Delia Stegemann

Delia Stegemann was the first winner of the Ford Fiesta Lady Cup in Germany. She also raced single-seaters up to Formula 3.

The Lady Cup in 1982 was her first experience of motorsport. She was chosen from an initial shortlist of 1400 prospective women drivers put forward by Ford dealerships. During the next stage of a selection process judged by the likes of Manfred Winkelhock, she was put through to the final group of 20 drivers and made her first start that summer, aged 19.

Delia was one of the leading drivers in the Lady Cup from quite early on and was eventually named joint champion with Anette Meeuvissen. There was some debate over which driver should receive the honour, as both were tied on points although Anette had more wins. Both were named champion at different points before being jointly awarded the prize money.

Her debut may have been in a saloon car, but she was soon gravitating towards single-seaters. In keeping with the usual route into formula racing, she began in Formula Ford in 1983. Her best Formula Ford finish was third at the Nürburgring in a Royale. 

Delia entered at least one more Lady Cup in 1984 and had probably been part of the 1983 grid too. She was fourth in 1984, ahead of 1983 champion Claudia Ostlender.

She took part in German Formula 3 between 1985 and 1987. Initially she drove for the Team Lechner Racing School, although her debut was limited to a one-off end-of-season race at the Nürburgring. She was tenth, from fifteen finishers. This was combined with some races in the German Formula Ford 2000 championship, where she finished eleventh.

She did most of the German F3 season in 1986, missing only two of the eleven races. Her car was a Ralt RT30 run by Werner Schroder Racing. The season was not a great success, with four fifteenth places as her best finishes. Apparently she also raced a Martini during the season, but it is not always clear which car she was in for which race. 

In 1987 she had an updated car in the form of a Ralt RT31, but it was only another one-off Nürburgring appearance for Monninghoff Racing, leading to a 17th place. 

She was last active in 1991 when she was 66th in the Nürburgring 24 Hours in a Fiesta XR2. She used the same car in the Fiesta Mixed Cup, sharing it with Josef Venc. They scored one second place.