Kevin Abbring

Kevin Abbring
Born	(1989-01-20) January 20, 1989 Netherlands
Occupation	Rally driver
Known for	First Dutch driver to win the Ypres Rally; WRC stage win and points scorer

Kevin Abbring (born 20 January 1989) is a rally driver from the Netherlands and the son of former rally competitor Edwin Abbring.

Career

Abbring's motorsport journey started in Rallycross, where he secured consecutive titles in the Dutch Ford RST series during 2005 and 2006. In 2007, he took part in the Dutch Rally Championship behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Colt and made his World Rally Championship (WRC) debut driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. Supported by KNAF Talent First, he stepped up to the Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) in 2008 with a Renault Clio R3. His first JWRC victory came at the 2009 Rally Poland, and he ended that season ranked fourth overall. The following year, Abbring won the JWRC event at the Rally de Portugal and also triumphed in the 2WD category of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge at both Ypres and Zlín in 2010. In recognition of his talent, he received the Driver of the Academy award from the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy in 2011.

Following a promising test with Volkswagen Motorsport during the 2011 Wales Rally GB driving a Škoda Fabia S2000, Abbring secured a contract with Volkswagen for the 2012 WRC campaign, sharing driving duties alongside Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen. Despite this opportunity, he did not compete in WRC events during 2013 due to limited chances.

In 2013, Abbring claimed victory in the French Peugeot 208 Rally Cup, which led to a role with Peugeot Sport competing in the European Rally Championship (ERC) with their new Peugeot 208 T16 R5. Although technical difficulties forced several retirements while leading rallies, he managed to achieve podium placements at the Azores Rally (second place) and Tour de Corse (third place).

Hyundai Motorsport appointed him as their lead WRC test driver in January 2015, where his primary responsibility was developing the Hyundai i20 WRC. Alongside co-driver Seb Marshall, Abbring also participated in selected WRC events throughout that year.

He earned his first WRC stage win and championship points at the 2016 Rally d'Italia Sardegna and secured his inaugural international rally victory driving a Hyundai i20 R5 at the French Rallye du Var later that year. In 2017, Abbring made history as the first Dutch driver to win Belgium's flagship event, the Ypres Rally, behind the wheel of a Peugeot 208 R5.

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	NOR 4	SWE 4	CAN	FRA	LAT	RSA	16th	35
2020	GCK UNKORRUPTED	Renault Clio R.S. RX	SWE	SWE	FIN 17	FIN 13	LAT	LAT	ESP	ESP			25th	4
2021	Unkorrupted	Renault Mégane R.S.	BAR 6	SWE 3	FRA 4	LAT 8	LAT 8	BEL 7	PRT	GER	GER		7th	97

WRC results

... (Subsequent years continue in a similar summarized format) ...

Year	Team	Vehicle	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC Standing	Points Earned
2007	KNAF Talent First	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII										style="background:#CFCFFF;" | GER 41						NC	0
2008	KNAF Talent First	Renault Clio R3				style="background:#EFCFFF;" | JOR Ret style="background:#EFCFFF;" | ITA Ret		style="background:#CFCFFF;" | FIN 33 style="background:#CFCFFF;" | GER 34	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | ESP 40 style="background:#CFCFFF;" | FRA 30			NC	0
2009	KNAF Talent First	Renault Clio R3	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | IRE 22		style="background:#CFCFFF;" | POR 19	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | ITA Ret		style="background:#CFCFFF;" | POL 11 style="background:#EFCFFF;" | FIN Ret		style="background:#CFCFFF;" | ESP 27		colspan=4 |	NC	0
2010	KNAF Talent First	Renault Clio R3				style="background:#CFCFFF;" | TUR 15	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | POR 21 style="background:#CFCFFF;" | BUL 21	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | GER Ret	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | FRA Ret		colspan=3 |	NC	0
2011	Volkswagen Motorsport	Škoda Fabia S2000										style="background:#CFCFFF;" | GBR 12 colspan=3 |	NC	0
2012	Volkswagen Motorsport	Škoda Fabia S2000 style="background:#CFCFFF;" | MON 12	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | MEX Ret style="background:#FFFFFF;" | POR DNS					style="background:#CFCFFF;" | GBR 25	colspan=3 |	NC	0

WRC-2 results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Points
2016	Hyundai Motorsport N	Hyundai i20 R5	MON	SWE	MEX	ARG	POR	ITA	POL	FIN	GER	CHN C	FRA Ret	ESP	GBR Ret	AUS	NC	0
2018	Kevin Abbring	Ford Fiesta R5	MON Ret	SWE Ret	MEX	FRA	ARG	POR Ret	ITA	FIN	GER	TUR	GBR	ESP	AUS		NC	0

JWRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	JWRC standing	Points earned
2008	Knaf Talent First	Renault Clio R3	MEX	JOR Ret	ITA Ret	FIN 6	GER 6	ESP 11	FRA 8		13th place	7 points

ERC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos.	Points accumulated
2014	Peugeot Rally Academy	Peugeot 208 T16	AUT	LVA	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | GRC Ret	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | GBR Ret	style="background:#DFDFDF;" | PRT 2	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | BEL Ret	EST	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | CZE Ret	CYP	ROU	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | CHE Ret	style="background:#FFDF9F;" | FRA 3	6th place	63 points

Overall Rally Wins

Year	Event	Vehicle	Championship
2016	Template:Country data FRATemplate:Namespace detect showall Rallye du Var	Hyundai i20 R5	French
2017	Template:Country data BELTemplate:Namespace detect showall Rallye de Wallonie	Peugeot 208 R5	Belgian
2017	Template:Country data BELTemplate:Namespace detect showall Ypres Rally	Peugeot 208 R5	TER, Belgian, British