Solvalla, Sweden — Though he was driving three outsiders, who were at 7-1, 16-1 and 116-1 in the betting, Yannick Gingras of the United States got off to a nice start in the World Driving Championship. After the first three races of the competition Friday afternoon (May 24) at Solvalla he is fourth with 25 points.

Gingras finished second, sixth and eighth in the three races.

Ulf Ohlsson of Sweden is in command with 33.5 points followed by Mika Forss of Finland with 31 points and the defending champion, James MacDonald of Canada/International Trotting Association, is third with 28 points.

Ohlsson finished first in his third race of the day with Italian Venerdi, a victory which pushed him to first place in the entire championship. In Ohlsson’s first race with Landing Gear, he finished in a shared fourth place and in his second race he was sixth with Enjoy’s X. Drive. Ohlsson and Venerdi, who is trained by Pietro Gubellini, got a perfect trip to the finish line where they finished ahead of Matthew Williamson of New Zealand.

“It is an honor to be representing Sweden, and it’s all about enjoying the week. I had been told that Venerdi did not like to trot in the lead, and it was just the ideal race for us. It feels great to be winning races for Sweden,” Ohlsson said following his victory.

Finnish driver Mika Forss placed first in his first race with Hersey Boko. The winner, trained by Lisa Maria Orefors, immediately took the lead and stayed there to the finish line. Forss’ day continued with him placing in fourth with B.W.T. Danger and finally in ninth with Bishop.

Canadian James MacDonald had also started the day off great. After a perfect trip he made a big upset in the second WDC race. Despite not being as successful in the other races today, MacDonald is currently in third place on the leaderboard.

Saturday the drivers will compete in one race at Solvalla.

Here’s the full leaderboard after the first leg:

1. Ulf Ohlsson (Sweden) – 33.5
2. Mika Forss (Finland) – 31
3. James MacDonald (Canada/ITA) – 28
4. Yannick Gingras (USA) – 25
5. Todd McCarthy (Australia) – 23
6. Matthew Williamson (New Zealand) – 22
T7. Franck Nivard (France) – 18
T7. Michael Nimczyk (Germany) – 18
T9. Eirik Hoitomt (Norway) – 17
T9. Rick Ebbinge (The Netherlands) – 17
11. Rodney Gatt (Malta) – 14
12. Doug McNair (Canada) – 13.5

To see video of the WDC races from day one with English speaker click on this link.

For more information, go to the official World Driving Championship website.

— with files from the WDC website