The Nuon Solar Team from TU Delft won the World Solar Challenge 2013 with their solar car Nuna7, and will now be bringing the "world cup" for solar racing back to Delft.

Until the final lap, it looked like a team from Japan's Tokai University would be the winners, but then TU Delft surged ahead to ultimately defeat Tokai (who won the contest in 2011).

The Dutch team had previously won this contest an impressive four times. Their fifth victory makes them world record holders.

TU Delft has also come to attention recently for breaking other world records in the field of energy-efficient travel.

About Nuna7

Nuna7 was designed and built from scratch by the team. Its special "concentrators" allow the car to optimise the sun's rays, so that it can operate efficiently even when it's not sunny.

The team's proud driver, Leslie Nooteboom, remarked, "They wanted to keep up with us yesterday and so emptied their batteries completely."

"As the sun didn't shine today, they couldn't get any more energy and had to wait alongside the road to recharge. We started this morning with a big lead and we haven't relinquished it," Leslie finished.

Source: TU Delft
Photo credits: Hans-Peter van Velthoven