Dutchman Ijsbrand Chardon had a very promising start this evening the warm up competition of the FEI World Cup™ Final in Leipzig, Germany. Chardon passed the finish line eight seconds faster than Frenchman Aillaud, who was in the lead so far, and put the pressure on Boyd Exell, who was last to go in the Leipziger Messe. Exell went off very fast, but was unable to beat Chardon’s extremely fast time and also knocked down two balls. Ijsbrand Chardon has with his victory created an excellent starting position for the Final on Sunday afternoon 20th January, in which he will be the last starter. Exell came second, ahead of Aillaud. Chardon’s compatriot Koos de Ronde started off very fast but had two knockdowns in the course, designed by Germany’s Dr. Wolfgang Asendorf and came fourth. Wild card driver Christoph Sandmann used his good old leader horse Gerlof again, but the gelding could not prevent him from making two mistakes. Sweden’s Tomas Eriksson had three knockdowns and had to be satisfied with the 6th position. Mark Weusthof from the Netherlands encountered some difficulties with his leader horses, which caused him extra time one of the multiple obstacles and 15 penalty seconds for knockdowns. Weusthof will be the first starter in the Final on Sunday afternoon at 12.55 hrs.