Stephanie Floersch, 17, becomes first woman to win Grand Prix of Wales after 21 years of competing
Stephanie Floersch, the teenager from Wales who has conquered the off-road races of America and Australia, has shown she can also win a Grand Prix of Wales – 21 years after her grandfather became the only woman to conquer the event.
Floersch did not show any signs of nerves after taking victory in the behind-the-scenes race at Telford, her first victory at the event.
She was joined on the podium by the brothers James and Cameron Coombes-Scott who, after spending a weekend training with her in the snow and cold in South Africa, took their second place by six minutes.
Floersch, 17, from Sable, Powys, was thrown into the spotlight earlier this year when she became the first woman to win an off-road series in North America, the Conquistadores Grand-Tour, and then added another win at her next race, the Conquistadores Series 2R Australia.
But this was a different story altogether. The 17-year-old, born in 1994 to her Norwegian father, Edgar, and Welsh-Irish mother, Lesley, spent time racing in Spain and then headhunted by her father to join the family business, Ceylon Perpetual Leasing, in 2009, which builds and provides lifts for commercial vehicles.
Floersch said after her win: “This is amazing. It’s obviously a lot of pressure.
“Some people maybe thought I was a bit inexperienced and I should have said that I was a bit inexperienced. But I never felt that. I really believed in myself. I know I have a lot of support, and the people who have helped me on this journey with me, and the different pit crews, have been really great and I can’t thank them enough.”
The Grand Prix of Wales, named after the legendary track used by British stars such as Malcolm Campbell and Frank Simmons, had been off-limits to women since its start in 1992.