Following the overwhelming success of its inaugural Master Technician Tournament last year, IVECO has expanded its 2026 competition, welcoming participants from New Zealand to the event and in doing so igniting a friendly Trans-Tasman rivalry.

Over 100 technicians from across IVECO's Australian and New Zealand dealer network participated in this year's event, with stage one of the competition involving three rounds of challenging on-line questionnaires covering all aspects of servicing and maintaining the IVECO range, along with fault diagnosis.

The field was then narrowed to the top-performing nine technicians – seven from Australia and two from New Zealand – who were invited to go head-to-head in a series of practical tasks at IVECO's Customer Innovation Centre in Melbourne.

Working against the clock, the finalists performed seven tasks on IVECO Daily, Eurocargo and S-Way models covering programming and CAN-Bus system diagnostics using multimeter, PicoScope and IVECO diagnostic tool. Additionally, contestants engaged in a remote diagnosis role play using IVECO's Remote Assistance Service.

In selecting the winner, judges evaluated accuracy and timeliness of fault diagnosis and rectification, and their overall approach to correcting vehicle issues. Each participant's methodology, discipline and professionalism in overcoming the challenges was also considered.

Top honours in this year's IVECO Master Technician Tournament went to Workshop Foreman, Matthew Radke, from Black Truck Sales in Toowoomba, with the minor placings being awarded to Adtrans Truck Centre Senior Technician, James Bambery, and Electrician, Jarrod Hodgetts, from NZ Trucks in Christchurch.

As well as bragging rights, the three place getters received cash prizes and were presented with trophies at an official awards dinner.

IVECO Manager, Customer and Product Support, Jason Mobberley, congratulated the winners and thanked all participants.

"On behalf of IVECO, I congratulate our winner, Matthew, and place getters, and I thank all who participated in the 2026 event," Jason said.

"Response to this year's expanded tournament was extremely positive and having New Zealand technicians join the competition certainly gave it an international flavour, while setting the scene for some friendly banter and new rivalries.

"The tournament provided technicians with an opportunity to test their skills against their peers, which ultimately leads to greater knowledge sharing and professional development across our dealer network. The learnings gained from the competition are then taken back to dealerships, benefiting IVECO customers throughout Australia and New Zealand.

"We look forward to further developing the IVECO Master Technician Tournament next year and encourage even more technicians to take part in the program."