Ten drivers competed in the South African final of the global Volvo Trucks Drivers’ Fuel Challenge in Maropeng, Magaliesburg on Friday, 24 June.

The competition seeks to find South Africa’s best truck driver, with the overall winner going on to compete against 29 other drivers from around the world in the grand final on 9 September in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Each of the ten South African drivers got behind the wheel of a Volvo FH 440 with i-Shift transmission, retarders, linked trailers and a 25-tonne payload of water, before tackling a 34.8km round trip from the entrance of Maropeng to a service station along the R563 and back.

Points were awarded for fuel efficiency, speed and driver proficiency. Each driver was allowed to see the route beforehand in order to strategize and prepare, with the starting order for competitors randomly drawn from a raffle.

The route was made more challenging and longer than the route used in the preliminary rounds and, while there was no absolute time limit set, the slowest driver was expected to take around an hour, and the fastest around 40 mins.

Those that make it to the world final will pit their skills against the world’s best, albeit in left-hand drive Volvo trucks, which puts right-hand-drive market competitors – like those from South Africa – at a disadvantage.

This is why the local competition was made technically challenging in order to level the playing field.

The driver that used the truck’s features correctly – particularly the i-Shift transmission – consumed the least amount of fuel, fully obeyed the rules of the road and who made minimal gear changes, is likely to emerge victorious when the results are announced shortly.

Of the 10 drivers that made the local final, three were from Gauteng, three were from the North West, another three were from the Western Cape and one was from KwaZulu-Natal.