Jim Whitmore on way to Europe after winning Volvo Driver Challenge
Page 8
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By George Barrow
VOLVO HAS crowned Dairy Crest driver Jim Whitmore as the UK and Ireland’s best driver after winning its UK Driver Challenge.
More than 90 competitors took part in the competition that started in April when companies began taking Volvo FH 460s on weekly loans to use in daily operations.
The 10 best-performing drivers were subjected to a challenging two-hour, 121km route near Volvo’s HQ in Warwick. Whitmore triumphed with an average of 6.64mpg, beating his nearest rival Bryan Douglas by just 0.02mpg, while the 10th-place contestant recorded just 0.62mpg less, highlighting the challenging nature of the route and the high standards of the competition.
Volvo Trucks UK MD Goran Nyberg says: “This competition started months ago using Dynaleet to score the drivers purely on driver behaviour. Good behaviour drives mpg, so this time [in the inal] it’s on mpg. The Volvo Truck Driver Challenge has given a wider audience a chance to test our leet. And these top drivers have shown what they can get out of the trucks.” Whitmore will travel to Sweden and compete against other top drivers from across Europe battling for a place in the global inal in which they will take on Asia’s best driver.
Whitmore says: “The route was very demanding with some large hills. I just kept reading the terrain and trying to maximise fuel eficiency. Two hours is a long time to analyse the road, and my driving technique takes a lot of concentration, but I kept reading the trafic low and anticipating other vehicles and the changing of lights. I’ve had no training [for this], but I get paid to deliver and deliver a fuel-eficient drive.”