2nd International finale of the Young Car Mechanic finished

17 May 2018

15 pupils representing 5 countries took part in the second international finale of the Young Car Mechanic. The best young mechanic of 2018 is Bartłomiej Januszewski from Mechanical Schools Complex in Białystok. All the guests at the event emphasised the importance of the initiative organized by Inter Cars and partners of the event.

Fierce competition

2nd International finale of the Young Car Mechanic came to an end. On the 14 May in the Inter Cars Training Centre, 15 pupils from five countries were participating in this great undertaking, fighting for the title of the best young mechanic of the year 2018.

Exactly at 8:30 all the gathered guests were welcomed by representatives of the Board of Inter Cars Group, Robert Kierzek and Tomasz Piluch. Both of them unanimously emphasised the meaning of the contest itself and also the whole Young HR programme, as a part of which the finale was organized.

The Young HR programme is a very important initiative for the whole aftermarket. It is meant to show to young people how nice and great a job of a mechanic can be. The formula of the contest is still in a state of flux and I do believe that in the future, another countries will be joining this undertaking, increasing its prestige and dignity.

Robert Kierzek, Vice-President of the Management Board of Inter Cars SA

Winning such a great competition is a great motivation, not only as a financial motivation, which is important as well, but also as a development of the future career for those young people. Our assumption is that Inter Cars is only as strong as the market we are working on. Supporting young people, who will be a part of the market in a very short time, will make the market even stronger and better.

Tomasz Piluch, Director of Inter Cars North Group

Young adepts of mechanics had to face tasks, which the organizers had prepared for them, together with partners of the initiative – Elring, Bosch, Hella, ZF Aftermarket and Lauber companies. Representatives of each of the organizations, prepared malfunctions and faults that the contestants had to face in a particular period of time. This was to verify the know-how and skills of the contestants.

Substantial support

It is also worth mentioning that curatorship of this year’s edition was held by the Military Technical Academy, which representatives were also present at the event, carefully looking at all the young mechanics.

Great initiative like Young Car Mechanic, is perfectly meeting the needs of the market and I do think that it has to be multiplicated. We are missing this kind of projects, which are promoting specialized and interdisciplinary knowledge connected with automotive technology. Tasks prepared by the organizers were a great challenge for the participants, who had to prove their knowledge and also practical skills on vehicle construction, mechanics, diagnostics, electronics and engine management.

Jerzy Jackowski, Director of Mechanically Propelled Vehicles and Transport of the Military Technical Academy.

Everlasting emotions

For better organization, the whole of the contest was divided into two rounds. At the time when first 8 contestants were facing tasks, other colleagues went on a trip to the newest investment of Inter Cars – The ILS European Logistics and Development Centre, the only such warehouse in the whole Europe in the automotive industry. What is important, for greater comfort of the contestants, the event was held in native language of the participants – thanks to presence of interpreters, each of them had a chance to make sure that the task has been properly understood.

During the whole contest great emotions were following the contestants, as the whole stake of the rewards for the first three places amounted to PLN 100 thousand. Additional attraction which was prepared by the organizers was an invitation to a trip to Stuttgart, during which it is planned to visit Elring factory, Mercedes and Porsche museums.

What is also interesting, pupils from an Elring partner school were invited to the event They did not take part in the competition, but had a chance to get to know the tasks and assess their level. During the trip to Elring, they shall also accompany the group, telling about specifics of learning process in this type of school in Germany and also about their comments regarding the contest.

Evening Gala

In order to give even more emphasis to the competition and to honour the contestants, the organizers invited the pupils and their tutors, together with representatives of competition partners, to a solemn gala, organized in Holiday Park hotel in Warsaw. The official ceremony was held there.

The fact that young people are interested in such a job as car mechanic is an additional positive signal for Inter Cars, as it gives us hope that our industry shall survive. Because of this we are supporting all the initiatives which are promoting this job and it is one of our main strategic goals. We do need the passion of those people and we do care for that.

Krzysztof Soszyński, Vice President of the Board of Inter Cars SA

The level of this year’s edition was really high. One could see that all the young mechanics were really well-prepared, and the tutors were much involved. This is a proof that we managed to repeat the success of the first edition, and gives us the right to look into the future with optimism. We are creating this contest to show young people what the job of a mechanic is and how their involvement can be transformed into success.

Marta Ciesielska, Young HR Project Coordinator

This year's edition presented even higher level of pupils’ knowledge and better preparation to the contest, comparing to the previous year. The contestants have proven that they are dealing well with complicated and various technical tasks. Besides knowledge, they have also proven technical practical skills. That really sounds promising. Keeping this tendency will make really valuable people come to the market, well prepared to perform the job of a mechanic.

Radosław Sujka, Training Manager at Inter Cars

Young Car Mechanic 2018

The best young mechanic of 2018 is Bartłomiej Januszewski, representing Mechanical Schools Complex in Białystok.

Winning in the contest is a great honour for me. I am really happy, as I believe that it will be a strong impulse for my career development as a car mechanic. The level of prepared tasks was really high, but I think it really well reflected the reality of the market and daily work of mechanics in a car garage.

Bartłomiej Januszewski

The second was Paweł Smolaga from Poland, and third was Artūrs Rjabčenkovs from Latvia.