Madeline Stewart

 

Madeline Stewart races sportscars and saloons in Australia.

She is a former junior and senior karter from New Zealand who began racing in the Super3 Series in Australia in 2019. This championship is the official third-level series for V8 Supercars and she went straight into it from karting.

The then 19-year-old drove a Holden Commodore for Brad Jones Racing and picked up three top-ten finishes. The best of these was an eighth place at Winton. She was fourteenth in the championship. 

As well as saloons, she also raced single-seaters in the bike-engined Formula 1000 series. She was sixth in her state championship, driving a Stohr F1000. She was racing against her sister Ashleigh in a Radical. 

Her 2020 Super3 season was limited to two races due to the international coronavirus crisis, but she showed promise with a pair of fourth places at Sydney Motorsports Park. The team entered her for the Townsville Tin Tops meeting the following month, using the same car. After one second and two third places, Madeline was declared the winner. 

Later, she joined the McElrea team for Super Tin Tops at The Bend, this time racing a Porsche 991 in the Super Cup class. She was fifth, finishing fifth or fourth in all three races. This in turn led to a guest spot in the Australian Super GT championship at Queensland, where she was sixth in the first race and fourth in the other two.

In 2021, she continued racing a Porsche, entering both the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge and part of the Australian Carrera Cup, for Earl Bamber's team. The hookup with Bamber was meant to begin with a run in the 2020 Asian Carrera Cup, but this was cancelled.

The Sprint Cup brought more success, with Madeline narrowly missing out on a top ten at Sydney Motorsports Park. This eleventh place was her best finish in the car; her guest appearance at Mount Panorama for the December Australian Carrera Cup meeting had a best result of 18th. It was a short season, finishing in May.

Her best race of the year was the Bathurst 6 Hours, in which she drove an HSV VXR Turbo with Chris Holdt and David Ling. They were fifth in class. 

Another Bathurst 6 Hours in a Holden Astra in 2022 followed, as well as an extensive sportscar programme. She was tenth in the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, driving for the Bamber team again, with a best finish of third at The Bend. 

Before beginning the Sprint Challenge, she also made a guest appearance in a Ginetta G55 for the Fanatec GT World Challenge races at Phillip Island, finishing third twice for Griffith Corp.

For the first time, she raced outside Oceania in 2023, entering the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America. She was competing in the 992 Pro-Am class and finished third, with four third places at Sebring, Barber and Mid-Ohio. She combined this with karting in Australia.

(Image from madelinestewart.nz)