With two stages to go, Solar Team Twente are in the lead in the Solar Challenge Morocco. After the third stage on the outskirts of the Sahara, the team managed to make up for a difference of twelve minutes on previous race leaders Agoria. The students from Enschede have a lead of 36 minutes on the team from Belgium with just two stages to go.
Focus on the finish
Shortly after the start, the team from Twente overtook the current leader, after which RED Horizon accelerated and increased the distance to the Belgian team. Race leader Thomas Jansink is positive but points out that the race has not yet been determined. “We’ve had a fantastic day and that’s why we can start first tomorrow. We will continue to focus on the finish in Agadir in two days and certainly do not count ourselves rich yet.”
Unexpected weather conditions
Judith Tel, the strategist of Solar Team Twente, says that at the start of the day it was still uncertain how the day would go. “The weather was unpredictable and could have gone either way. Last night there was a thunderstorm and sandstorm in the camp, but today the weather was beautiful with plenty of sun. So we didn’t know yet what energy income we could count on. This is extremely important information to determine the speed and racing strategy of the solar car,” according to Tel.
Two days left
Tomorrow the team will start the penultimate race day. The team does not yet dare to say anything about who will be the winners. “Anything can still happen. We don’t know what the competition is doing, and how full their battery is, for example. It is certainly possible that the Belgian or Delft team will want to catch up tomorrow. We stay focused and will concentrate on our own strategy,” says Jansink. Tomorrow the team will drive from the Sahara dunes in Merzouga to Zagora, a stage of 447 kilometres covering 3000 meters of altitude.
About Solar Challenge Morocco
On Monday, October 25th, Solar Challenge Morocco started. This is the race in which solar cars drive over 2,500 kilometres in five days through the various Moroccan landscapes in five stages. The set-up differs from the, now well-known, race in Australia. In the World Solar Challenge (3,000 kilometres), the teams start at the point where they finished the previous day. In Morocco there are stages with a fixed start and finish, a concept similar to the Dakar Rally. The team that covers the total distance in the shortest time wins. During Solar Challenge Morocco, the student team from Twente will compete against teams from Groningen, Delft and Leuven, among others. The race starts and ends in the port city of Agadir and mainly goes through the Moroccan desert. The finish will be on Friday, October 29th where they will also announce the winner.
