Japanese gain ground: WSC Day 2

Despite technical glitches and a 10 minute penalty for unauthorised speeding, Nuon Solar Team from the Netherlands still leads the biennial 2013 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.

The race is shaping up as a battle royale between the Netherlands (Nuon) and
the defending champions from Japan (Tokai) as the frontrunners in the premier
'Challenger' class closed in on the halfway mark of the arduous 3000km
north-south race through Australia's red centre.

Using only the power of the sun to propel the light-weight carbon-fibre Nuna 7 prototype car, the Netherland's Nuon Solar Team set a cracking pace on the first day of competition.

After making camp on the side of the road not far from the Aileron roadhouse on day two, some 135km shy of Alice Springs, Nuon Solar Team manager Marlese Hak told motoring.com.au she was confident of extending her lead tomorrow, but was also frustrated that her team was penalised, while her closest rivals had their penalty rescinded.

"We are still confident. But Tokai also got a penalty which was taken back by the organisers. So it's a little bit strange," she said.

Team Tokai's media car was reported for dangerous driving, which incurs a time penalty for the associated team in order to discourage such risky behaviour. But Team Tokai's penalty was overturned as ogranisers insisted the car wasn't affiliated with the team.

Hak said the decision was "upsetting" and "frustrating", compounded by the fact the Nuna 7 car experienced technical issues.

"It was not a perfect day. Our start was not good because we had a small problem and that gave us a delay of 15 mins," she said.

"We adapted some settings and the car wouldn’t drive away. It was very stressful. Later on we drove a little bit too fast in a town, and that gave us a 10 minute time penalty. So that's why Tokai has closed the gap."

However Hak believes her Nuna 7 race car the fastest vehicle in the field and can break Team Tokai's two-time title defence: "We are still faster than Tokai. So I am confident we will stay in front of them".

"As long as we don’t get any more penalties or problems, I think we will still be leading tomorrow," said the Dutch Nuon Solar Team manager.

Team Tokai overtook Dutch Solar Team Twente to snag second place as
event organisers withdrew a penalty imposed on the Japanese team,
dropping Twente to third while US-based Stanford University's Solar Car
Project maintained fourth place.

Day three saw strong winds affect competitor's top speeds, and it's likely the front runners won't finish in the race in four days as planned, now expected to arrive at the finish line in Adelaide on Thursday night or Friday morning.

University of Michigan finished day two in fifth place and the highest placed Australian team was Aurora Vehicle Association which finished sixth overall, an astonishing feat considering it is competing in the less advanced 'Adventure' class.

Team Arrow which shocked everyone with pole position during qualifying slipped from fifth to eighth overall (seventh in the premier Challenger class).

Another vehicle tagging along for the ride, apart from our trusty Mitsubishi Outlander shod with Bridgestone Ecopia tyres, was an Audi A3 Sportback petrol car featuring cylinder deactivation technology designed to reduce fuel consumption.

The brand new German small car has been given special dispensation to compete on the same 3000km course as the zero emission vehicles, adhering to the same checkpoints and rules as the solar cars. Audi predicts the car could achieve as low as 4.0L/100km.

World Solar Challenge 2013

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