First race day in Australia

Start in Darwin

After an impressive qualifying lap by our professional racing pilot Bert Longin, we started fourth in Darwin. We covered 633 kilometers today, which is 50 kilometers more than last year's edition. This is due to the fact that the BluePoint is lighter and more efficient than the previous car, the Punch Two. Of course, our opponents haven't stopped either, the pace is simply higher. 

The centre of Darwin is of course not an ideal racing circuit. A lot of time can be lost or gained on a strategic level by taking into account the traffic on the road. We managed to climb from fourth to first place in just driving out of Darwin.

A game of leapfrog

From here a battle for the first four places has arisen with the teams of Delft, Twente and Groningen. This is not self-evident since overtaking a solar car requires good communication and coordination in order to demand as little effort as possible from the car. A sufficiently large stretch of road must therefore be safe and free to overtake. On this day, three different teams were in first place, including the Agoria Solar Team. This resulted in a successful but hectic first day.