Another Kevin is joining this year’s FIA World Rallycross Championship. Competing against Kevin Hansen of Hansen Motorsports this year will be Kevin Abbring. Abbring (32) will race under the UNKORRUPTED team banner, behind the wheel of a Renault Mégane R.S. RX prepared by French engineering outfit FORS Technologies. Abbring becomes the first Dutchman to compete in a full World RX season, and he couldn’t be more delighted;
“I’ve been working on some incredible projects, and I’m really excited about the future of motorsport. To get the chance to contest an entire championship at world level in parallel this season is something I’ve been working on for such a long time now.”
“Thanks to the latest projects and test activities I have been involved in, I feel faster than I’ve ever been. I’ve worked with every team member closely before and I’m starting to understand the Mégane better and better. I can’t wait to push for victories together!”
‘Faster than ever,’ sounds like an ominous warning to those yet to announce their commitment to this year’s World RX season, as Abbring comes into the category with vast experience in a variety of series. That experience began in the arena of Rallycross, where Abbring enjoyed huge early success, winning the Dutch and Belgian titles three times by the age of 16. He switched to Rallying in 2007 and received a further accolade in the form of the youngest ever driver to win a round of the Junior World Rally Championship. He saw further success in 2013, winning the French Peugeot 208 Rally Cup. This saw him earn a factory drive in the following year’s European Rally Championship, a year that was blighted by retirements but did bring two podium finishes. Abbring followed this up by becoming a key member of the development team behind Hyundai Motorsports i20 WRC car.
Another notable part of Abbring’s background is his commitment to environmentally conscious motorsport. He became the first Dutch driver ever to enter and win a rally in a car run on bio-methanol in 2010. He has also been a part of GCK Motorsport since last year as a development driver for the outfits commitment to greener motorsport.
In recent years Abbring has made a return to the Rallycross scene. In 2019 he competed in two rounds of World RX, finishing in 4th place in Norway and Sweeden in an ES Motorsport Škoda Fabia, famously leading the final on his debut in Hell. Following his partnership with GCK, Abbring competed in World RX Finland last year in a Renault Clio under the GCK UNKORRUPTED banner.
Abbring will be hoping his vast off-road experience and brief flourishes of World RX brilliance will put him in good stead throughout the 2021 World RX season. Rallycross fans will be able to see how he stacks up against the rest of the field when the eight-round series gets underway at Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona in Catalunya on 23-24 July.
