The young guns showed the old dogs some new tricks as they swept their opposition away in a clean sweep of the 4 day Apprentice Challenge, held during the Queensland Truck & Machinery Show.

The ever popular CVIAQ Apprentice Challenge, held in the Westpac Industry Career Centre pits apprentices against long serving industry icons, to be the fastest in correcting a selection of faults in two identical vehicles.

The Apprentice Challenge is a ‘hands on’ practical test where teams of apprentices selected by CVIAQ from its membership, to represent the industry challenge teams of high profile contestants including industry members and personalities. Their challenge is to rectify identical faults in identical vehicles within a defined time period. The winning team is the team that first successfully identifies and repairs all faults or rectifies the most faults within the allowed time frame.

The Industry Career Centre hosted a series of events including the Apprentice Challenge, to effectively engage the community and promote the professionalism of the commercial vehicle industry and opportunities that exist within the industry to employers, employees and potential entrants into the industry.

CVIAQ as the industry’s peak body has taken a lead role in organising the Industry Career Centre and the Apprentice Challenge and is pleased to report the following outcome of the event:

Heat 1 - Thursday 14th of May
Apprentices Michael Mercer and Troy McKee from Cummins South Pacific defeated the industry challengers of Bob Martin, State Manager of Jost Australia and Derek Marriot, Service Manager of Cummins South Pacific.

Heat 2 - Friday 15th of May
Apprentices Simone Bange from Hastings Deering Commercial Engines and John Fawcett from the Brown and Hurley Group defeated Brad Cumerford, Sales Manager of The Brown and Hurley Group and John Grossman, Dealer Principal of Mercedes- Benz Commercial Vehicles Rocklea.

Heat 3 - Saturday 16th of May
Apprentices Daniel Khan and Michael Millewski from MTU Detroit Diesel Australia defeated Clayton Stevens and Dennis Mathers, both Heavy Commercial Vehicle teachers from Skills Tech Australia.

The Grand Final - Sunday 17th of May
The Final held on Sunday the 17th of May was a competitive event between the apprentice teams from Cummins South Pacific and MTU Detroit Diesel Australia. The apprentice team from MTU Detroit Diesel Australia was the winner of the CVIAQ Apprentice Challenge and received tool vouchers from long term event sponsor Warby Tools.