Stephanie Boden

Stephanie is a multi-talented sports and single-seater racer from Belgium. She has raced in Formula Ford, Formula Renault and Belcar. Her single-seater exploits took her to Holland and the UK, between 2001 and 2003.

2001 was her first full year of senior competition, after six years of karting. Aged seventeen, Stephanie drove in the Benelux Formula Ford 1800 championship, with a best finish of fifth, and made the trip to the UK for the season-ending Formula Ford Festival. This arrangement continued in 2002, and she continued to gain experience. In addition to this, she also took part in her first Zolder 24 Hours, driving a Porsche 993 for Rally Team Titanic, with Jean-Pierre Verhoeven and Andre van Hoof. Both were Formula Ford contemporaries of hers. They were fourteenth, and second in the Guest class.

In 2003, she shifted her single-seater attentions to Formula Renault, competing in the Netherlands mainly. She also did two rounds of the Formula Renault Eurocup, and visited the UK once more for the Winter Series there. Although she did not make it into the top five, she performed well in an end-of-season consolation race. Her best results came in the Dutch championship, where she was ninth.

Belcar had not been forgotten either. Stephanie joined forces with Alexandra van de Velde in the Daikin team, driving a BMW E46. They were 26th at Spa and 45th at Zolder.

She stuck with Belcar for 2004, moving back to her previous Speed Lover team with Jean-Pierre Verhoeven and Frank Doring. The car was a similar Porsche 993 to the one she drove in 2002. They were 16th at Spa, but did not finish the Zolder 24 Hours. 2004 was also her last year of single-seater competition. She drove in the Benelux Formula Renault championship and was ninth, after establishing herself as a regular in the top ten.

2005 was taken up with Belcar. She returned to Speed Lover for the Zolder 24 Hours and drove a Porsche 996, but did not finish. She also joined up with Daikin again for the Spa 1000km in their Mini Cooper, but did not get to drive.

Driving for Flandria Rent Racing with Chris Mattheus, she tackled the whole Belcar season in 2006. Their car was a Porsche 996. They started strongly with a sixth and a class win in the first Spa race, but did not finish the next round at Zolder. Another top-ten beckoned in the Zolder Midsummer meeting; Stephanie and Chris were eighth and second in class. The Lausitz round was a disappointment, yielding a 20th place, but the Zolder 24 Hours gave them a battling 17th, supported by Laurent Nef and Arjan van der Zwaan. Driving as a pair again, they were eleventh at the Spa Racing Festival. Only in the last round, at Zolder, did they fail to finish. This season gave Stephanie the Belcar Ladies’ award.

In 2007, back with the Daikin team, she and Alexandra van der Velde contested the some rounds of the ADAC GT Masters and the Belcar championship in a Dodge Viper. They were 9th in the Spa 12 Hours, their best result. As well as this, they were 20th in the first Belcar race at Spa, and eleventh in a GT race at Donington.

It is unclear whether Stephanie has raced at all after 2007. The Daikin team appears to have disbanded at about this time.

(Image from http://www.racingworld.be/)