In the field of mechanical engineering, many of the technically relevant components face tough requirements in terms of strength, due to high contact loading. This work devotes to rolling contact loading and the first part focuses on the comparison of different materials using the two-disc tribometer (Plint TE74). The second part describes the development of a test rig for the cam/follower contact for a gas engine. In the first part, three different materials, an austempered ductile iron, a case-hardened steel and a rail steel were tested on the two-disc tribometer. In this context, the effects on the wear and damage mechanism of these materials, for different combinations of materials and loadings, have been tested with and without slip. The results show that the wear and damage mechanisms are dependent on the hardness and microstructure of the material. The second part describes the development of a test rig for the testing of different valve train elements of a gas engine, intended to improve and optimise the fatigue behaviour and the film thickness between the cam and the follower.