Lyon will play host to seven of the world’s most talented drivers who will be battling it out in the first leg of the 2024-2025 FEI Driving World Cup™ season. As Australia’s Boyd Exell, his long-time rival will be absent, Dutch driver Ijsbrand Chardon, is hoping to have a win in Lyon. But that’s without counting on young Belgian driver Dries Degrieck, who has already beaten the discipline’s two leading drivers in Leipzig this year.
The drivers are keen to have a victory in Lyon. And the absence of Boyd Exell, the four-time winner of the FEI Driving World Cup™ presented by Laiterie de Montaigu, will spur them on even more.
The competition is more open than ever and the deck has been reshuffled for this new season of the FEI Driving World Cup™, which kicks off with the Lyon leg.
All eyes will obviously be on Dutch driver Ijsbrand Chardon, Boyd Exell’s historic rival, who is currently 4th in the FEI World rankings. There’s no doubt that the 63-year-old driver is keen to make his mark from the start of the season. But he isn’t the only one. Germany’s Georg von Stein and his fellow country woman Anna Mareike Meier have no intention of letting their chance slip.
They were part of the team which won the silver medal at the most recent four-in-hand Driving World Championships in Szilvásvárad, Hungary, just behind the Dutch team, headed up by Ijsbrand Chardon. A talented rival, two solid pillars of the German driving team… And what if the winner of the FEI Driving World Cup™ presented by Laiterie de Montaigu was elsewhere?
A Victory for Dries Degrieck?
Young Dries Degrieck not only wants to win, but he also has the skills required to do so. He proved that in January when he won the FEI World Cup™ leg in Leipzig ahead of the two leading names in the discipline, Boyd Exell and Ijsbrand Chardon. The Belgian driver, who is just 29, demonstrated his talent to the full and reminded everyone that the result of the competition wasn’t a foregone conclusion.
Another driver who could well play a leading role is Switzerland’s Jérôme Voutaz, whose talent in handling his team of Freiberger horses is matched only by the enthusiasm of his many fans in the stands, who enthusiastically cheer him on at Longines Equita Lyon, Concours Hippique International.
As for the French drivers, the discipline’s two best representatives, Anthony Horde, World No.15 and Benjamin Aillaud, World No.23, will also have a role to play in the ring in Lyon, in particular to win the season’s last wild cards and be invited by the circuit’s other organisers.
The FEI Driving World Cup™ Final will be held in Bordeaux in February 2025.
An Exceptional Atmosphere
The Longines Equita Lyon arena is very exciting when the FEI Driving World Cup™ leg presented by Laiterie de Montaigu is taking place, with lots of cheers from the enthusiastic crowds, who wave flags and shake mountain bells. The atmosphere during a driving competition is unlike any other equestrian discipline. Longines Equita Lyon, Concours Hippique International’s organising team has placed the FEI Driving World Cup™ leg at 12.45pm, before the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ leg, for the third time in a row. ‘It’s an incredible vote of confidence, which boosts our visibility and the exciting atmosphere provided by the driving spectators creates a memorable event before the show jumping leg,’ says Caroline di Stefano, Managing Director of Laiterie de Montaigu, which is committed to driving as the title partner of the event.
The FEI Four-In-Hand Driving World Cup™ is reserved for the world’s best drivers and is a breathtaking spectacle that must be experienced at least once!
The Fei Driving World Cup™: Spectacular Sport
Since it was created in 2001, the FEI Driving World Cup has become an essential and spectacular event in the world of indoor equestrian sports. This unique competition was created by the Fédération Équestre Internationale, and offers a thrilling format in which the best international drivers compete in closed arenas. Each season, the competitors are challenged to push their limits in a very exciting atmosphere, in a circuit of six to seven legs across Europe, culminating in a grand final on a course featuring obstacles that are ever more demanding and spectacular.
The drivers qualify at outdoor competitions during the summer. Only the top ten can hope for a place in the FEI World Cup™. Five qualified drivers are selected at random for each of the FEI World Cup™ legs. They may be joined by up to three drivers with wild cards, invited by the host countries. The format of the competition is based on two rounds in which the riders have to negotiate obstacles at high speed, while avoiding knocking over any cones or any part of the course. An intense performance that combines precision and speed, and continues to win over audiences every year!
A leg in two rounds
An FEI Driving World Cup™ leg is organised in two rounds. On Saturday, the first round gives the drivers and their horses an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the arena at Longines Equita Lyon, Concours Hippique International. The horses become familiar with the ring, the lights and the public, while the drivers consider the best tracks, judge the best options and adjust their teams to the course’s difficulties, which will be the same the following day. The ranking from this first round determines the starting order for the second round. The drivers have fifteen minutes to memorise the course and choose their options. They often take advantage of the first day to test different tracks, then analyse the videos to hone their choices for the decisive round. On Sunday, the scores go back to zero.
Each driver has to complete the course on which they competed on Saturday, building on what they learnt the day before. Every ball that is knocked over adds time penalties to the competitor’s time.
Anything is possible until the very last moment!
By Press Release