The sixth edition of the Young Car Mechanic contest has come to an end. The title of the best Young Car Mechanic of the year 2022 was officially awarded at the final in Hungary, which took place on 25 and 26 June. Who was the best and how did the competition go?
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This year, for the first time, the Young Car Mechanic International Final was organised outside Poland. This is a new formula that was implemented last year, defining the venue of the competition. Following this rule, the international final is to be held in the country where the winner of the preceding edition comes from.
It is also worth emphasizing that this year, for the first time in the history of the competition, the competitors were struggling with tasks related to trucks and faults related to their systems.
The competition was fierce, but there could only be one winner.
Bálint Kovács – a student of the graduating class of the Ganz Ábrahám Technical School in Zalaegerszeg, who won first place in this year's final, spoke about his preparation for the competition:
"Before the international final, I focused on theoretical knowledge. The practical part of car mechanics is something I come into contact with every day. I focused only on myself and my goals. I tried to perform as well as possible in each task and achieve a high grade average. I knew how high the standard was. On the first day, I looked at the results and already knew I was doing very well - that was just extra motivation. I gained a lot of experience and knowledge during my preparation."
And what advice does he have for next year's participants?
"Such successes give you confidence and belief in the work you performed. I would like to tell the young car mechanics, above all, to be humble in their profession. Everyone has to earn their success and develop themselves." – said Bálint.
The enormity of the organisational work
"As the person responsible for the development of this project, I would like to say that we took a big step forward last year when organising the competition. Comparatively, this year we have made ten of them, and much bigger ones at that." - sums up this year's edition Armands Umbrasko, leader and coordinator of the Young Car Mechanic project.
"When organising such an event, there is no room for any mistakes. This was our main goal, the need to support the students to achieve the best possible results. Organising such a big event was quite a challenge for us. It was the first time the finals were held in our country and, apart from the national qualifiers, we had not had this experience before. I think it was a big challenge for us, but also a great honour." - says Andras Piri, organiser of the Young Car Mechanic International Final in Hungary.
"The level of competition was very high this year. Everything was done extremely professionally. The great cooperation with our suppliers, business partners and colleagues reassures us that the whole programme is worth continuing in the following years." - added Sebastian Baber, Training Manager of the Inter Cars Group.
The Young Car Mechanic competition is an initiative created as part of the Young HR programme, created by Inter Cars in cooperation with schools, industry companies and supported by the EU Erasmus+ Programme.
The tasks have been prepared in cooperation with representatives of 10 well-known automotive manufacturers who want to support the development of young mechanics. These are: Bosch, Continental, Elring, Febi, Filtron/Mann Filter, Meyle, Schaeffler, Shell, Valeo and ZF Aftermarket.
This year's final Young Car Mechanic event in Hungary was:
- 2 days of competition,
- 10 tasks completed by each participant,
- 65 people accepted and accommodated during the event,
- a separate programme for teachers including visits to local technical schools,
- 2 days of excursion for the winners and all students and teachers participating in the competition,
- a tour of the BOSCH and VALEO production and development facilities,
- a special cultural and entertainment programme,
- two truck tasks for the first time.