Abbring opts for “more experienced” co-driver

After winning the French 2wd Gravel championship title last year as well as two S2000 class wins in the Rally GB and Rally the Monte Carlo, Kevin Abbring (23) and codriver Lara Vanneste (21) will not continue as a team.  Frederic Miclotte from Belgium will take over.

Of course this was a difficult but important decision for Kevin Abbring. “ This point in my career is probably one of the most important! “ Although VW chose me for  their Junior program I do not have  huge WRC experience if you compare to some other youngsters, so there is not a lot of time to adjust. “

Together with Lara they were the youngest team in the WRC in Rally GB and Monte Carlo, with which they earned a lot of respect. So why this choice? “Despite her young age Lara was already used to rallying. She started her first rally some years ago in a Corolla WRC. She proved her skills with Dominique Bruyneel and Pieter Tsjoen which are good references”.  Kevin was surprised how quickly she adapted when they did their first rally together in Holland end 2010. Inside the car she is really good, if you imagine to get into a works team this year so quickly you have to be able to adapt very fast and she did. I really thank her for the effort and dedication she showed over the last year and I am shure she will be very successful in the future.

“ On the other side I have to be honest  to myself.  Not many chances like this will probably follow, so to make the best out of it, everything has to be as good as possible, together with someone who can coach me. This is only possible by means of experience, if you take notice of the available time we have. That is why I chose to team up with Frederic Miclotte”.

“He is someone with the ideal combination of age and experience ( 33 WRC events done as well as a lot of other international rally’s). This experience  he gained with Freddy Loix and Dennis Kuipers he is willing to share with me”. And as Frederic said; “I am really motivated to help this young driver in the WRC, and I have the confidence that we will make a good team. I feel sorry for Lara at this moment as we also get along very well, but that is the way things sometimes go. I would also like to thank Freddy Loix and Dennis Kuipers for the fantastic time we spend as they were the people who were a big help in my career. Because of them I have a bag of experience now and i am very much looking forward tot his new adventure “.

This weekend Kevin and Frederic will be in the Nordics to do the recce of Rally Sweden  which is a good opportunity to get used to each other.  After that Rally Mexico will be their first outing together in the rally car.