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A highly motivated team blending experience and youthful enthusiasm from ���ϲ�����’s company-owned Dandenong Branch has won this year’s Australian National Top Team competition once again.

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The winners now travel to Bangkok early in 2026 to contest the Asian Regional finals, where the two top teams then continue to Sweden for the World Finals.

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In line with advances in heavy vehicle technology both on trucks and buses but also within the workshop environment, this year’s challenges included working using a virtual reality headset, as well as in a simulated outback roadside, diagnosing and fault fixing in the dark, assisted only by wearable illumination and immersed in surround sounds of a busy freeway.

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Other challenges included fault finding on a marine engine, a route bus and an electronic circuit, plus completing a written theoretical exam. All tests were against the clock and required seamless teamwork and logical deductive reasoning in order to successfully complete the tasks.��

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It wasn’t all nuts and bolts, though, with the ���ϲ����� Dunk Truck providing some welcome basketball action and teamwork in the sunshine during the day, while in the evening, a ‘Prison Break’ Challenge at Melbourne’s historic Pentridge Prison previewed a gala dinner where the awards were presented.

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Seven teams from ���ϲ�����’s Australian company-owned network of branches took part in the National Finals following a knockout round involving a further eight teams from around the nation.

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“Top Team is a global ���ϲ����� initiative that celebrates and develops the professionalism of our service teams, strengthening technical capability, efficiency, and collaboration within our workshops,” says Stefan Weber, Director of Aftersales at ���ϲ����� Australia, who oversaw the Top Team event held at ���ϲ�����’s Campbellfield head office in late October.

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While Team Dandenong under the leadership of Chris Chilver took home overall honours for the second event in a row, Pinkenba QLD’s team were runners up with third place claimed by a team largely comprising apprentices from ���ϲ����� Eastern Creek, aptly named the “Underdogs”.

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“The success of our Eastern Creek Underdogs team of apprentices shows that ���ϲ�����’s technical workforce has a very bright future,” Stefan says. “Their impressive result highlights the depth of talent and technical understanding within our next generation of ���ϲ����� technicians — a strong sign of the future excellence growing across our network.

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“Teams study in their own time in the lead-up to the knockout rounds and the National Finals, honing their skills and knowledge of ���ϲ����� mechanical and electrical system, as well as being able to work as a team to trace faults and rectify them. This has real world benefits in the workshop in their day-to-day activities as well as supporting our corporate value of ‘Customer First’ and maximising uptime for the operators of our trucks, buses and engines,” Stefan says.

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“Reinforcing our focus on cutting edge technology, this year we introduced a virtual reality headset-based challenge that fosters good VR hand and eye coordination. While this technology has been widely used in gaming, ���ϲ����� is adapting the environment for training technicians to understand how to inspect and diagnose virtually,” says ���ϲ����� Product Support & Training Manager, Jason Grech, who devised the local challenges.

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“The challenge in the dark simulates the operating environment experienced by our roadside assistance crews, who have to diagnose and rectify faults in unfamiliar terrain, often with cars rushing past them, as opposed to the usual repair situation in a calm, well-lighted workshop,” he says. “Electronic fault-finding skills are also a critical part of any workshop, even allowing for the sophistication of diagnostic tools, and following the correct protocols ensures timely rectification.”

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Captain of the winning Dandenong Team, Chris Chilver says that this year’s National Finals were the toughest of the four he’s done across his career.

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“We had good team spirit; we weren't put off if we had a low score from one of the stations when we went to the next one. We held together as a team. It was evident that it was going to be a tough event, so we just buckled down. We allocated each team member to the tasks that best used their strengths. I think we worked quite well together,” Chris says.��

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“Our team has over 100 years of ���ϲ����� experience between us all: Danny Manak's got 30 years, Bede Hutchinson has 35 years, as has Frank Jurinec, I've got 15, and Kaelan Johnston's been in it for five years, and we all have different strengths,” Chris says.

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“We were absolutely stoked to win again. We take this competition seriously. We practice a lot. We always go into it wanting to win. Last time in 2023, we lost out in the Bangkok Regional Finals by just one point, which was quite devastating. So, we have our sights set on getting to the World Finals in Sweden this time,” Chris says.

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���ϲ����� Dandenong Branch Manager Liz Mistretta says her team were successful thanks to their outstanding commitment, technical knowledge and teamwork across every challenge, securing them a well-deserved victory.��

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“This is a team of skilled, passionate individuals who consistently show up with their best — not just in performance, but in attitude, teamwork, and spirit,” Liz says. “They bring a humble approach, a consistent drive, and they also know how to have fun along the way — and it’s exactly that balance that got them across the line. It’s an absolute honour to be their leader. All of us at ���ϲ����� Dandenong wish them the best of luck as they take on the next exciting stage in Bangkok,” she says.

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The Regional Finals take place in February 2026.