Podium finish for Stephanie Hobeika on first car racing weekend
- LIAM REDFORD
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Lebanese racer Stephanie Hobeika enjoyed an excellent first weekend racing in the Radical Club Challenge Championship, where she secured a podium finish in Class C at Brands Hatch as she stepped up from karting.
Lebanese racer Stephanie Hobeika enjoyed an excellent first weekend racing in the Radical Club Challenge Championship. Driving for DW Racing, Hobeika secured a podium finish in Class C at Brands Hatch as she stepped up from karting. Despite facing the challenge of multi-class racing for the first time, Hobeika adapted superbly and came out on a top in a close battle in race two as she secured third position in her Radical SR1.
Hobeika is establishing herself as a trailblazer for Lebanese female motorsport as she took the step up from karting to compete in the Radical Club Challenge Championship. After achieving success in karting events both in Britain and the Middle East, Hobeika was the Formula Woman Middle East bootcamp winner in 2024 which earned her a place at the Formula Woman Nations Cup next month.
As part of this initiative, Hobeika competed in a series of Formula Woman test sessions at Dubai Autodrome in December 2024. It was here where she first got a taste for Radical machinery and was inspired to take the next step by making her circuit racing debut.
The Radical Club Challenge Championship provides an ideal platform for drivers to cut their teeth in high-downforce machinery. With a qualifying session followed by two, twenty-five-minute races, drivers can develop their skills at some of the most iconic circuits in Britain. The Radical SR1 raced by Hobeika provides an affordable starting point and up until this season, it had its own class as part of the Finecut Radical Cup UK Championship.
Making her return after suffering a spinal fracture just three months ago in a karting accident, Hobeika
made a remarkable comeback to the racetrack, for her next challenge.
Stephanie participated in a series of test sessions at Brands Hatch on Friday prior to the race weekend. This was valuable preparation as she was able to learn the circuit, while becoming more comfortable alongside cars of different classes.
Qualifying was held early on Saturday morning with fifteen-minutes to decide the grid for both races. The session was shortened following a red flag and this meant that Hobeika was able to complete just seven laps during qualifying. Nonetheless, she improved her times throughout the session with her fastest time of a 51.839 placing her fourth in Class C for Radical SR1 machinery.
Hobeika lined up fourth on the Class C grid for her circuit racing debut, however drama ensued prior to the green flag. The lights atop the safety car became detached the during warm-up lap and therefore the race was quickly red flagged and the drivers were brought to a stop on the grid. When the race got underway, Stephanie made a confident start and held fourth position in class at the end of lap one.
On lap two, she was already lapping quicker than in qualifying and this was enabling her to pull away from Scott Lear behind. By lap four, she was setting faster times than experienced racer Vikram Sudera ahead of her and this was enabling her to slowly reduce the margin to her rival. Hobeika’s confidence was growing as she continued to cut the gap and by lap seven, Stephanie was just one second away from a spot on the podium.
Hobeika now had the challenge of cars from faster classes making their way through and despite her inexperience, she cut the gap to Sudera further. On lap nine, the margin was just half a second as Hobeika continued to learn while running directly behind her rival. A further personal best time on lap 13 saw the margin between the drivers shrink to just a quarter of a second as Stephanie chased a spot on the podium. Misfortune then struck as Hobeika was forced to retire from the race on lap 16 as her car came to halt with a technical issue.
Following great work from her DW Racing team to repair the car, Hobeika joined the grid for race two of the weekend. Stephanie lined up from fourth in Class C and made a clean start while doing a good job to negotiate the slow car of Leon Morrell as the cars approached Druids. At the end of lap one, Hobeika remained fourth in class, but she was just two tenths of a second behind Vikram Sudera.
After the faster class machines of Joe Stables and James Keevill made their way ahead on lap two, Hobeika could focus forward on mounting a challenge on Sudera. In the early stages, Hobeika applied significant pressure to her rival and by the end of lap seven, Sudera’s advantage was just one tenth of a second.
The battle remained close as the drivers were lapped for the first time by the faster Radical PR6 and SR3 machines. On lap eight, a great move from Hobeika saw her overtake Sudera and claim the final spot on the Class C podium. Using her experience from race one, Hobeika managed the traffic well and began extending her margin over her rival to over two seconds.
As the race just passed halfway, the safety car was deployed after Hobeika’s teammate John Davis had spun at Druids. The restart came with nine minutes remaining and it was a challenging period for Hobeika as faster cars were eager to make their way through. Sudera also found a way past to reclaim third, however both drivers were closing in on Aaron Rose who held second in Class C.
As fellow Formula Woman competitor Alicia Barrett fell back in her Class B machine, Sudera was able to briefly put the Radical SR3 between himself and Hobeika. With Barrett finding her rhythm once more, she pulled clear of Sudera and this allowed Hobeika to close back in. A personal best time from Stephanie on lap 21 saw her reduce the margin to just one tenth of a second and she made this speed count by overtaking Sudera for a second time.
Hobeika’s confidence continued to grow in the closing stages and with a handful of laps remaining, she was just half a second behind Rose. The DW Racing driver extended her margin to Sudera in the closing stages to take an excellent podium finish in her first weekend in the Radical Club Challenge Championship.
It was an impressive debut for Hobeika who made considerable improvements throughout the event. Racing in a multi-class championship was an added challenge, however Stephanie displayed her adaptability and racecraft to secure a podium finish in race two. She will now be looking to take this experience forward to the Formula Woman Nations Cup event which takes place from May 1st-4th at the Dubai Autodrome.
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