Justine AugustineThere was a boy in Viyyoor who was crazy about cars right from his childhood. Eventually, he embarked on a journey of self-discovery, switching gears smoothly; gently rolling his car on first gear initially before hitting the top gear to reach dizzying heights in his career.
Meet Justine Augustine, the winner of the 2015 Ferrari Technician Challenge, an annual competition conducted by the luxury sports car manufacturer.
The technical advisor of Al Tayer Motors, the official Ferrari dealer in Dubai, Justine became the first Indian to bag the coveted prize in the process.
He pushed contestants from Switzerland and Spain to second and third spots respectively to win the competition which was conducted to recognise the talents of Ferrari technicians across the globe.
The 36-year-old joined Al Tayer Motors in 2006 and soon made a name for himself with his exceptional skills and commendable dexterity. Impressed by his talent, Ferrari customers like Ratan Tata and Gautam Hari Singhania travelled to Dubai to consult him.
Taking note of Justine’s flair and capabilities, his company decided to send him to compete in the Ferrari Technician Challenge and allocated a huge amount for his training.
Justine did lack the experience to take on the finest talents throughout the global network of Ferrari, but he overcame that deficiency with his hard work and commitment.
The participants were rigorously tested through a series of theoretical and practical challenges in order to demonstrate their knowledge and skills of Ferrari products, that included the testing of dynamic telemetric data used to improve the performance of racing cars. The daily sessions lasted about 15 hours, says Justine.
When he qualified for the final phase of the competition, it left his experienced fellow competitors flabbergasted. What followed was taunts like “Oh there are Indians who have heard of Ferrari cars,” from other participants, especially those came from America.
Later, in an unexpected turn of events, the same people were seen clicking selfies with Justine!
Justine named the eldest of the three sons Alonso, which means ‘the one who is ready to battle’. His love for Ferrari led to naming his son after Fernando Alonso, who was Ferrari’s F1 driver during the 2010-14 period.
When Justine was declared the winner, Ferrari senior managers from across the globe who gathered around to congratulate him were seen curiously asking the dad about the little Alonso.
Living a childhood dream
Born in a middle class family in Viyyoor in Thrissur district, Justine was the eldest child of his parents. His father, who was a supervisor at a cracker manufacturing unit in Kannur, was killed in a blast at the factory in 1995. Justine had to abandon the engineering course half-way when the family was forced to survive on the meagre income of his mother. But he did not let misfortunes douse his spirits and kept his dreams intact.
The passion for vehicles was what drove him when he joined a private ITC. He emerged the winner in the Maruti South Zone Skill Test held in Chennai in 2002. In the same year, he stood runner-up in the all-India skill competition. In 2003, he was one of the two Indians who took part in the Suzuki Asian-Level Technical competition, where he bagged the first prize quelling the challenge of around 3,500 technicians from around the continent. Going a step ahead, he competed in the Suzuki World Technical Skill Competition in the next year and helped his team bag the award for the best performing overseas squad. Jisha is his wife and the couple has to other children, Adrino and Ameya.
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