After a successful first day, Gary Hall Jr. of Australia maintained his lead in the 2025 World Driving Championship (WDC) on Monday (Nov. 3) at Kaikoura Trotting Club in Kaikoura, New Zealand as Canada's James MacDonald closed in sharply on him with two seconds to move into second on the leaderboard.
Hall garnered 10 points on the Monday card to add to his 44 point total from Sunday, yielding 54 points in total after the first two legs of the WDC. Hall leads MacDonald with 41 points and Gimpaolo Minnucci of Italy sits third with 37 points.
MacDonald rallied late in both heats to nab second, accelerating from sixth to second in the standings.
The 2025 WDC point standings after the second day of the WDC are as follows:
2025 WDC Point Standings - After Leg 2
1. Gary Hall Jr. - Australia - 54
2. James MacDonald - Canada - 41
3. Giampaolo Minnucci - Italy - 37
4. Michael Nimczyk - Germany - 33
5. Pierrce Vercruysse - France - 32
6. Santtu Raitala - Finland - 28
7. Brett Beckwith - United States - 28
8. Jaap van Rijn - The Netherlands - 25
9. Blair Orange - New Zealand - 22
10. Mats Djuse - Sweden - 17
The 2025 WDC will be held at various New Zealand racetracks. The complete racing schedule is as follows, with both Canadian and local time zone first post times included:
- First Leg (Kaikoura): Saturday, Nov. 1, 7 p.m. EDT / Sunday, Nov. 2, 12 p.m. NZDT - Click here for results and recap
- Second Leg (Kaikoura): Sunday, Nov. 2, 6 p.m. EST / Monday, Nov. 3, 12 p.m. NZDT
- Third Leg (Cambridge): Tuesday, Nov. 4, 10:30 p.m. EST / Wednesday, Nov. 5, 4:30 p.m. NZDT
- Fourth Leg (Addington): Thursday, Nov. 6, 10:30 p.m. EST / Friday, Nov. 7, 4:30 p.m. NZDT
- Fifth Leg (Winton): Saturday, Nov. 8, 6 p.m. EST / Sunday, Nov. 9, 12 p.m. NZDT
- Sixth/Final Leg (Addington; New Zealand Cup Day): Monday, Nov. 10, 6 p.m. EST / Tuesday, Nov. 11, 12 p.m. NZDT
Recaps and replays of the WDC day-two races are below.
WDC Race 1
Jaap van Rijn of The Netherlands propelled himself into contention on the leaderboard, following cover to command the field in front of the stands and never looking back to score by open lengths with Its Tough in 1:54.2. Canada's James MacDonald rocketed home from the back to grab second with J T Boe and Germany's Michael Nimczyk finished third with Follow Your Dream.
WDC Race 2
Michael Nimczyk of Germany collected a win in the second heat of the WDC, positioning Flying Bird on the point and fending off a charging Major Happy to score by a head. MacDonald piloted Major Happy to garner second place honours over Mikis Courage and Brett Beckwith of the United States.
(Standardbred Canada)