The University of Queensland solar racing team has won line honours in today's Mildura to Swan Hill leg of the CitiPower SunRace. In the bright sunny conditions, SunShark finished just 93 seconds ahead of ACT entrant Spirit of Canberra.
The tight finish has put SunShark in a strong position to win the 1790km Sydney to Melbourne event which concludes this Saturday in Melbourne's Albert Park.
Team race manager Bernard Walsh said SunShark and Spirit of Canberra had leap-frogged each other throughout the 242km stage.
"SunShark also had to deal with a tyre puncture along the way which made things interesting," he said. "We changed it in record time - just four minutes on a job that normally takes around 10 minutes. We averaged 92km per hour over the 242km race distance and SunShark was siting on the 100km per hour speed limit for most of the way."
Victorian solar vehicle Aurora 101 came third followed by University of New South Wales vehicle Sunswift II and Central Queensland University entrant Capricorn Solarflair.
The team hopes to consolidate on its performance in tomorrow's 243km stage to Bendigo and regain the overall lead in the event.
Further information, Steve Goodwin, SunShark publicity co-ordinator, on mobile telephone 0412 635 194.
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