Kevin Abbring

Kevin Abbring (born 20 January 1989) is a Dutch rally driver. His father, Edwin Abbring, is also a well-known former rally driver.

Career Abbring started his motorsport career in Rallycross with a 60 bhp strong buggy for newcomers, winning the 2005 and 2006 titles of the Dutch Ford RST series. In 2007 he competed in the Dutch Rally Championship with a Mitsubishi Colt. He also made his World Rally Championship debut in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. In 2008 he began competing in the Junior World Rally Championship in a Renault Clio R3, with backing from KNAF Talent First. He took his first JWRC win on the 2009 Rally Poland, on his way to fourth in the final standings for 2009. In 2010 he won the JWRC in Portugal. He has also competed in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, winning the 2WD category in Ypres and Zlín. In October 2011 Abbring won the Driver of the academy award for the inaugural FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy.

After a successful trial rally for Volkswagen Motorsport driving a Škoda Fabia S2000 car at 2011 Wales Rally GB, Abbring signed with Volkswagen for the 2012 WRC season driving one of their Fabia's, sharing the second seat alongside Sebastien Ogier with Andreas Mikkelsen. Sadly, he was offered very few outings by VW in 2012 and didn't rally in the WRC at all in 2013.

In 2013, Abbring won the French Peugeot 208 Rally Cup, leading to Peugeot Sport offering him a drive in the European Rally Championship in their new Peugeot 208 T16 R5 car.

Plagued with technical issues, Abbring took the lead in 5 ERC events, but was forced to retire with engine trouble on all event except Azores, (where he finished 2nd after falling back from the lead with mechanical issues) and the Tour de Corse, where he finished 3rd.

In January 2015, it was announced Abbring would be the main testdriver for Hyundai Motorsport in the World Rally Championship. While his main focus would be the development of the new Hyundai i20 WRC, Abbring and Seb Marshall were also entered on selected WRC events later in the year.

Abbring took his first stage win and first points at the 2016 13º Rally d'Italia Sardinia. He won his first international rally at the wheel of a Hyundai i20 R5 at the French Rallye du Var in 2016. In 2017, he was the first Dutchman ever to win the biggest rally of Belgium, the Ypres Rally, at the wheel of a Peugeot 208 R5.

Results

Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results (key)

Supercar/RX1 Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 WRX Points 2019 ES Motorsport-Labas GAS Škoda Fabia UAE BAR BEL GBR NOR4 SWE4 CAN FRA LAT RSA 16th 35 2020 GCK UNKORRUPTED Renault Clio R.S. RX SWE SWE FIN FIN LAT LAT ESP ESP 25th 4 2021 Unkorrupted Renault Mégane R.S. BAR6 SWE3 FRA4 LAT8 LAT8 BEL7 PRT GER GER 7th 97

WRC results

WRC-2 results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Points 2016 Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai i20 R5 MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER CHNC FRARet ESP GBRRet AUS NC 0 2018 Kevin Abbring Ford Fiesta R5 MONRet SWERet MEX FRA ARG PORRet ITA FIN GER TUR GBR ESP AUS NC 0

JWRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 JWRC Points 2008 Knaf Talent First Renault Clio R3 MEX JORRet ITARet FIN6 GER6 ESP11 FRA8 13th 7 2009 Knaf Talent First Renault Clio R3 IRE5 CYP POR2 ARG ITARet POL1 FINRet ESP4 4th 27 2010 Knaf Talent First Renault Clio R3 TUR3 POR1 BUL7 GERRet FRARet ESP 5th 46

ERC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Points 2014 Peugeot Rally Academy Peugeot 208 T16 AUT LVA GRCRet GBRRet PRT2 BELRet EST CZERet CYP ROU CHERet FRA3 6 63

Overall rally victories