The second leg of the 2023 World Driving Championship was dominated by 2019 World Driving Champion Rick Ebbinge of The Netherlands.
Sitting seventh but tied for fifth in points after the first day in his home country, Ebbinge vaulted his way to the top of the charts on Tuesday, Aug. 15 at GelsenTrabPark in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. In his five WDC races, Ebbinge finished no worse than second on the day with three wins and two runner-up tallies.
Ebbinge swept the first two races, winning on the engine with All my Dreams in the first race and then popping pocket to win the second with Grahish Cash. After a solid second with Kiekeboe in the third dash, he bottomed out the fourth race field with second tier starter Karl Bianco for his third win of the day. Villeneuf rallied for second in the fifth race to give Ebbinge his fifth top-two finish of the day.
Canada's Doug McNair was leading after the first day of the competition in The Netherlands, but McNair drew a number of longshots in this second leg of the WDC and those horses didn't perform above public expectations.
The WDC resumes on Wednesday, Aug. 16 in Belgium for the third leg at Hippodrome de Wallonie.
Here's the 2023 World Driving Championship leaderboard after 10 of 20 races with two legs complete.
Rick Ebbinge - The Netherlands - 103
Hanna Huygens - Belgium - 69
Peter McMullen - Australia - 68
Blair Orange - New Zealand - 65
Santtu Raitala - Finland - 65
Doug McNair - Canada - 63
Jordan Ross - United States - 59
Miodrag Pantić - Serbia - 53
Michael Nimczyk - Germany - 49
Rodney Gatt - Malta - 48
Here's the race-by-race breakdown of the World Driving Championship races from the second leg.
WDC Race 6
Defending champion Rick Ebbinge wasn't able to break through for a victory in his home country of The Netherlands in the first leg of the 2023 World Driving Championship on Sunday (August 13) but he found the winner's circle early in the second leg by guiding All my Dreams to victory in the first race of the competition on Tuesday. Ebbinge pointed his trotter to the front early, clearing Mea Fantasy (driven by Malta's Rodney Gatt) and maintained control of the 2,000-metre event in nearly gate-to-wire fashion.
Ino du Vivier finished second for Germany's Michael Nimczyk with My Josephine (Hanna Huygens) rounding out the top three.
Lancelot Boko made a break behind the gate for Canada's Doug McNair, taking him out of contention early.
WDC Race 7
Rick Ebbinge made it back-to-back wins at GelsenTrabPark on Tuesday after guiding Grahish Cash to victory in the second WDC dash of the second leg. Ebbinge got the trotter off the gate well from post eight to clear to the lead, then allowed Icone Manathis (driven by New Zealand's Blair Orange) to pocket-pop and take the top to cut the majority of the 2,000-metre event. In the stretch, Ebbinge left-lined Grahish Cash to the outside of the tempo-setter and easily trotted by for the win. Miss Occagnes (Michael Nimczyk) picked off Icone Manathis (Orange) for second.
McNair finished sixth with Kaitany.
WDC Race 8
The 24 hours of travel to arrive in Europe was well worth it for Blair Orange of New Zealand, who picked up his first win of the 2023 World Driving Championship with a methodical score aboard Karin in the third race of the second leg. Orange floated Karin away from post four and stalked leader Hydole de Joyere (driven by Finland's Santtu Raitala) through the 2,000-metre event. In the stretch, Karin had more kick late and pulled away for a two-length victory. Kiekeboe (Rick Ebbinge) got up for second over Hydole de Joyere.
Ganivet de Belvie made a break turning for home for Canada's Doug McNair and was disqualified.
WDC Race 9
Driver Rick Ebbinge is the first driver to win three races in the 2023 World Driving Championship, and he's won all three of those races during the second day of the four-day challenge. With Jonne Cavallo (driven by Doug McNair) cutting the fractions, Ebbinge positioned post 10 starter Karl Bianco forwardly early. Three-wide at the half, Karl Bianco cleared the first-up challenger Liberto (Hanna Huygens) and then pulled away from the early leader with 500 metres to go in the 2,000 metre race. Bottoming out the field, Karl Bianco had enough separation to hold off a late charge from Liberto to win.
Handy Wise (Jordan Ross) bested Huppel de Pup (Australia's Peter McMullen) and Jonne Cavallo (McNair) in a close finish for third, with McNair finishing fifth.
WDC Race 10
Serbia's Miodrag Pantić picked up his first win of the 2023 World Driving Championship, guiding Halo Am to victory in the fifth and final race of the second leg on Tuesday in Germany. Miodrag Pantić confidently positioned the post 10 starter into the outer flow early, forging first up against Iamtheonewhoknocks (Santtu Raitala) before clearing around the three-quarter mark of the 2,000 metre event and pulling away for the easy score.
"After nine races, finally I am happy. This horse is special for me," said Pantić post-race.
Villeneuf (Rick Ebbinge) closed stoutly for second over Västerbo Garonne (Hanna Huygens)
Video from the second leg is available below.