(mps) It really was something special that his name was the only one on the long winner’s board of the SCHENKER GERMAN MASTER explained an affected Michael Freund when he said “Farewell” to the active driving sport and the international STUTTGART GERMAN MASTERS show.
13 times and, thus, continuously since the beginning, the exceptional sportsman on the box seat won the four-in-hand class in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle. And that was the reason why the qualifier for the FEI World Cup DrivingTM had a special importance in two aspects. On the hand, the question was who would be Freund’s successor in one of the most renowned driving tests. And who would collect worthy points on the way to the World Cup final in Leipzig next February.
And in front of 8.600 enthusiastic spectators in the Stuttgart arena, it was finally Ijsbrand Chardon, the eight times world champion from the Netherlands, who got the privilege to be the first one after Michael Freund whose name would be printed on the famous board of honor. With a total time of 256.87 seconds from both rounds, the 46-year old added another important title to his impressing list of success. And with a total of meanwhile 17 points in the total ranking of the FEI World Cup DrivingTM, he made a big step towards the final. Furthermore, the Dutchman was rewarded with a prize-money of 6.500 Euro for his victory in the SCHENKER GERMAN MASTER. The Australian Boyd Exell, who had a total time of 260.7 seconds from the two rounds in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle and also has 17 points in the World Cup ranking, became second. Christoph Sandmann from Lähden, the team world champion from Aachen 2006, ended up on the third place with 282.85 seconds. More than just a respectable success achieved the only 17-year old Michael Brauchle (Schloss Kapfenburg). The youngster who had received a wildcard from the organizers ended up on a remarkable fourth place in the field of the world’s best drivers and underlined that he is able to cope with his competitors despite his youth.
“Everyone has always told me, you have to drive in Stuttgart – now I know why: The spectators are absolutely fantastic”, Ijsbrand Chardon was really impressed by the atmosphere in the Schleyer-Halle. And the fact that Michael Freund, the ex-champion, sat next to Michael Brauchle on the box seat during the prize-giving ceremony, Chardon commented with the words: “Here, we have a new world champion!”.
