Katherine Legge

Katherine Legge (/ˈlɛɡ/ LEG; born 12 July 1980)[1] is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy. She is also featured in Richard Hammond's Crash Course.

Katherine Legge
Legge at the 2013 Indianapolis 500
Nationality	British
Born	(1980-07-12) 12 July 1980 Guildford, Surrey, England
Formula E career
Debut season	2014–15
Former teams	Amlin Aguri
Starts	2
Championships	0
Wins	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	34th in 2014–15
Finished last season	34th
IndyCar Series career
11 races run over 2 years
2013 position	37th
Best finish	26th
First race	2012 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg)
Last race	2013 Indianapolis 500 (Indy)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 0 0
Champ Car career
28 races run over 2 years
Years active	2006–2007
Team(s)	PKV Racing (2006) Dale Coyne Racing (2007)
Best finish	15th – 2007
First race	2006 Grand Prix of Long Beach (Long Beach)
Last race	2007 Gran Premio Tecate (Mexico City)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
4 races run over 1 year
Car no., team	No. 15 (JD Motorsports)
2018 position	51st
Best finish	51st (2018)
First race	2018 Rock N Roll Tequila 170 (Mid-Ohio)
Last race	2018 Drive for the Cure 200 (Charlotte Roval)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Previous series
2001–2004 2003 2005 2006–2007 2008–2010 2012–2013	Formula Renault UK British Formula Three Atlantic Championship Champ Car Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters IndyCar Series
Last updated on: 29 September 2018.

Racing career

Early racing and Atlantics

Prior to joining the Toyota Atlantic series, Guildford-born Legge raced in several developmental open-wheel series in Britain, including Formula Three, Formula Renault and Formula Ford. In 2000, she was the first woman to achieve a pole in a Zetec race. In 2001, she beat Kimi Räikkönen's lap record and achieved a pole, and she was the first woman to receive the BRDC's "Rising Star" accolade.

Legge's move to the United States came about in 2004, when after running out of finances to continue her racing career, she visited the UK offices of Cosworth, refusing to leave until she had met Cosworth boss Kevin Kalkhoven. Kalkhoven sent his daughter to speak to Legge to get her to leave: after a brief conversation with Legge, she instead told Kalkhoven that he should meet with her. Kalkhoven then offered her a drive in the first three rounds of the 2005 Toyota Atlantic Championship with Polestar Motor Racing: this was her first full-time drive. She won the series opener at Long Beach in her first career Atlantic start.[2] In doing so, she became the first woman to win a developmental open-wheel race in North America. Legge went on to take her second and third wins of the season at Edmonton and San Jose. She finished the season 3rd in the championship with three wins and five podiums. She also received the Toyota Atlantic BBS Rising Star 2005 Award.

In November 2005, Legge became the first woman to test a Formula One car since Sarah Fisher in 2002, when she tested on the second and third days (22 and 23 November) of the Minardi team's final testing session at Vallelunga.[3] After she crashed after 2 laps on her first run on the track, it was decided to postpone the test until the following day, on which she completed 27 laps with a best lap time of 1:21.176.[4] She was also the first woman to test an A1 Grand Prix car, on 9–11 December 2005 with A1 Team Great Britain.[5]

She received the 2005 RACER Magazine "Most Promising Road Racer of The Year" award, a title that had been awarded every year since 2002 to A. J. Allmendinger. Other recipients include Räikkönen, Jenson Button, Cristiano da Matta, Alex Barron, Giancarlo Fisichella, Greg Moore, and Gil de Ferran.

Champ Car

In the 2005–2006 off-season, Legge tested a Champ Car once for Rocketsports Racing and twice for PKV Racing. In February 2006, it was announced that she would drive for PKV Racing in the 2006 Champ Car season. In June, she became the first woman to lead a lap in series history, leading 12 laps at Milwaukee.[6] Legge suffered a violent accident at the 2006 Grand Prix of Road America when the rear wing of her car broke; she was able to walk away from the car unharmed.[7][8]

Legge drove for Dale Coyne Racing in 2007, and her best result in the series was sixth place, twice.

DTM

Legge competing at the Hockenheimring, during the 2009 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season.

In 2008, Legge moved to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series, driving for Colin Kolles' Futurecom TME Audi team. For 2009 and 2010 she raced for the Abt Sportsline team, who were the 2008 champions. For 2009 she was the only one of the 5 drivers in the Abt Sportline team using the previous year's car.

Return to the US

In January 2012, Legge signed with Dragon Racing in the IndyCar Series, alongside Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais.[9] Legge reached a two-year agreement with sponsor TrueCar as part of their Women Empowered campaign.[10] However, since the Lotus engines were shown to be uncompetitive, the team made a change to Chevrolet engines. But team owner Jay Penske could only procure one Chevrolet engine lease agreement for the team, so they could only enter one car per race after Indianapolis. Therefore, for the remainder of 2012, Dragon entered Bourdais at the road and street courses, and Legge at oval tracks, except for Sonoma Raceway where both drivers were able to compete.[11] Legge finished 26th in points, competing in ten of the 15 races, and had a best finish of ninth in the 2012 MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships at Auto Club Speedway.

In 2013, Legge left IndyCar to join the DeltaWing program in the United SportsCar Championship. Legge competed in the 2014 and 2015 seasons for DeltaWing.

In May 2015, Legge announced her involvement with the Grace Autosport project to enter the 2016 Indianapolis 500 race. Working with the support of the FIA's Women in Motorsport Commission, the all-female team set out to promote technology and engineering as a career for young women.[12]

Legge joined Michael Shank Racing in 2017 to drive an Acura NSX GT3 at the IMSA SportsCar Championship. In the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona Legge raced as part of an all-female team alongside Simona de Silvestro, Christina Nielsen and Ana Beatriz, having placed second in class the previous year. She was placed 15th in their class after Legge brushed a wall and damaged the car's suspension.[2]

Formula E

Legge signed for the Amlin Aguri team to compete in the inaugural season of the Formula E electric open-wheel series.[13] She raced in the first two races before being dropped for Salvador Durán.

European Le Mans Series

In July 2020, while participating in the pre race testing at Paul Ricard ahead of the European Le Mans Series, Legge was injured in a crash suffering a broken wrist and leg. Legge was part of the all-female Richard Mille Racing team along with Sophia Florsch and Tatiana Calderón.[14]

NASCAR

Legge's No. 15 NASCAR Xfinity car at Road America in 2018

In August 2018, Legge joined JD Motorsports for her NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, driving the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro. As part of a two-race schedule with the team, she also competed at Road America.[15] Legge later made her oval debut at Richmond Raceway.[16]

Personal life

Legge is a member of the Women in Motorsport Commission of the FiA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile).

Motorsports career results

Complete American open-wheel racing results

(key)

Atlantic Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2005	Polestar Racing Group	LBH 1	MTY 5	POR1 9	POR2 3	CLE1 16	CLE2 5	TOR 6	EDM 1	SJO 1	DEN 17	ROA 2	MTL 4	3rd	267

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)**	Top 10s (Non-podium)***	Championships
1	1	12	0	3	2	5	0

** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Champ Car

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
2006	PKV Racing	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE	LBH 8	HOU 14	MTY 14	MIL 6	POR 13	CLE 8	TOR 14	EDM 13	SJO 12	DEN 9	MTL 13	ROA 16	SRF 15	MXC 16	16th	133
2007	Dale Coyne Racing	Panoz DP01	Cosworth XFE	LVG 6	LBH 10	HOU 16	POR 17	CLE 15	MTT 11	TOR 16	EDM 16	SJO 16	ROA 15	ZOL 11	ASN 12	SRF 15	MXC 15	15th	108

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)**	Top 10s (Non-podium)***	Championships
2	2	28	0	0	0	6	0

** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

IndyCar Series

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2012	Lotus-Dragon Racing	Dallara DW12	Lotus	STP 23	ALA 23	LBH 19	SAO 26																26th	137
	Dragon Racing		Chevrolet					INDY 22	DET	TXS 15	MIL 18	IOW 15	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM 24	BAL	FON 9
2013	Schmidt Peterson Hamilton HP Motorsports		Honda	STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY 26	DET	DET	TXS	MIL	IOW	POC	TOR	TOR	MDO	SNM	BAL	HOU	HOU	FON	37th	8

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)**	Top 10s (Non-podium)***	Championships
2	2	11	0	0	0	1	0

** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2012	Dallara	Chevrolet	30	22	Dragon Racing
2013	Dallara	Honda	33	26	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	DC	Points
2005–06	Great Britain	GBR SPR	GBR FEA	GER SPR	GER FEA	POR SPR	POR FEA	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	UAE SPR PO	UAE FEA PO	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	IDN SPR	IDN FEA	MEX SPR	MEX FEA	USA SPR	USA FEA	CHN SPR	CHN FEA	3rd	97

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2008	Futurecom TME	Audi A4 DTM 2006	HOC 18	OSC 17	MUG 18	LAU 15	NOR 15	ZAN 16†	NÜR Ret	BRH 19	CAT Ret	LMS 16	HOC NC	19th	0
2009	Abt Lady Power	Audi A4 DTM 2008	HOC 12	LAU Ret	NOR 12	ZAN Ret	OSC 17†	NÜR Ret	BRH 15	CAT Ret	DIJ 16	HOC 17†		18th	0
2010	Team Rosberg	Audi A4 DTM 2008	HOC 14	VAL DNS	LAU 14	NOR 16	NÜR 15	ZAN 14	BRH 14	OSC Ret	HOC Ret	ADR 15	SHA 14	18th	0

• † — Retired, but was classified as she completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Complete Formula E results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Chassis	Powertrain	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Points
2014–15	Amlin Aguri	Spark SRT01-e	SRT01-e	BEI 15	PUT 15	PDE	BUE	MIA	LBH	MCO	BER	MSC	LON	LON	34th	0

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2014	DeltaWing Racing Cars	P	DeltaWing DWC13	Élan (Mazda) 1.9 L I4 Turbo	DAY 16	SEB 15	LBH	LGA 9	DET	WGL 12	MOS DNS	IMS	ELK 6	COA	PET 4		19th	131
2015	DeltaWing Racing Cars w/ Claro/TracFone	P	DeltaWing DWC13	Élan (Mazda) 1.9 L I4 Turbo	DAY 15	SEB 12	LBH 9	LGA 8	DET	WGL 8	MOS 8	ELK 6	COA 7	PET 8			8th	207
2016	Panoz DeltaWing Racing	P	DeltaWing DWC13	Élan (Mazda) 1.9 L I4 Turbo	DAY 12	SEB 9	LBH 8	LGA 5		WGL 7	MOS 7	ELK 7	COA 5	PET 8			10th	247
	Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian		Ligier JS P2	Honda HR28TT 2.8 L V6 Turbo					DET 5
2017	Michael Shank Racing	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6	DAY 11	SEB 14	LBH 7	COA 15	DET 1	WGL 1	MOS 2	LIM 5	ELK 15	VIR 15	LGA 2	PET 14	6th	286
2018	Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6	DAY 2	SEB 8	MDO 2	DET 1	WGL 2	MOS 5	LIM 4	ELK 7	VIR 3	LGA 1	PET 2		2nd	329
2019	Heinricher Racing w/ Meyer Shank Racing	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6	DAY 12	SEB 8	MDO 10	DET 9	WGL 4	MOS 6	LIM 12	ELK 13	VIR 12	LGA 6	PET 7		9th	221
2020	GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser	GTD	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	Lamborghini 5.2 L V10	DAY 16	DAY	SEB	ELK	VIR	ATL	MDO	CLT	PET	LGA	SEB		30th*	15*

^* Season still in progress.

24 Hours of Daytona results

Year	Class	No	Team	Car	Co-drivers	Laps	Position	Class Pos.
2014	P	0	DeltaWing Racing Cars	DeltaWing DWC13	Gabby Chaves Alexander Rossi Andy Meyrick	288	61 ^DNF	17 ^DNF
2015	P	0	Claro/TracFone DeltaWing Racing	DeltaWing DWC13	Gabby Chaves Memo Rojas Andy Meyrick	42	53 ^DNF	16 ^DNF
2016	P	0	Panoz DeltaWing Racing	DeltaWing DWC13	Sean Rayhall Andy Meyrick Andreas Wirth	119	53 ^DNF	12 ^DNF
2017	GTD	93	Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	Acura NSX GT3	Andy Lally Graham Rahal Mark Wilkins	617	29	11
2018	GTD	86	Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	Acura NSX GT3	A. J. Allmendinger Trent Hindman Álvaro Parente	751	22	2
2019	GTD	57	Heinricher Racing with Meyer Shank Racing	Acura NSX GT3	Simona de Silvestro Christina Nielsen Bia Figueiredo	550	32	12
2020	GTD	19	GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser	Lamborghini Huracán GT3	Christina Nielsen Tatiana Calderón Rahel Frey	471	35 ^DNF	16 ^DNF

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NXSC	Pts	Ref
2018	JD Motorsports	15	Chevy	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	DOV	CLT	POC	MCH	IOW	CHI	DAY	KEN	NHA	IOW	GLN	MOH 30	BRI	ROA 14	DAR	IND	LVS	RCH 28	CLT 33	DOV	KAN	TEX	PHO	HOM	51st	46	[17]

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

References

1. Associated Press (18 July 2005). "Look out, Danica! Woman wins race". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
2. Warwick, Matt; Gornall, Katie; Lockwood, David (20 May 2019). "Katherine Legge: The woman who 'had to fight and claw' her way into motorsport". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
3. "Legge crashes on F1 testing debut". BBC Sport. 22 November 2005. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
4. "Katherine Legge impressively quick at Vallelunga". GPUpdate.net. 23 November 2005. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
5. Legge first lady driver to grace A1 Grand Prix Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
6. "PKV Racing's Katherine Legge back in a Champ Car following crash at Road America". Press release. PKV Racing. 29 September 2006. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
7. "Allmendinger wins RA as Legge survives major crash". Crash.net. 24 September 2006. Archived from the original on 15 June 2007. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
8. Associated Press (24 September 2006). "Allmendinger wins crash-marred Champ Car race; Legge escapes injury". USA Today, publishing AP material. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
9. Cavin, Curt (13 January 2012). "Dragon team will have Bourdais, Legge and Lotus engine". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
10. "Katherine Legge Gains TrueCar INDYCAR Sponsorship". ecommerce.com. 17 January 2012. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
11. Hier, Daryle (31 May 2012). "Jay Penske's Dragon Racing Will Be a Two-Headed Single Car – Fan's Take". Yahoo.com. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
12. Glendenning, Mark (15 May 2015). "All-female Grace Autosport team launched for 2016 Indianapolis 500". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
13. "About – Katherine Legge". Amlin Aguri. 27 June 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
14. "Katherine Legge injured in crash at European Le Mans Series". bbc.com. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
15. Associated Press (2 August 2018). "Katherine Legge to make NASCAR debut with two Xfinity races". USA Today. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
16. "Katherine Legge to make NASCAR oval debut at Richmond". Retrieved 20 September 2018.
17. "Katherine Legge – 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 28 November 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Katherine Legge driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Katherine Legge career summary at DriverDB.com