Katherine Legge


Katherine Legge is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy. She is also featured in Richard Hammond's Crash Course.

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. 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 of the Minardi team's final testing session at Vallelunga. 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. She was also the first woman to test an A1 Grand Prix car, on 9–11 December 2005 with A1 Team Great Britain.
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. 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.
Legge drove for Dale Coyne Racing in 2007, and her best result in the series was sixth place, twice.

DTM

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. Legge reached a two-year agreement with sponsor TrueCar as part of their Women Empowered campaign. 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. 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.
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.

Formula E

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

NASCAR

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. Legge later made her oval debut at Richmond Raceway.

Personal life

Legge is a member of the Women in Motorsport Commission of the FiA.

Motorsports career results

Complete American open-wheel racing results

Atlantic Championship

YearsTeamsRacesPolesWinsPodiums
  • *
Top 10s
  • **
  • Championships
    111203250

    Champ Car

    YearsTeamsRacesPolesWinsPodiums
    • *
    Top 10s
  • **
  • Championships
    222800060

    IndyCar Series

    YearsTeamsRacesPolesWinsPodiums
    • *
    Top 10s
  • **
  • Championships
    221100010

    Indianapolis 500

    Complete A1 Grand Prix results

    YearEntrant12345678910111213141516171819202122DCPoints
    2005–06Great BritainGBR
    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
    3rd97

    Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

    YearTeamCar1234567891011RankPoints
    2008Futurecom TMEAudi A4 DTM 2006HOC
    18
    OSC
    17
    MUG
    18
    LAU
    15
    NOR
    15
    ZAN
    16†
    NÜR
    Ret
    BRH
    19
    CAT
    Ret
    LMS
    16
    HOC
    NC
    19th0
    2009Abt Lady PowerAudi A4 DTM 2008HOC
    12
    LAU
    Ret
    NOR
    12
    ZAN
    Ret
    OSC
    17†
    NÜR
    Ret
    BRH
    15
    CAT
    Ret
    DIJ
    16
    HOC
    17†
    18th0
    2010Team RosbergAudi A4 DTM 2008HOC
    14
    VAL
    DNS
    LAU
    14
    NOR
    16
    NÜR
    15
    ZAN
    14
    BRH
    14
    OSC
    Ret
    HOC
    Ret
    ADR
    15
    SHA
    14
    18th0

    YearTeamChassisPowertrain1234567891011PosPoints
    2014–15Amlin AguriSpark SRT01-eSRT01-eBEI
    15
    PUT
    15
    PDEBUEMIALBHMCOBERMSCLONLON34th0

    Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

    YearEntrantClassMakeEngine123456789101112RankPoints
    2014DeltaWing Racing CarsPDeltaWing DWC13Élan 1.9 L I4 TurboDAY
    16
    SEB
    15
    LBHLGA
    9
    DETWGL
    12
    MOS
    DNS
    IMSELK
    6
    COAPET
    4
    19th131
    2015DeltaWing Racing Cars w/ Claro/TracFonePDeltaWing DWC13Élan 1.9 L I4 TurboDAY
    15
    SEB
    12
    LBH
    9
    LGA
    8
    DETWGL
    8
    MOS
    8
    ELK
    6
    COA
    7
    PET
    8
    8th207
    2016Panoz DeltaWing RacingPDeltaWing DWC13Élan 1.9 L I4 TurboDAY
    12
    SEB
    9
    LBH
    8
    LGA
    5
    WGL
    7
    MOS
    7
    ELK
    7
    COA
    5
    PET
    8
    10th247
    2016Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb AgajanianPLigier JS P2Honda HR28TT 2.8 L V6 TurboDET
    5
    10th247
    2017Michael Shank RacingGTDAcura NSX GT3Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6DAY
    11
    SEB
    14
    LBH
    7
    COA
    15
    DET
    1
    WGL
    1
    MOS
    2
    LIM
    5
    ELK
    15
    VIR
    15
    LGA
    2
    PET
    14
    6th286
    2018Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-AgajanianGTDAcura NSX GT3Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6DAY
    2
    SEB
    8
    MDO
    2
    DET
    1
    WGL
    2
    MOS
    5
    LIM
    4
    ELK
    7
    VIR
    3
    LGA
    1
    PET
    2
    2nd329
    2019Heinricher Racing w/ Meyer Shank RacingGTDAcura NSX GT3Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6DAY
    12
    SEB
    8
    MDO
    10
    DET
    9
    WGL
    4
    MOS
    6
    LIM
    12
    ELK
    13
    VIR
    12
    LGA
    6
    PET
    7
    9th221
    2020GEAR Racing powered by GRT GrasserGTDLamborghini Huracán GT3 EvoLamborghini 5.2 L V10DAY
    16
    DAYSEBELKVIRWGLLIMMDOPETLGASEB30th*15*

    * Season still in progress.

    24 Hours of Daytona results

    NASCAR

    Xfinity Series

    Season still in progress
    Ineligible for series points