Beitske Keeps the Momentum Going

For the second time in her career, Beitske Visser took part in a car race. Behind the wheel of a Praga R4S GT1 at the Dutch Supercar Challenge, she discovered the legendary circuit of Spa during the Racing Festival. After her spectacular victory at Assen, everybody was waiting to see what the Dutch karting champion would do. Once more, she created a stir by climbing on the podium after passing over 50 cars!

A driver who wins a car race on his maiden participation, with a car with over 500 HP, is not very common, and even more so if that driver is a 16 year-old girl! Eight weeks after her feat at Assen, Beitske Visser was very keen to prove that her success was not a matter of chance and that she deserved the confidence that the Race4 Slovakia team had reposed in her. But the task appeared hard for the Dutch driver at the traditional “Racing Festival” meeting in Belgium. “I did not know Spa at all, but I was very excited at the idea of racing on this circuit so often used by F1“.
Beitske and her team managed to perfect the set up of her powerful GT1 for the qualifying session. “It did not take me long to feel comfortable. I improved my times lap by lap and I staged the second best performance“. Under a nice sun, though, she lost a few places at the start of Race 1. She had managed to climb up from 8th to 5th when she was run into from behind while braking. She was forced to retire on the first lap. “After this accident, I dropped down to the 61st and last place for Race 2. On the one hand, I felt confident in my skills and in the car capacity to regain ground and pass a lot of competitors. But on the other hand, with 60 cars ahead of me, I also knew it would not be easy. With all that traffic on the track, it was difficult to set fast lap times and to get the tyres to the right temperature“.
But she soon offered a great show to the spectators by carving her way through the pack with boldness, dexterity and panache. At the end of this one-hour race, she drove her Praga to a third place finish, with the driver preceding her in line of sight, and she achieved the second fastest lap time in the race. And all this despite the 10-second penalty she had to observe during her stop at the stands, due to her victory in the Netherlands! “It was again a great experience, a very exciting race with loads of overtaking and a good final result“, the Dutch champion commented very calmly.

Great Qualities and a Future Ahead

As in karting, Beitske Visser continues to display her surprising reaction and adaptation skills. Taking steps forward and frequently changing categories to aim at the top are things that never worried the Dutch female driver. “In addition to her natural talent, her concentration skills and her great determination are also impressive“, a journalist who knows Beitske well commented. “As soon as she arrives on the track, she shows a level of professionalism that is rare in such a young driver. She constantly strives to improve in order to reach her goal: victory! Driving a powerful GT1 like that, on a circuit that does not resemble in the least the tracks she sees in karting is a very stimulating experience. If she continues this way, she will definitely have a great future ahead…“