FEI World Cup Driving

One of Germany's leading equestrian shows, the Stuttgart German Masters, will host the second leg of the FEI World Cup Driving this weekend. The 20th edition of this prestigious equestrian event will take place from 17 to 21 November 2004 in the Stuttgarter Hanns-Martin-Schleyer Halle. Stuttgart has always had a strong connection with the indoor driving sport and was one of the first equestrian events that introduced indoor driving at their show. Both Stuttgart and Michael Freund much contributed to the level of the current Indoor World Cup Driving. This is one of the reasons why Stuttgart invited triple World Cup Champion Michael Freund to compete with a wild card. According to the rules, the extremely popular Freund will not receive World Cup points in Stuttgart, since he is a World Cup driver. Home driver Hansjörg Hammann was given a second wild card, being the Champion of Baden-Württemberg 2004. The winner of the first leg in Hannover and leader of the standings, Ysbrand Chardon, will not compete in Hannover, which means his fellow competitors will get a chance to climb in the standings. For Hungarian driver Zoltan Lazar, who won individual silver at the World Championships, it will be his indoor debut. He will get both support and competition from his compatriot Jozsef Dobrovitz. Freund's Global Team members Chester Weber (USA) and Boyd Exell (Australia) complete the field of seven competitors together with Switzerland¹s Werner Ulrich, who starts his fourth World Cup season in Stuttgart.

The warm up competition in Stuttgart will take place on Friday, November 19th at 15.15 hrs (two rounds for all competitors) while the World Cup competition is scheduled on Saturday, November 20th at. 14.00 hrs (regular round for all & winning round for the best 3 competitors). The FEI World Cup Driving will be broadcasted on the German television channel SWR 3 on Saturday, November 20th from 17.00 to 18.00 hrs.

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 Stuttgart:
Hartmut Binder, phone:             +49 172 972 2848      , e-mail: hartmut.binder@mps-agentur.de

For further information:
CAI-W Stuttgart: www.stuttgart-german-masters.de
FEI: www.horsesport.org