Apart from the Germans, it’s really only the Australian team that seems to be serious competition for Solar Team Eindhoven (STE), since the other cruisers failed to finish today. The last part of the race is on Friday, but the tension won’t end there. Before the final results can be announced, cars of the Cruiser category will be tested on two more aspects: energy consumption and design, i.e.: is it a practical family car? Scoring these aspects, the number of passengers per car during the race is taken into account as well. The latter is a good thing for STE, because Stella was the only car to race with three passengers during the first run.
 
On Saturday, Stella was the fastest Cruiser in qualification on the Hidden Valley circuit in Darwin, not to mention the fact it was faster than most cars of the Challenger category for single-passenger racecars as well. Fellow Dutch teams from Twente and Delft compete in the Challenger category. Although Stella was fast, it must be said that most Challenger participants held back a little to prevent damage on the fast track. Normally, Delft car Nuna7 has a top speed of 180 kilometers per hour, whereas Stella can reach 120 tops. Nuna7 has also won the first two runs in its category, and is now 1,302 kilometers from Darwin. The Challengers will finish on Wednesday already.