After five days of excitement, we finished today at 3:00 a.m. Central European Time, on the second place in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. This was just 3:35 minutes behind the winner Delft. This year we improved our racing time of 2013 with almost 4 hours. We’re very proud of this achievement and our Red One!

Extremely small differences on 3000km
The race couldn’t have been more exciting. The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is 3000 km through the rough outback and still the differences between the top teams were only a few minutes. “On the final day, we have done everything within our power to get back the first position”, said team member Robin Haandrikman just after the finish. “That we just missed the victory is too bad. However, we are very proud.“

© Gijs Versteeg

© Gijs Versteeg

Jumping into the fountain
We jumped into the fountain on Victoria Square in Adelaide, which has become a tradition. We heard about this magical moment, but now we finally experienced it ourselves. We were very exhilarated after such a thrilling race.

Wonderful welcome
A large group of people with red ‘Twente’ shirts was waiting for us, on Victoria Square. The atmosphere was exuberant and the audience, family and friends welcomed us enthusiastically. After not seeing them for one and a half month, this was an emotional moment for some team members. Also UT president Victor van der Chijs was present in Adelaide.

© Jérôme Wassenaar

© Jérôme Wassenaar

No single technical issues for Red One
Half of the race we were in leading position. Our average speed was 90 kilometer per hour, in comparison with 79 in 2013. “This is fast”, said Haandrikman. “The team from Delft was just slightly faster which is hard to comprehend. For example, some traffic lights in our favor could already have made a difference. We are extremely proud of our solar car Red One anyway. There was not a single technical issue during the race. Not in the mechanical parts, not in the electrical system, nowhere. The penny could also have fallen the other way.”

Thanks!
We want to thank everybody for their endless support.  We were able to make this happen thanks to all our partners and supporters. They are part of this success! Take a look at all our photos of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge on our Flickr-account and watch our videos on our YouTube channel.

Photo header: Gijs Versteeg