Isuzu Commercial Truck of America, Inc., a distributor of the best-selling low-cab-forward trucks in the US, announced today that its US-based team of service technicians placed second in the 18th annual Isuzu World Technical Competition, also known as the I-1 Grand Prix.
This is the fourth year that Team USA won the silver medal in the prestigious event, a grueling, multi-stage competition requiring outstanding performance on written examinations and in hands-on tests of vehicle diagnosis and repair skills. Before 2017, no US team had made the top three in the championship’s history.
The event was held on November 1, 2023, in Yokohama, Japan, by Isuzu Motors Limited. A total of 33 countries from six continents competed—Antarctica is still slacking off—with host country Japan taking home the gold medal. New Zealand earned third place.
The Isuzu Commercial Truck of America (ICTA) team consisted of two of the top three technicians from the 2023 Isuzu North America I-1 Grand Prix, selected in August:
- Anthony (AJ) Parrilli of Rush Truck Center—Elk Grove in Elk Grove Village, Illinois;
- Sebastian Fitzgerald of MHC Isuzu Truck—Raleigh in Raleigh, North Carolina;
- Candido DeLeon of Rush Isuzu Trucks—Dayton in Dayton, Ohio.
During three weeks of intense training leading up to the global contest, Parrilli and Fitzgerald won the right to comprise Team USA. DeLeon attended as an observer and as an alternate in case either Parrilli or Fitzgerald had been unable to compete.
In addition to their second-place team finish, Fitzgerald placed sixth and Parrilli placed 10th in the individual competition.
Justin Ridings, the ICTA technical training manager, coached Team USA.
This was the third time Ridings led a team that placed in the top three globally. The competition rules state that a coach may achieve a podium finish of third place or higher a maximum of three times in a lifetime.
According to Micah Embry, Executive Director of Centers of Excellence operations for ICTA, “This means Justin is now retired from the competition as a coach since he succeeded in attaining a top-three finish in all three attempts in which he participated. Quite impressive!”
Added Shaun Skinner, President of Isuzu Commercial Truck of America, “We couldn’t be prouder of our team. AJ’s and Sebastian’s diagnostic and repair skills represented ICTA beautifully and once again proved that Isuzu service technicians in the United States are among the very best in the world.”
Skinner, Embry, and Ridings also attributed the team’s success to ICTA’s investment in state-of-the-art Center of Excellence training facilities in Pittston, Pennsylvania, and Anaheim, California.
“Our Centers of Excellence and events like this improve the skills of all Isuzu service technicians,” said Skinner. “They help us reach our objective—to provide world-class service to every Isuzu customer.”
Headquartered in Anaheim, California, Isuzu Commercial Truck of America is the distributor of Isuzu commercial vehicles in the US. Its commercial trucks have been the best-selling low-cab-forward trucks in America every year since 1986. For more information, visit www.isuzucv.com.