Cloudy conditions forced the University of Queensland solar racing team's entrant SunShark into a slower race and a second placing in the Swan Hill to Bendigo leg of the CitiPower SunRace.
ACT entrant Spirit of Canberra from Lake Tuggeranong College (a private ACT high school) finished in first place in the 243km race around five minutes ahead of SunShark.
SunShark project manager Darren Bell said early weather forecasts predicting cloud cover and rain in the evening forced the team to run a slower race because of worries batteries would not be adequately charged in the lead-up to the final race day on Saturday.
"The weather reports later turned out to be incorrect with bright sunny conditions in the evening meaning we could recharge SunShark's batteries in just 30 minutes," he said.
SunShark averaged speeds of 55km per hour during the leg leading most of the way before being overtaken by Spirit of Canberra two-thirds through the race.
Further information, Steve Goodwin, SunShark publicity co-ordinator, on mobile telephone 0412 635 194.
