The automotive aftermarket industry has celebrated the newly named GPC Asia Pacific PACE Awards. Formally known as the Hall of Fame, the PACE Awards stands for Partners Awarded and Celebrated for Excellence and recognises the most valued partners and suppliers of the GPC Asia Pacific (GPCAP) group, including Repco, NAPA and it’s other trade businesses in Australia and New Zealand.
The most prestigious award of the evening, the GPC Asia Pacific Supplier of the Year, was hotly contested by a number of high performing suppliers, but ultimately taken out by Milwaukee. The award recognises high performance in a range of criteria including Continual Innovation, Learning & Development, DIFOT Performance, Customer First Focus and Continual Support of the Stores and Support Functions. The coveted award was accepted by Paul Maclean, Strategic Account Manager – Transportation, who spoke with great pride and enthusiasm about the achievement. Milwaukee also won an award for Exception Service to the Store Network in New Zealand.
The inaugural event was held on 31 March, 2021 at Melbourne’s Metropolis in Southbank, Victoria. Although attendance numbers were smaller than previous years due to COVID restrictions, nearly 60 guests from 27 of GPCAP’s most trusted automotive aftermarket partners and suppliers were in attendance.
Australian motorsport personality Neil Crompton hosted the special evening. 'Crompo' is an icon of the Australian motorsport landscape with more than 20 years of professional car racing experience under his belt. He is now perhaps best known as a presenter and commentator of the Repco Supercars Championship.