IVECO opens technician tournament to New Zealand entrants

IVECO widens its technician tournament

IVECO has expanded its Master Technician Tournament to include New Zealand participants for the first time in 2026. The competition followed the inaugural event last year and was framed by the company as a friendly trans-Tasman rivalry, with more than 100 technicians from its Australian and New Zealand dealer network entering. ¹²

How the 2026 finals were decided

The first stage comprised three rounds of online questionnaires covering servicing, maintenance and fault diagnosis across the IVECO range. That process narrowed the field to nine finalists — seven from Australia and two from New Zealand — who travelled to IVECO’s Customer Innovation Centre in Melbourne for practical head-to-head tasks. ¹²

Those finalists completed seven timed exercises on Daily, Eurocargo and S-Way models. IVECO said the tasks covered programming and CAN-Bus diagnostics using multimeters, PicoScopes and the company’s diagnostic tool, along with a remote diagnosis role-play using its Remote Assistance Service. ¹²

Winner and placegetters

Black Truck Sales Toowoomba workshop foreman Matthew Radke won the 2026 tournament. Adtrans Truck Centre senior technician James Bambery finished second, while NZ Trucks Christchurch electrician Jarrod Hodgetts was third. IVECO said the three placegetters received cash prizes and trophies at an awards dinner. ¹²

What IVECO said the competition delivers

Judging was based on the accuracy and timeliness of fault diagnosis and rectification, together with each participant’s methodology, discipline and professionalism. IVECO customer and product support manager Jason Mobberley said the New Zealand entrants gave the event an international flavour and that the tournament was designed to support knowledge sharing and professional development across the dealer network. ¹²

IVECO also said the learnings from the competition are taken back to dealerships and that this benefits customers across Australia and New Zealand. The company said it looks forward to developing the tournament further next year and encouraging more technicians to enter. ¹²