FEI World Cup Driving, Leipzig (Ger), 22-24 January 2010

Switzerland’s Daniel Würgler has won the sixth leg of the FEI World CupÔ Driving competition in Leipzig, Germany. Würgler drove two impeccable clear and fast rounds and stayed ahead of Dutch wild card driver IJsbrand Chardon and Jozsef Dobrovitz from Hungary with their Lipizzaner teams.

Second World Cup Win

It is only the second time in his long driving career that Würgler wins a World Cup Competition. In 2002, the professional coachman from Ettingen won the World Cup competition in Geneva, competing with a wild card. The 49-year-old Würgler competes with a mixed team of grey horses, including two Kladruber horses, a trotter and an Andalusian cross Camargue, which has only been in Würgler’s stables since last spring.

Winning round

Dobrovitz had the disadvantage of starting first in the winning round straight after his first round, which did not allow his horses the necessary rest. There was much at stake for the organizer of the international nations competition in Vecses since winning in Leipzig was his only chance to qualify for the Final. But Dobrovitz knocked three balls down with his three Lipizzaner horses and a trotter, which he put together after he sold three horses of his former team to Chardon. Dobrovitz came third and currently shares the 6th place in the standings with Werner Ulrich.

Hectic weekend

Winner of the 2009 Partner Pferd edition, IJsbrand Chardon had a hectic weekend. The four times World Champion travelled back to the Netherlands on Saturday to perform in a driving demonstration with his son Bram at Jumping Amsterdam. Chardon only returned to Leipzig early Sunday morning, but the travelling apparently did not affect his performance in the sold out Leipziger Messe.

Borrowed horses

Winner of the warming up competition Jozsef Dobrovitz managed to stay ahead of Christoph Sandmann, who missed the winning round by just one second. Sandmann borrowed a horse of Dutch four-in-hand driver Pascal Donders in the lead to speed up his team and was very satisfied with his performance. Sandmann was not the only competitor in Leipzig who competed with borrowed horses. Theo Timmerman from the Netherlands drove with a team borrowed from his Dutch colleague Edwin Spek. The team exists of two KWPN horses, a New Forest and a Welsh horse. The small horses do however miss the necessary indoor experience to end at the top. Timmerman came sixth, but will compete with these horses again at the last World CupÔ Driving competition in Bordeaux.

Spectators praised

Jiri Nesvacil drove his Kladruber horses to the fifth place today in the fast and fair course, designed by Germany’s Dr. Wolfgang Asendorf. Second wild card driver and local hero Steffen Scholz drove two young horses and came seventh but was very proud and pleased to perform in front of his home crowd, who were praised by all drivers for their amazing enthusiasm.

Ready for the Final

The Organization of the Partner Pferd event in Leipzig is ready for the Triple World CupÔ Final in 2011. The FEI World CupÔ Finals Jumping, Dressage and Driving will all take place in the Leipziger Messe from 27th April to 1st May 2011 and the run for tickets has already begun!

Quotes
Daniel Würgler (Sui)

: “My horses have really ‘landed’ here in Leipzig, they were fantastic! I thought I would let Chardon and Dobrovitz battle for victory between them and just drive my own round. I decided to go as fast as I could control them and I won!” “Last year I came second in Leipzig behind Chardon and it is fantastic that it is the other way around now.”

IJsbrand Chardon (Ned)

: “The Lipizzaner horses are getting better every time, helped by my experienced KWPN-horse Kelvin. I had nothing to loose in Leipzig because I could not earn World Cup points as wild card driver. The horses went very well despite a small communication problem in the first round. They are becoming more and more my horses and I am happy to end in the Top Two again.”

Joszef Dobrovitz (Hun)

: “It was a great show in Leipzig, the spectators were fantastic. I had a small time problem before the winning round, my horses, and especially one of my leader horses, did not have enough time to recuperate. I had small problems in the turns, which caused several balls to fall. But my new team is good. I have sold my best horses to Chardon, I would not have given him any other horses.”

Results CAI-W Leipzig:

1.     Daniel Würgler (Sui) 228,67

2.     IJsbrand Chardon (Ned) wild card 235,28

3.     Jozsef Dobrovitz (Hun) 254,51

4.     Christoph Sandmann (Ger) 127,62

5.     Jiri Nesvacil (Cze) 136,87

6.     Theo Timmerman (Ned) 138,85

7.     Steffen Scholz (Ger) wild card 160,59

Classification after 6 of 7 events:

1          Boyd EXELL                     AUS          30

2          Koos DE RONDE              NED          24

3          Tomas ERIKSSON            SWE         20

4          Daniel WURGLER             SUI           18

5          IJsbrand CHARDON          NED          15

6          Werner ULRICH                SUI           12

6          Jozsef DOBROVITZ          HUN          12

8          Christoph SANDMANN     GER          10

9          Theo TIMMERMAN          NED            6

10        Jiri Nesvacil                     CZE            5

At Leipzig, Press Officer is Andreas Kerstan, phone +49 4307 827970, e-mail: andreas.kerstan@comtainment.de, website: www.partner-pferd.de

The next FEI World Cup driving event takes place in Bordeaux, France, on 5 and 6 February 2010. Press Officer is Pascal Renauldon, phone +33(3)44 620 621, e-mail worldcupbordeaux@rbpresse.com, website www.jumping-bordeaux.com

More information: www.feiworldcup.org