Scania: Lars Sondergård Wins Scania’s Young Truck Driver Competition
April 25 2015 - 11:37AM
Business Wire
Lars Sondergård from Denmark won the exciting Young European
Truck Driver final. The competition was decided in S�dertälje,
Sweden, on Saturday afternoon and attracted close to 10,000
spectators. Lars Sondergård, who participated in the YETD final for
the second time, beat 25 other talented young professional drivers
from countries throughout Europe.
“I can’t belive it, the competition was very tight,” says Lars
Sondergård.
“It has been fantastic to see how concentrated and focused the
drivers have been during the competition,” says Erik Ljungberg,
Senior Vice President and head of Scania Corporate Relations.
“There is only one who can call himself the best young truck driver
in Europe but I think all 26 can call themselves winners.”
When it was time for the final exercise, the Super Z, the only
three combatants left with a shot at the first prize were Patrick
Schildmann, Germany and runner ups Thomas Knüsel from Switzerland
and Lars Sondergård from Denmark.
The first prize in the competition is a brand new truck from
Scania, at a value of 100,000 euro.
A total of more than 22,000 young truck drivers under age 35
from 26 European countries competed in Scania Young European Truck
Driver.
The final took place over a two-day period and included such
tests as Defensive and fuel-economy driving, Cargo securing, Check
before driving, Fight the fire, Safe manoeuvring and the classic
Knock the King. The contestants in the final had to prove that they
had the skill and attitude of responsible heavy truck drivers as
they completed a programme consisting of complex manoeuvring and
obstacle tests.
Scania Young European Truck Driver is a major part of a global
initiative for responsible, safe driving that Scania started in
2003. By highlighting the role of the driver, Scania also wants to
attract more young people into the driving profession.
“The driver is absolutely the most important factor in heavy
vehicle transport,” says Erik Ljungberg. “Vehicles and
infrastructure are obviously of major significance, but
fuel-efficient and safe driving is primarily a matter of human
behaviour. Through YETD, Scania wants to help raise the status of
professional drivers and emphasise their great importance to the
profitability of transport companies and to road safety, as well as
to the reduced environmental impact. We want to help attract more
young, capable drivers into the transport business.”
Scania’s Young European Truck Driver competition has the
endorsement of the European Commission and the International Road
Transport Union. Its sponsors are Michelin and Volkswagen. Scania
is also running similar competitions in Latin America, Africa and
Asia. The 2014/2015 competitions attracted a record number of some
100,000 contestants worldwide.
The complete list of results, as well as photos, scores from the
final and an on-demand version of the final, are available on
www.scania.com/YETDlive.
Scania is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks and
buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and
marine engines. Service-related products account for a growing
proportion of the company’s operations, assuring Scania customers
of cost-effective transport solutions and maximum uptime. Scania
also offers financial services. Employing some 42,000 people, the
company operates in about 100 countries. Research and development
activities are concentrated in Sweden, while production takes place
in Europe and South America, with facilities for global interchange
of both components and complete vehicles. In 2014, net sales
totalled SEK 92.1 billion and net income amounted to SEK 6 billion.
Scania’s press releases are available on www.scania.com
(http://www.scania.com/se)
This information was brought to you by Cision
http://news.cision.com
ScaniaHans-Åke Danielsson, Press Manager, +46
8 553 856 62orMikael Person, YETD Project Manager, +46
8 553 856 57