Rick Ebbinge repeats as World Driving Champion

Standardbred Canada reports that Canada’s Doug McNair made it interesting, but Rick Ebbinge of The Netherlands is just the second driver in harness racing history to repeat as the World Driving Champion. The 2019 victor finished atop the leader board in the 2023 competition that took place from August 13-18 over tracks in The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.

Ebbinge came into the fourth and final leg on Friday, Aug. 18 with a 33-point lead over his closest rival and added another 24 points in a day where his best finish was a fourth.

“I means a lot to win again,” said Ebbinge, joining Norway’s Ulf Thoresen (1979-1981) as the only drivers with back-to-back championships. “I’m very happy.”

Canada’s Doug McNair was within striking distance of Ebbinge in the final race with a strong 2-1-1 summary from his first four starts of the day. His horse in the final race finished eighth, leaving him with 150 points over the 20-race tournament. His point total was equal to Hanna Huygens of Belgium, but McNair finished second as he had more victories.

Here is the final 2023 World Driving Championship leader board.

1. Rick Ebbinge – The Netherlands – 163
2. Doug McNair – Canada – 150
3. Hanna Huygens – Belgium – 150
4. Santtu Raitala – Finland – 145
5. Michael Nimczyk – Germany – 130
6. Peter McMullen – Australia – 132
7. Jordan Ross – United States – 118
8. Blair Orange – New Zealand – 107
9. Miodrag Pantić – Serbia – 103
10. Rodney Gatt – Malta – 78

Prior winners World Driving Championship

To read the rest of the story, click here.

Republished from Standardbred Canada