Kevin Abbring

 

Kevin Abbring began his motorsport career in rallycross – winning the Dutch and Belgian titles three times by the age of 16 – before switching to rallying in 2007. Initially contesting his domestic series, he entered the German round of the FIA World Rally Championship the same season, going on to make sporadic WRC appearances nearly every year since.

He achieved success on the international stage in the Junior World Rally Championship from 2008 to 2010, tallying a brace of victories and two further podium finishes behind the wheel of a Renault Clio R3 – making history as the youngest driver ever to win a JWRC round, as well as the first Dutchman. In 2011, he was awarded the Driver of the Academy accolade following the completion of the inaugural FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy.

In 2012, Abbring competed alongside Sébastien Ogier in a Skoda Fabia S2000 in the WRC, then in 2013 won the Peugeot 208 Rally Cup in France, prompting a European Rally Championship assault the following season that yielded two rostrum finishes despite myriad technical issues.

He subsequently played a key role behind-the-scenes in the development of Hyundai Motorsport’s new i20 WRC, before claiming his maiden WRC stage win and points in 2016. Later that same year, he won his first international rally – Rallye du Var in the south of France.

Abbring returned to rallycross in 2019, entering the Norwegian and Swedish rounds of the World RX campaign in an ES Motorsport-run Škoda Fabia and impressing by finishing fourth on both occasions. A further outing followed with GCK UNKORRUPTED in Finland in 2020.