challenger class, which features slick, single seat aerodynamic vehicles built for sustained endurance and total energy efficiency.

The team’s winning time was 37 hours, 10 minutes and 41 seconds. When their team finished first in 2015, it took them 33.03 hours.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2017