The night before most of the team finally got some sleep and we started the day in high spirits. We were really looking forward to today’s route along the edge of the Sahara Desert and a successful race day. Starting on the fifth position five, the next team to overtake was now Top Dutch Solar Racing. After following them on their heels for half an hour we managed to overtake their convoy and were now trying to catch up to the leading trio while driving though the vast landscapes of southern Morocco.

After following the team in third place, Vattenfall Solar Team, along some tight turns and steep hills we were able to overtake them at a long straight road with wide wastelands on both sides ending in huge mountain ranges. For the following hours it was a head-to-head race between the Dutch Team and us with each team overtaking the other during driver changes. But in the afternoon, we ultimately gained some distance from them advancing further along the route.

The sun was already coming down when our driving strategy had to make a tough decision: The first option was to drive at full speed to arrive before 6 p.m., therefore not getting a time penalty, without knowing if we could actually make it. The second, the safer option was going a bit slower to conserve battery and even stop once more to charge the battery some more with the last sunlight. It was hard to calculate which of the options was the right one, but some discussions later we opted for the first.

Just in time

During the last kilometers on the sandy road the atmosphere was extraordinarily tense and when we arrived everybody was simply waiting for the official time and wondering if we had made the correct choice. In the end the first option turned out to be the right one: Two minutes before the official end of the kilometer counting for the day at 5:58:22 p.m. we parked at Merzouga base camp – a huge success! This meant our Covestro Photon finished the entire designated route of the day on its own wheels before the time limit at 6 p.m. All of us were really happy because of this and went to the dunes to celebrate.

Around 9 p.m. the weather changed dramatically in a matter of seconds: From a clear and starry sky to rain, lighting and wind which resulted in an enormous sandstorm. We had to strengthen the fixation of our tents to make sure that they do not fly away during the night. At the same time, there was also some small work to be done on the Covestro Photon which meant we had to keep our workshop tent free of most of the wind and dust – quite a difficult challenge. But somehow, we managed it and are now ready to finally sleep and get some rest.  

Greetings from the extremely windy and sandy Merzouga base camp!