The car finished in the rain, with the sun it runs on nowhere in sight, but that didn't matter to the Dutch Nuon team as they triumphed in the World Solar Challenge from Darwin to Adelaide.
The Nuna7 crossed the line on Thursday morning to claim the title with an average speed of more than 90.71km/h for the 3000km journey.
Bad weather slowed its progress on the final day but also caused problems for key rival, Tokai University from Japan.
At one stage, organisers said, the Japanese car ran out of power and was forced to pull over just north of Adelaide to recharge its batteries.
Tokai was still expected to finish second with Solar Team Twente, also from the Netherlands, heading to Adelaide in third place.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Nuon's win was the team's fifth from seven starts and its first in the challenge since 2007, after finishing second behind Tokai in both 2009 and 2011.
As well as 2007, Nuon, from the Delft University of Technology, won in 2001, 2003 and 2005.
A spokesman said while the weather had deteriorated on the run into Adelaide, the team had done its calculations to ensure it could reach the finish.
"We predict every second of the race. So we know exactly what weather is going to be where, how much is going to be in our battery and how much energy we're going to use with the speed we're driving at," he said.
"We actually calculated everything so that our battery would be fully empty finishing here and so that we could drive at the highest speed possible."
In the main challenger class only 10 teams were on track to complete the full distance, with 12 withdrawing because of mechanical or other issues.
Tokai University reached the finish of official timing in Adelaide's northern suburbs about two hours behind Nuon.
Race officials said they planned to recharge and camp there overnight before making their way to the ceremonial finish in the city on Friday morning.
