Josh Stephens

Josh Stephens is an American racing driver who currently races for Simtek. He has raced for Scuderia Italia and Lotus in past seasons. He started off in International Formula 3000, finishing 3rd in is his debut season in 1991. He was the runner-up in the 1992 season, and then won the International Formula 3000 title in 1993, before heading off to the Scuderia Italia team in the 1993 Formula One season. He currently races for Forti.

Early Career and International F3000
Josh, like many racing drivers, started off in karts, winning many championships in North America. He was then called up for a test drive for Paul Stewart Racing in 1990, and when he impressed the team, they signed him on for the 1991 International Formula 3000 season. He had a torrid start to the season, retiring in the first three races. He finished the next race in Mugello, but then retired twice more in the next two races. He finished just outside the points in 7th at Brands Hatch, but made a late season charge at Spa, Le Mans, and Nogaro, clinching 2nd at Spa, and then winning both of the French races. In 1992, he continued racing for Paul Stewart Racing, and finished 3nd, 2nd, and 3rd again in the first 3 races. He retired from the next 4, however, which blew his title hopes, before winning the final round at Magny Cours. In 1993, he won at Donington Park, Pau, Pergusa Enna, Hockenheim, and Magny Cours en route to the title. For his efforts, he managed to clinch a drive with the Scuderia Italia F1 team before the year's end.

International Formula 3000 results
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Scuderia Italia (1993)
After winning the International F3000 title in 1993, he replaced the poorly performing Pablo Jackson, who had lost all motivation to drive the car. However, Josh did not get much out of the car, as he retired in over half of the races he competed in, with a best finish of 11th coming at Valencia.

Lotus (1994)
Josh signed with Lotus Mugen-Honda for the 1994 season, and was much more consistent than he was in the previous season. His best finishes were a triplet of 7th places in the second half of the season, and with one of them being a feature race, he scored 2 points at season's end. He earned those finishes at the sprint race in Hungaroring, and the other two in both races at Valencia. He finished 19th in the overall standings.

Simtek (1995)
Josh signed with Simtek for the 1995 Formula One season. He impressed in practice at the first round, topping the practice session. However, it did not last for qualifying, as his car suffered a mechanical failure on circuit. He rebounded in both races, however, placing 11th in the feature race, and 9th in the sprint race. He equaled his best finish of the season (9th) again in the sprint race at Istanbul, after retiring due to steering problems in the feature race. Albeit finishing in the top ten several times throughout the season, he did not quite get to grace the points, and had settle for being of the best without points.

Forti (1996)
After Simtek ended its operations at the end of the 1995 season, Josh was sent looking for a drive. Luckily for him, Forti was available and willing to have his services, so he was signed with Forti for the 1996 season.