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 Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points 2007 KNAF Talent First Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII MON SWE NOR MEX POR ARG ITA GRE FIN GER41 NZL ESP FRA JPN IRE GBR NC 0 2008 KNAF Talent First Renault Clio R3 MON SWE MEX ARG JORRet ITARet GRE TUR FIN33 GER34 NZL ESP40 FRA30 JPN GBR NC 0 2009 KNAF Talent First Renault Clio R3 IRE22 NOR CYP POR19 ARG ITARet GRE POL11 FINRet AUS ESP27 GBR NC 0 2010 KNAF Talent First Renault Clio R3 SWE MEX JOR TUR15 NZL POR21 BUL21 FIN GERRet JPN FRARet ESP GBR NC 0 2011 Volkswagen Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 SWE MEX POR JOR ITA ARG GRE FIN GER AUS FRA ESP GBR12 NC 0 2012 Volkswagen Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 MON12 SWE MEXRet PORDNS ARG GRE NZL FIN GER GBR25 FRA ITA ESP NC 0 2014 Peugeot Rally Academy Peugeot 208 T16 MON SWE MEX POR ARG ITA POL FIN GER AUS FRA14 ESP GBR NC 0 2015 Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai i20 WRC MON SWE11 MEX ARG POR ITA POL15 FIN GER11 AUS FRARet ESP GBR NC 02016 Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai i20 WRC MON SWE MEX ARG PORRet ITA15 POL FIN 9 GER CHNC ESP7 AUS 16th 10 Hyundai i20 R5 FRARet GBRRet 2017 Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai i20 R5 MON31 SWE MEX FRA ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER ESP GBR AUS NC 0 2018 Kevin Abbring Ford Fiesta R5 MONRet SWERet MEX FRA ARG PORRet ITA FIN GER TUR GBR ESP AUS NC 0 2020 Kevin Abbring Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 MON SWE MEX EST TUR ITA MNZ15 NC 0 2021 Pieter Tsjoen Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 MON ARC CRO POR ITA KEN EST BEL GRE FIN ESP MNZ NC 0

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 Year Event Car Championship 2016 Rallye du Var Hyundai i20 R5 French 2017 Rallye de Wallonie Peugeot 208 R5 Belgian2017 Ypres Rally Peugeot 208 R5 TER, Belgian, British

References

External links

Official website