Michael Freund has surpassed himself once again by winning the fifth leg of the FEI World Cup Driving in Leipzig, Germany. But since he received the wild card from the organisation and was therefore not entitled for World Cup points, the full amount of points went to Switzerland¹s Werner Ulrich, who came second. Australia¹s Boyd Exell came third.

Ulrich, who also came second behind Freund in Stuttgart, was very pleased with his results: ŒI was a bit unlucky in the warming up round where I made an unnecessary mistake. But I knew I had not much to loose and I took the right risks during the World Cup competition.¹ Ulrich has a halfblood trotter in the lead of his team, which makes the team go faster every time. "I am looking forward to the last competition in Göteborg, for which I am qualified now. Freund is hard to beat, but there will be a nice battle between Exell and me, since we are on the same number of points." Exell admitted he drove a little too fast in the first round, but felt he was going well in the winning round. Unfortunately he took a difficult line and knocked one of the obstacles over, which cost him precious penalty seconds.

Sweden's Tomas Eriksson¹s team went very fast and just missed a place in the winning round when they hit a ball in the last obstacle. His compatriots Nicke Pålsson and Fredrik Persson had to be content with the fifth and seventh place respectively at their first performance in Leipzig. Second wild card driver Steffen Scholz received a few tips from his master Michael Freund and drove, supported by the enthusiastic crowd, a very nice clear round and was very pleased with his sixth position.

Course designer Wolfgang Asendorf, who is also responsible for the course at the World Championships in Aachen 2006, was very much praised by the drivers. ŒWe are in the fourth season of the FEI World Cup Driving and the course in Leipzig is one of the few that was very good from the beginning,¹ explains Michael Freund. "We drove different routes in the warm up and the World Cup competition, but we all drove fluently which made the results get very close". This made it altogether very exciting and interesting for the spectators, for whom the carriage driving in Leipzig has become one of the biggest attractions.

Michael Freund is in the lead of the standings and is certain of a starting place for the last FEI World Cup competition in Göteborg, as well as Boyd Exell and Werner Ulrich who currently share the second place.

The next FEI World Cup driving event takes place in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, on 19 & 20 March 2005. Home driver Ysbrand Chardon will compete against Sweden¹s Tomas Eriksson and Nicke Pålsson and the Hungarian drivers Jozsef Dobrovitz and Zoltan Lazar.

Results CAI-W Leipzig:
1. Michael Freund (Ger)
2. Werner Ulrich (Sui)
3. Boyd Exell (Aus)
4. Tomas Eriksson (Swe)
5. Jan Erik Palsson (Swe)
6. Steffen Scholz (Ger)
7. Fredrik Persson (Swe)

Classification after 5 of 7 events:
1. Michael Freund (Ger) 27
2. Boyd Exell (Aus) 22
3. Werner Ulrich (Sui) 22
4. Ysbrand Chardon (Ned) 17
5. Chester Weber (Usa) 12

For further information on the FEI World Cup Driving season, including standings, future competitions, driver¹s biographies, rules: www.worldcupdriving.com

Created in 2001, the Driving World Cup has provided an innovative new style of competition for indoor events, with courses combining marathon and cone driving obstacles. The 2004/2005 season of the World Cup includes seven
competitions: Hannover (GER), Stuttgart (GER), Stockholm (SWE), Mechelen
(BEL) in 2004; Leipzig (GER), 's-Hertogenbosch (NED) and Göteborg (SWE) in 2005. The top 5 after 6 events will qualify for the 7th event in Göteborg. The winner of the first three editions of the World Cup was Michael Freund (GER).

Media contact CAI-W Leipzig:
Andreas Kerstan, MediaNetworking, phone: +49 4307 827970, fax +49 4307 827979, e-mail: info@kerstan.de

For further information:
CAI-W Leipzig: www.partner-pferd.de
FEI: www.horsesport.org