IJsbrand Chardon (NED) won the seventh leg of the FEI World Cup™ Driving 2011/2012 in front of a super enthusiastic crowd in Leipzig, Germany this afternoon. Wild card driver Chardon stayed ahead of runner-up Tomas Eriksson (SWE) and second wild card driver Christoph Sandmann (GER), who placed third. With these results, Tomas Eriksson and Zoltan Lazar (HUN), who finished fourth, have secured their starting tickets for the Final in Bordeaux, France in two weeks’ time.

MORE TRAINING
IJsbrand Chardon, who had won the Hannover qualifier earlier this season, made great use of the invitation he had received from the Leipzig organisers and put on an excellent performance with his experienced team of Lipizzan horses. Chardon stole the show in the nearly sold-out Leipzig Messe, driving fast and taking sharp turns on the tricky course, designed by Dr Wolfgang Asendorf (GER). Four-time world champion Chardon had not been pleased with his horses after the last qualifier in Mechelen (BEL) at the end of December and had trained his horses three times a week in the lead up to today’s event. Chardon used today’s competition to put his horses to the test. His training efforts paid off as Chardon was on fire in Leipzig.

THIRD WIN
In the first round, Chardon had an unnecessary knock down which made him finish three seconds behind Eriksson, who had driven the only clear round. Chardon gave everything he had in the winning round, which took place over a shortened course. By driving sharp and fast turns, Chardon achieved a clear round and a very fast time which Eriksson was unable to beat. After 2007 and 2009, this year’s victory was Chardon’s third at the Leipzig fixture.

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