Toyota GR Cup Spain: Beitske Visser returns to the podium at Circuito de Navarra
- LIAM REDFORD
- May 7
- 4 min read
Having established herself as a championship challenger at the opener, Beitske Visser continued her strong start to the Toyota GR Cup Spain season by securing her second podium finish of the season at Navarra with a second place finish in race 1.
Beitske Visser continued her strong start to the Toyota GR Cup Spain season by securing her second podium finish of the season at Circuito de Navarra. The RX Pro Racing driver finished race one in second position, before closing out the event with a ninth-place result in which Visser was the quickest driver on track during the second half of race two.
Visser established herself as an immediate championship challenger in the Toyota GR Cup Spain season opener at Motorland Aragon. The Dutch driver scored pole position for race one, before leading a number of laps on her way to a podium finish in race two. Despite more recently competing in endurance events, such as at the legendary Nordschleife, Visser adapted well to sprint racing as she continued to gain confidence in a new car.
Round two of the season took place at Circuito de Navarra and Visser was now targeting a maiden victory in the series. On-track action began on Friday with the drivers taking part in a one-hour test session to begin the day. It was an excellent start for Visser who topped the times with a fastest lap of a 2:08.355, less than one tenth of a second ahead of Daniel Losada.
In the free practice session on Friday afternoon, setting a competitive lap time was challenging with changeable weather conditions and a number of red flags disrupting the rhythm. Therefore, Visser’s 13th fastest time during the session was not representative of her pace despite completing a session-high 10 laps.
Conditions were dry for the first qualifying session which was held on Saturday morning. Visser was immediately on the pace and set overall best times through both sectors one and two. Her best time of a 2:08.189 was two tenths of a second faster than her quickest lap from testing and saw Visser set the second fastest time, just a tenth behind Losada.
The first race of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon with Visser lining up from the front row of the grid. The RX Pro Racing driver made a good launch and initially held second position, before Alejandro Cachon moved ahead during the opening lap. Visser settled into third position and quickly began to build a gap to the drivers directly behind.
Overtaking was proving difficult throughout the field at Circuito de Navarra and therefore Visser was doing a good job to pressurise Cachon while running consistent times. The Dutch driver was starting to show stronger pace than Cachon who was struggling for performance and as a result, this brought fourth placed driver Jose Antonio Gomez into contention.
Visser continued to remain just one second behind Cachon and by lap nine, she was beginning to mount her attack. As the gap between the second and fifth placed drivers closed up, Visser was keen to make a move as her podium position came under threat. A fantastic move on lap ten saw the RX Pro Racing driver move ahead of Cachon for second, before the Toyota Espana driver fought back. The pair ran side-by-side on lap 11 with Visser pulling clear and she quickly began to build a small margin.
On the penultimate lap of the race, Visser pulled back one second on race leader Losada, however she had just ran out of time to make a late-race charge. Taking the chequered flag in second position, Visser continued her strong start to the Toyota GR Cup Spain season by standing on the podium for the second time in the first three races.
The second qualifying session of the weekend took place on Sunday morning with dry conditions remaining at Circuito de Navarra. It was the most closely contested of the season and at the halfway point, Visser was sitting in tenth position but only half a second away from pole position. An improvement on the final lap saw Visser set a time of a 2:08.561 which placed her 11th. With less than half a second separating 2nd through 14th, this highlighted the competitive nature of Toyota GR Cup Spain.
Visser lined up from 11th position for race two and was therefore targeting a strong comeback drive. A good launch saw the RX Pro Racing driver quickly move inside the top-10, before she was shuffled back to 13th at the conclusion of lap one. The race then settled down into a rhythm and with the drivers extremely evenly matched, progress was challenging.
Visser continued to pull away from the drivers behind however, and this enabled her to focus forward without the need to defend her position. The Dutch driver continued to run just half a second behind Santiago Castilla as she looked to pressurise the Casal Competicion driver into a mistake.
On lap six, Visser was faster than the next four drivers ahead and the gap behind her had extended to a sizeable seven seconds. Three laps later, a battle between Jonathan Gomez and Tomas Pregliasco allowed Visser a chance to attack Castilla as all four drivers were now running together. Visser used her experience to pass all three drivers in a superb move which elevated the Dutch racer inside the top-10.
Now with clean air ahead of her, Visser immediately set a personal best time as she made significant inroads on the group of drivers ahead. On the penultimate lap of the race, Beitske was the fastest driver on track as she closed up to the rear of Antonio Albacete. A fantastic final lap pass saw Visser claim ninth over Albacete at the chequered flag to complete her weekend with a ninth-place result.
From the time she passed Castilla until the conclusion of the race, Visser took five seconds out of the race leader to underline her excellent late-race speed despite battling a technical issue. Although she did not achieve the result her pace deserved, Visser still left Circuito de Navarra with another podium finish to her name. The next round of Toyota GR Cup Spain takes place at Portimao on the weekend of June 7th/8th.
