Abbring started his motorsport career in junior rallycross. By the age of 16 he had won the Dutch and Belgian titles three times. His first taste of rallying came aged 17, when he co-drove his father in the 2006 Dutch Rally Championship. The following season he got behind the wheel himself, winning the Mitsubishi Colt Cup in the Dutch Championship with backing from KNAF, the Dutch Autosport Federation.
In 2008 Abbring stepped up to the international stage with a season in the Junior WRC. Driving a Renault Clio R3, his highlight was a stage win in Germany. He returned in 2009 and took victory in Poland - becoming the first Dutchman to win a JWRC round and, aged 20, the youngest.
Another JWRC season followed in 2010, which netted 13 stage wins and another victory, this time in Portugal. Limited funds in 2011 ruled out another JWRC season, and he tackled the French Gravel Championship instead, becoming 2WD champion in a Citroën DS3 R3.
In 2011 he also had the first of five WRC trials with the fledgling Volkswagen Motorsport team. Things started well, with a class win at Wales Rally GB in a Skoda Fabia S2000 that earned him the prestigious FIA Institute Driver of the Year award. He followed that with another victory on asphalt at the 2012 Rally Monte-Carlo, but failed to impress on the three that followed, with a mechanical-related retirement in Mexico, a shakedown crash in Portugal, and a lowly 10th in Wales.
Having missed out on a place with VW, Abbring returned to France in 2013, driving a Peugeot 208 VTi R2 to victory in the Volant Peugeot Cup. The success continued in 2014 when he claimed two ERC podiums and a class win on Rallye de France in the R5 spec Peugeot 208 T16.
In 2014 he also began working for the German-based Hyundai Motorsport team, shaking-down its World Rally Cars before they left for events. This led to a position as official test driver in 2015 and the promise of a minimum four-round WRC programme in the Hyundai Motorsport N squad.
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