The first competition of the FEI Driving World Cup™ in Maastricht ended after an exciting competition in a victory for Boyd Exell. Bram Chardon finished in second place, ahead of Belgium's Glenn Geerts.
International level 4 Course Designer Jeroen Houterman had laid out a selective and technical course for the six drivers, in which they took many different routes. European Champion Bram Chardon had received the wild card which allowed him to use two different leader horses in his team. This did not keep him from driving a very fast and clear first round, in which he finished just 0,39 seconds ahead of Boyd. Both Bram and Boyd qualified for the winning round, as well as Glenn Geerts.

After Glenn had one knock down, Boyd entered the arena. Cheered by the many enthusiastic spectators, Boyd drove a clear round with his experienced team of horses, stopping the time at 124,98, putting the pressure on Bram. Bram started off fast and put the throttle on once more after he had a knock down in the first marathon obstacle. The 26-year-old driver was very fast, but made two unfortunate mistakes in the second marathon obstacle and had to be content today with the second place.

Ijsbrand Chardon lost his chances to a place in the winning round after he missed gate 12 and lost around 10 seconds to correct this. World Cup debutant Mareike Harm from Germany did an excellent job, driving her team of mixed geldings faultless through the course and finished in fifth place.

Koos de Ronde used a different leader horse but was unable to find the right rhythm which caused four balls to fall and he ended in sixth place today.

The FEI Driving World Cup™ Competition is scheduled for Saturday evening at 21.45 in which the World Cup points will be divided.

(Source: Hoefnet.nl)