Claudia Steffek is an
Austrian former Formula
3 driver who had a high profile during her short career in the late 1990s. She
was a rival to her fellow Austrian, Osmunde Dolischka, and was touted as a
Formula One hopeful.
After a short but successful karting career from the
ages of thirteen to sixteen, she started racing Formula Ford at 17, in 1996.
Her first season brought her first win, in the last race of the year, at Brno.
A second season in Formula Ford followed. She was
second in the German international championship. No race results are
forthcoming for this series. With some good performances in Formula Ford under
her belt, Claudia was keen to progress up the ladder. The same year, she
stepped up to Formula 3, in the Zone A European series, and was apparently third
in the championship. Unfortunately, no results for that championship are
forthcoming either. She was driving for
the Italian ADM team, who would continue to support her for the next two seasons.
Formula 3 was her main focus in 1998, and here, she
starts to turn up on the bigger starting grids that are still available to
consult. Claudia appears in the Austrian and Central European championships,
driving an Alfa Romeo-engined Dallara F391, under the banner of her own Claudia
Steffek Racing Team. She had a best finish of fourth in the Austrian
championship, at Brno, in September. In addition to this, she was fifth on
several occasions. She was running in the Austria Cup class for older cars, but
finished above drivers in much more recent machinery more than once. Her final
position was sixth in Austrian F3, and she was also fifth in the Austrian
Racing Championship.
1999 was her best season yet. She had secured
sponsorship from Fujitsu Siemens, from under the nose of her female opponent,
Osmunde Dolischka. This caused some rancour, but did not affect Claudia’s
on-track performances too much. This year, she had access to a newer car, a
1994 Dallara, and her year started promisingly with a fifth place at Spielberg.
She was then fourth at Most, eighth twice at Brno, and in August, secured her
first Formula 3 podium, a third at Most. This then improved to a second place,
at Rijeka in Croatia. She would also score a third and fifth at this track. The
final meeting, at Brno, gave her another third, and a fifth. Her consistency
and speed meant that she was an impressive third in the Austrian F3
championship.
For the 2000 season, she set her sights on Italian Formula
3000. She was named as a driver for the Malta Racing* team in March, and stated
that her aim was to be racing in Formula One by 2002. The team, however, pulled
out before the season started, and she does not appear to have raced since.
This does suggest that she lost more than sponsorship, and that her own money
may have been taken. It is a shame that she did not get the chance to make a
comeback, as she was still only twenty when her career finished.
*no connection is implied with other motorsport
organisations with similar names.
(Image from www.motorline.cc)
It is a shame that Claudia had to curtail her career just at an age where she would have been expected to really start to blossom as a driver.
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