The Irish Professional Driver’s Championships under the auspices of the European Professional Drivers Association (EPDA) Ireland concluded its Irish Team Selection event on Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 July at the Circle K Motorway Service Station Kilcullen, for the upcoming 32nd UICR Professional Driver’s World Championship, which will be held from 8-11 September 2022 in Zagreb, Croatia.
The selection process was designed to ensure Ireland put forward the “best of the best” from the Irish Professional driver’s pool as the Irish Team, and the high quality of entrants did not disappoint. The event itself consisted of eleven disciplines, each designed to test a driver’s proficiency of their skill. Irish Commercials provided a fully laden (44-tonne GVW) Volvo FH 500 6×2 for the Eco Drive challenge. Participants were issued Letters of Attestation as they were required to drive a designated route of 53 kms over a variety of roads and junctions. Full use of the vehicles excellent onboard information system was then used to view the drivers results.
The remaining ten Skills tests were designed from the scenarios faced by professional drivers during the course of their normal working day, including close work, reversing to a loading dock, minimum distancing, height estimations among others.
Five vehicle categories were on offer for participants, such as : Panel Van, 7.5 tonne, Rigid truck, Tractor-unit & Trailer (Artic) and Coach.
FreightSpeed Group supplied a Ford Transit for the van category, while the Volvo FL 7.5 tonne rigid was supplied by Gencat, and proved to be a very popular section with many competitors entering it before their own specialised discipline.
Kennedy International (Allenwood) provided a well-kept Scania P230 rigid, which had many competitors remarking on its condition. The Volvo tractor-unit and trailer artic used for the skills test was provided by Rhenus Chemical Logistics (C+G Logistics) and Cronin’s Coaches (Cork) provided a top spec luxury coach, which had many drivers “almost” considering changing sides from haulage to passenger transport!
The results of the event are posted on the EPDA website, and an official prize giving ceremony is being held in the coming weeks. For more information, log onto: www.EPDA.ie