Home News MSV wins tender to buy Navarra as Tsolov tops Spanish F4 test there

MSV wins tender to buy Navarra as Tsolov tops Spanish F4 test there

by Ida Wood

British circuit operations company MotorSport Vision has won a tender to purchase the FIA Grade 1 Navarra track in Spain.

MSV, owned by ex-Formula 1 racer Jonathan Palmer, runs 27 series and six British circuits including two former grand prix tracks, and also has a site in France called Couvron which it plans to develop into a venue focused on electric motorsport.

A tender process was began by publicly-owned company Navarra Impulsa Cultura, Deporte y Ocio this May to determine a future for the Navarra circuit that was end its dependance on regional funding.

The circuit opened in 2010, and held Auto GP and then a race weekend including Superleague Formula and the FIA GT1 world championship that year. Since then it has hosted stages of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race and the Spanish Formula 4 championship, which vists this weekend. There is also a neighbouring karting track.

Once the purchase goes through, MSV will finalise Navarra’s 2023 events calendar and also completely resurface the track.

“The acquisition in principle of Navarra circuit is tremendously exciting and another landmark in the expansion of MSV,” said Palmer.

“It is an extensive and very impressive facility and our ambitious plans should enable the circuit to realise its full potential, with the intention of significantly increasing its levels of daily occupancy and the number of high profile race events.”

MSV has not commented on whether it would consider visiting Navarra with some of its series, which include single-seater championships GB3, GB4 and United Formula Ford, for tests or races in the future. The British GT championship that GB3 supports is visting Algarve in Portugal next year, but GB3 is yet to announce its 2023 calendar.

Friday was busy for Navarra as in addition to announcing the sale it was also running a pre-event test session for Spanish F4.

Campos Racing’s points leader Nikola Tsolov was the fastest driver, heading team-mate and title rival Hugh Barter by a slim 0.019 seconds. His other title rival Timoteusz Kucharczyk was ninth fastest for MP Motorsport.

Danish F4 star Noah Stromsted was fifth fastest ahead of his series debut and first F4 races in almost a year.

In total 30 drivers took part in the test, with the top 20 covered by a second. In addition to several drivers who had already been announced as joining the grid, there was a change at Monlau Motorsport with Niels Koolen replacing Martinius Stenshorne at the Van Amersfoort Racing-linked team for this weekend’s races.

The 20-year-old Dutchman raced in senior karting across Europe prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and his father is Dakar Rally competitor Kees Koolen.

Test results

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Nikola Tsolov Campos Racing 1m40.767s 42
2 Hugh Barter Campos Racing 1m40.786s +0.019s 30
3 Valerio Rinicella MP Motorsport 1m40.916s +0.149s 33
4 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak MP Motorsport 1m40.937s +0.170s 33
5 Noah Stromsted Campos Racing 1m40.969s +0.202s 34
6 Christian Ho MP Motorsport 1m40.982s +0.215s 34
7 Kirill Smal MP Motorsport 1m41.061s +0.294s 34
8 Daniel Nogales Drivex School 1m41.061s +0.317s 51
9 Timoteusz Kucharczyk MP Motorsport 1m41.084s +0.360s 44
10 Manuel Espirito Santo Campos Racing 1m41.127s +0.445s 37
11 Bruno del Pino Drivex School 1m41.212s +0.549s 35
12 Gael Julien Drivex School 1m41.316s +0.576s 39
13 Georg Kelstrup Campos Racing 1m41.343s +0.576s 39
14 Max Mayer Formula de Campeones 1m41.403s +0.636s 40
15 Miron Pingasov MP Motorsport 1m41.419s +0.652s 32
16 Robert de Haan Monlau Motorsport 1m41.427s +0.660s 41
17 Theophile Nael Sainteloc Racing 1m41.478s +0.711s 43
18 Niels Koolen Monlau Motorsport 1m41.504s +0.737s 47
19 Sebastian Gravlund MP Motorsport 1m41.529s +0.762s 33
20 Julius Dinesen Formula de Campeones 1m41.577s +0.810s 48
21 Jef Machiels Monlau Motorsport 1m41.886s +1.119s 34
22 Alvaro Garcia Formula de Campeones 1m41.923s +1.156s 40
23 Jesse Carrasquedo Jr Campos Racing 1m41.965s +1.198s 41
24 Vladislav Ryabov GRS 1m42.051s +1.284s 40
25 Marcos Flack GRS 1m42.208s +1.441s 35
26 Theodor Jensen Sainteloc Racing 1m42.224s +1.457s 47
27 Ricardo Escotto Cram Motorsport 1m42.307s +1.540s 36
28 Ricardo Gracia GRS 1m42.446s +1.679s 52
29 Max Arkhangelisky Drivex School 1m42.853s +2.086s 41
30 Daniel Mavlyutov GRS 1m44.240s +3.473s 42