AFTER finishing second three times to Australia's leading four-in-hand carriage driver Boyd Exell, Dutch driver Koos de Ronde managed to beat the unbeatable Australian.

He beat him at the fifth leg of the International Driving World Cup at Mechelen in Belgium at the weekend.

Koos de Ronde had an unlucky start in Mechelen when he drove a wrong gate on the first day.

Exell has led the standings since the start of the season and nearly made the same mistake as De Ronde on the first day, taking a wrong gate, but pulled his team back to avoid 20 penalty seconds.

After that incident, Exell lost touch with his team and knocked five balls down, which dropped him to last place.

This has not affected his overall leading position.

He has now finished his World Cup season and will enjoy a long holiday in Australia before the World Cup Final in Geneva in April.

After five competitions, it's clear that Exell leads on 30 points, Koos de Ronde is second on 24 and Sweden's Tomas Erikson third on 20 points.

Two more competitions to go in Germany and France will decide the top six drivers for the final.