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Driven to perfedion
Page 16
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Emma Penny watches an Italian driver beat Europe's best
IN A TALE involving more twists than a mountain pass,Italian driver Michele Sandri won the European Young Driver of the Year title in Sweden last weekend.
The competition, organised by Scania,drew the best drivers under 30 from 20 European countries from an initial 6,000 entries. The final, held at the manufacturer's headquarters, saw them having to complete a series of tricky manoeuvres and an economy drive, with time being a critical factor in scoring highly.
The top six of the 20 finalists then went on to compete in a further manoeuvring test, with Sandri taking top place.
Sandri, 27, from Trento in northern Italy, drives a construction truck for Dalla Serra Carlo Autotransporti, and won a trip to Brazil for his efforts.
Second and third places were claimed by Laurens D'Huyvetter from Belgium and Finn Mike Venalainen.
Britain's representative,Darren Jukes, from Asda's Didcot depot, was first out on manoeuvres and believed nerves and driving a left-hand drive truck got the better of him. Neither he, nor Ireland's representative Steven O'Brien, an owner-operator from Clan e in Kildare, made it to the final six.
The competition, which also involved the European Commission, Michelin, Shell and the International Road Transport Union, is to be held again in 2005. All finalists will automatically qualify for their country's final, while Sandri has been awarded a place in the European final.