(mps) When 16 hooves canter through the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, when the spectators in the stands frenetically cheer for the protagonists on the box seat, the time has come for the aces in four-hand driving at the international STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS show. Like this, it was on Friday afternoon, when the Preis der Firma iWEST, the opening class for tomorrow’s qualification for the FEI World Cup DrivingTM, the SCHENKER GERMAN MASTER was carried out.
Ijsbrand Chardon, the Dutchman, and his team were the fastest in the course of static and flexible fences, which was built by Falk Böhnisch, the course designer, in the Stuttgart arena. Being clearly behind the Hungarian Jozsef Dobrovitz, who became second in the end, in the first round, the eight times world champion noticeably accelerated in the second round and finished in the absolutely fastest time of the day (132.89 seconds) which was worth 2.000 Euro prize-money. With a total of 281.07 seconds, the 46-year old also underlined his favorite’s role for the World Cup class about the SCHENKER GERMAN MASTER on Saturday afternoon. Dobrovitz, the world champion from 2004, only achieved the forth-best time in the second round. With his good result from the first round, he still ended up on the second place with a total time of 291.15 seconds and won 1.300 Euro.
However, a newcomer especially elated the Stuttgart crowd at the indoor show in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle. With an excellent performance, the only 17-year old Michael Brauchle (Schloss Kapfenburg) justified the wildcard, which he had received from the organizers due to his achievements in the last months. With a second place in Mannheim in spring as well as with the silver medal at the German championship, the youngster had already impressively demonstrated his skills. With 297.1 seconds from the two rounds in the Preis der Firma iWEST and the third position in an absolute top class field, he did not only win the favour of the fans but also the respect from his established colleagues.
