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. Freund¹s 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
