World Solar Challenge

For the second consecutive time, a team from Belgium has landed in first place in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, a competition that sees dozens of innovative solar vehicles race across the often punishing continent of Australia.

Holland’s Nuna solar car appeared all set to claim another crown at this year’s World Solar Challenge, until disaster struck within a couple of hundred miles of the finish line, clearing the way for Belgium’s Agoria Solar Team to take the title.

​Nine times Holland's Nuon Solar Team have competed in the World Solar Challenge, a solar-powered endurance race across Australia, and it has now claimed the title in all but two of those events. The result was never really in doubt, with the team's Nuna 9 solar car leading from beginning to end

Competitors have covered thousands of kilometers since the World Solar Challenge kicked off on Sunday, but in a way not much has changed since then. Nuon remain in the lead heading into the final day of racing, as adverse conditions appear to be doing the rest of the field no favors. ​

Mother Nature has thrown an extra spanner in the works on day three of the World Solar Challenge, by way of clouds and rain. But the Nuon Solar Team has weathered the storm, stretching its lead as the field went through something of a reshuffle behind it. ​

Nuon Solar Team was fast out of the blocks on day one of the World Solar Challenge, and with day two now done and dusted it is showing no signs of slowing down. It again rolled into camp ahead of its competitors, though just 24 minutes separates the top three after 1,300 km (800 mi) of racing.

​The World Solar Challenge has kicked off for another year, with Nuon Solar Team taking an early lead. The challenge has competing teams race solar-powered vehicles thousands of kilometers across the Australian Outback and defending champion Nuon is looking to claim its seventh title.

The University of Eindhoven is preparing to take on the biennial Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (WSC) with the five-seat Stella Vie, which has fewer solar panels than the team's previous entries, but makes up for it with a range of smart new features.

Five wearying days after setting off from Darwin, the Nuon Solar Team has beaten Dutch compatriot Solar Team Twente to claim its sixth World Solar Challenge.

Like every other team currently taking part in the World Solar Challenge, the University of Michigan will look to keep its car chugging along by exposing it to as much sunlight as possible. But unlike the others, it has brought along a little piece of technology it hopes will offer an edge.

The World Solar Challenge kicks off this Sunday, with competitors set to cover a monster 3,000 km journey from Darwin, Northern Territory to Adelaide, South Australia in cars powered purely by the sun. Here's a quick look at some of the contenders.

Delft University's Nuon Solar Team has won the Challenger class of the World Solar Challenge. Its solar-powered Nuna 7 vehicle arrived in Adelaide at 10:03 a.m. on the morning of the fifth day of the event, crossing Australia from north coast to south in a total of a little over 33 hours.