Penultimate event for the FEI World Cup Driving selection: Werner Ulrich (SUI) in the lead

On 27 August, no less than 43,000 spectators enjoyed the Wohnwelt Pallen Marathon of the four-in-hand drivers amid glorious summer weather in the Forest of Aachen. The World Champion of 1998, Werner Ulrich (Switzerland) was the fastest of the 25 participants. He completed the different phases and the demanding marathon course comprising of eight obstacles with a score of 97.43 faults. Second place was also taken by a fellow compatriot, Daniel Würgler, who gave a very impressive performance collecting only 99.83 faults. He was closely followed by the Swedish driver, Frederik Persson, who was only one hundredth of a point behind.

Josef Zeitler (32) was the first German team member to set off. Zeitler collected 20 faults at obstacle 8, because his passenger had to step off the carriage. Not wanting to endanger a good German team result, both of his team colleagues, Michael Freund (59) and Christoph Sandmann (38) completed the course carefully without risking top speeds. Sandmann came in ninth and Freund finished eleventh.

Thanks to good performances in the dressage, the German team were still topping the ranking – albeit with a narrow lead after the Marathon. Freund, Sandmann and Zeitler had an overall team score of 311.25, followed by the Swiss team with 311.43. “We can’t take any risks, we’ve got to hang on to this small lead. After all we want at least one German Nations’ Cup victory at the CHIO here in Aachen,” commented team coach, Ewald Meier, referring to the defeats suffered by the German dressage and jumping Nations’ Cup teams.

And so it was: Michael Freund, Christoph Sandmann and Josef Zeitler finished first in the four-in-hand driving Nations Cup with an overall score of 311.76 points after the final obstacle driving competition, relegating the Swiss team to second place (315.25). The Dutch team came third far behind (327.0), ahead of Sweden (336.17), Belgium (342.17) and Hungary (355.71).

In the individual classification, the Swiss driver Werner Ulrich retained the lead, he had captured after the dressage competition and the Marathon. Although he collected minimal faults in the obstacle driving competition for exceeding the time allowed, his total score of 152.26 points proved enough to narrowly win the combined classification. Like Ulrich, last year's winner, Michael Freund, went clear in the cones, but was a second too slow, which meant second place for him with 152.88 faults. His long-time rival, Ysbrand Chardon, from the Netherlands didn't take any risk and completed the course without either obstacle or time faults to finish third(155.97).

With 74 points, Werner Ulrich leads the standings for the qualification to the FEI World Cup Driving Indoor Series. The Top Ten of the summer World Cup qualification list qualify to compete in the Indoor World Cup.