12 December 2015
Geneva: Mourier causes surprise
Wild card driver Sébastien Mourier caused a surprise this afternoon during the first competition of the FEI World Cup™ Driving in Geneva. The Frenchman was first to go in the field of eight competitors and put down a very good performance despite one error and finished fourth. Last starter Boyd Exell took no less than 6 seconds off the fastest time until then, set by Koos de Ronde, and won today’s competition. József Dobrovitz finished on the third place.
Dutch Level 4 Course Designer Johan Jacobs had laid out a long course in the largest arena of the FEI World Cup™ Driving series, which consisted of a spectacular water splash, a bridge, three marathon obstacles and several cones.
Boyd Exell proofed to be in top form again. The six-times World Cup Champion set off very fast and only hit one ball coming out of the water. This did not endanger his leading position and Boyd will be last to go in tomorrow’s World Cup competition.
Koos de Ronde started off very strong as well and managed to keep his team at high speed in the obstacles. The bronze medallist at the FEI European Championships 2015 also had one knock down but was pleased to finish on the second place behind Boyd. József Dobrovitz drove his Lipizzaner horses speedy through the course but also got five penalty seconds for a ball and finished third.
First starter Sébastien Mourier was well underway with his beautifully turned out team of grey mixed warm blood horses but lost precious seconds when he passed a gate in obstacle 8. He quickly corrected his mistake but this prevented him from a top-three placing today. Mourier’s performance however is very promising for tomorrow’s competition.
József Dobrovitz jr. was only one second slower than his father, but two knock downs dropped him to the fifth place.
Local hero Jérôme Voutaz made too many mistakes and had to be content with the sixth place, ahead of his compatriots, wild card drivers Werner Ulrich and Cyril Maret.
The FEI World Cup™ Driving competition is scheduled on Sunday morning at 10.30 hrs. After the first round, the Top Three will start in the Winning Round, which takes place over a shortened course.
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