New co-driver for Abbring

The Volkswagen Motorsport team will feature a tweaked line-up when the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia resumes on Rally Guanajuato Mexico next week.

Frederic Miclotte, a vastly successful and experienced co-driver from Belgium, has replaced Lara Vanneste, who co-drove Kevin Abbring to 12th overall on Rallye Monte-Carlo in January but has since left the German squad.

Dutchman Abbring, who along with Andreas Mikkelsen is a member of Volkswagen’s junior team in 2012 as part of a season-long assessment programme, paired with Miclotte for the Rally Sweden reconnaissance last month. The trip to Mexico will mark their first competitive outing together.

Explaining his decision to recruit Miclotte, Abbring said: “Not many chances like this [with Volkswagen] 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.”

Of the contribution made by Vanneste, Miclotte said: “I really thank her for the effort and dedication she showed over the last year and I am sure she will be very successful in the future.”

Miclotte’s participation on Rally Mexico last year ended when he and former driver Dennis Kuipers rolled into retirement on the second day of the gravel event.

Like team-mate Sebastien Ogier, Abbring will drive a Skoda Fabia Super 2000 in Mexico.