The 17 members of the Vattenfall solar team are pushing ahead to take part in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.
They are putting their studies at TU Delft to one side for a year so they can focus entirely on building their new solar car: Nuna11.
The race across Australia is due to take place in October, lockdown and Covid-19 measures permitting.
Team leader Christiaan Wiers said: “The Covid measures in Australia are really strict, but skipping a year isn’t a big deal.
“It’s simple, actually: if the race goes ahead soon, there’s no way we won’t be part of it.
“So we’re working flat out, on the assumption that the race will go ahead.”
The Coronavirus measures make building the car this year even more challenging.
The team have mostly been working on their design from home for the last few months and only meet when they really need to.
When they did meet, it was in small groups following self-imposed strict Coronavirus protocols based on RIVM guidelines.
Despite this, the team is still on track, says team leader Wiers: “Since we met each other last summer there hasn’t been a time when all seventeen of us have met at once.
“That makes the team process quite the challenge.
“Fortunately, former coach for the Dutch national women’s field hockey team Marc Lammers took part in this year’s teambuilding.
“The online sessions we have with him are really motivating – we’ve really grown as a team and are so enthusiastic about the project.”
The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge race covers 3000 kilometres across the Australian outback.
The race has a strong line-up, so is also considered to be the unofficial World Cup race for solar cars.
The Vattenfall Solar Team hopes that taking part in this race will represent a recovery.
In the 2019 race, predecessor car NunaX went up in flames right before the finish line.