Katherine Legge

Katherine Legge is a British racing driver who has a rich experience in different racing disciplines, including Champ Car and IndyCar Series, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters or Formula E. In recent years, she competed mostly in the sports car races, from American Le Mans Series to current IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Katherine Legge

Five early seasons in the British competitions

Katherine Legge was born on July 12, 1980, in Guildford, Surrey. She started racing in 2000, entering the Formula Ford competition. During his debut season, she became the first female driver to scored pole position in the Formula Ford Zetec race. The next step was the Formula Renault in 2001 when she received the BRDC's Rising Star award.

After one more season with Renault-powered single-seaters, Katherine progressed to the British Formula 3 in 2003. Next year, she returned to Formula Renault 2.0 UK, in her last season on the British ground.

Third place in the 2005 Toyota Atlantic Championship

In 2005, Katherine moved to the United States to compete in the Toyota Atlantic Championship for Polestar Racing Group. It turned to be her career-best season in the single-seater competition. She scored a maiden victory in series debut at Long Beach.

Two more wins followed later in the season at Edmonton and San Jose. With three wins and five podiums, Katherine finished third in the championship standings, behind Charles Zwolsman and Tonis Kasemets. She also received the Toyota Atlantic BBS Rising Star 2005 Award.

In 2005, Legge tested F1 car

Formula One test with Minardi

Following a successful season in the Toyota Atlantic Championship, Katherine had an opportunity to test Formula One, A1 GP and Champ Cars. She tested Formula 1 car for Minardi in November 2005 at Vallelunga circuit. She crashed on the first day but returned to the track next day.

In December 2005, Legge was testing A1 Grand Prix car with A1 Team Great Britain. The third test in the off-season was with two different Champ Car teams. In February 2006, it was announced that Legge will drive in the 2006 Champ Car World Series for PKV Racing.

Katherine's pink car in the 2006 Champ Car season

Two seasons in the Champ Car World Series

Legge was driving the #20 Lola-Cosworth, debuting in the Champ Car World Series in April 2006 at Long Beach. She became the first female driver to run a full Champ Car season. In June, at Milwaukee Mile, she became the first ever woman to lead in the Champ Car race. She finished in the sixth place, what remained her season-best result. She finished 16th in the points.

For the 2007 season, Legge joined Dale Coyne Racing to drive the #11 Panoz-Cosworth. The sixth place in the season-opening race at Las Vegas was her best result, she finished 15th in the final standings.

Daytona 24h debut and move to the DTM

In January 2007, Legge debuted in sports car racing, participating at Daytona 24 hours. She was driving the #84 Riley-Pontiac prototype for Robinson Racing, finishing in the 25th place. Her co-drivers were George Robinson, Wally Dallenbach Jr and Paul Dallenbach.

In 2008, instead of continuing his career in the USA, Legge moved to Europe and joined Audi in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM). She was driving the 2006-spec Audi A4 for the Futurecom TME team, finishing last in the standings among nineteen drivers.

Katherine spent three seasons with Audi in the DTM

Two more seasons in the DTM

In 2009, Legge was transferred to the Abt Sportsline, driving the 2008-spec Audi A4 for the Abt Lady Power team. Her best result was 12th place in two races, finishing 18th in the final standings.

Next year, in her third DTM season, Legge changed a team again. She was driving the 2008-spec Audi A4 for Team Rosberg. At the end of the season, she was last in the classification, not scoring points.

Return to the American open-wheel racing

Legge left DTM at the end of 2010 and take a sabbatical from racing in 2011. In January 2012, Katherine signed with Dragon Racing to drive the #6 car in the IndyCar Series, alongside Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais as a teammate. She finished 22nd in her debut at Indianapolis 500.

After Indianapolis, the team was entering just one car per race, with Bourdais at the road and street courses, and Legge at oval tracks, except at Sonoma Raceway where both drivers were able to compete. Katherine's best finish was ninth place at season's finale at Auto Club Speedway. Competing in ten races, Legge finished 26th in points.

Katherine Legge in the 2012 IndyCar Series

Joining DeltaWing program in 2013

In 2013, Legge left IndyCar, participating only at Indianapolis 500, to join the DeltaWing program in the American Le Mans Series. In her second attempt at Indy 500, she finished 26th with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports #81 Honda.

The DeltaWing LM12 was a unique three-wheeled car, which Legge was sharing with Andy Meyrick in the 2013 ALMS season. Their best result was the fifth place overall (third in the LMP1) at Road America. At the end of the season, they were seventh in the LMP1 standings.

The DeltaWing program continued in the 2014 IMSA United SportsCar Championship. Andy Meyrick was again Katherine's full-time co-driver, with Gabby Chaves and Alexander Rossi joining them in selected races. Their best result was fourth place at Petit Le Mans.

Katherine spent four seasons in the DeltaWing project

Legge was a part of the inaugural Formula E

In September 2014, Legge was a part of the historic inauguration of the FIA Formula E Championship, world's first full-electric racing championship. She was driving the #77 car for Amlin Aguri at Beijing ePrix, finishing in the 15th place.

Two months later, Legge rejoined the team at Putrajaya ePrix in Malaysia, again finishing 15th. For the rest of the inaugural Formula E season, she was replaced by Salvador Duran.

Two more seasons with DeltaWing

Katherine Legge was a part of the DeltaWing project for two more seasons. In the 2015 IMSA SportsCar Championship, Memo Rojas became her full-time co-driver, with Andy Meyrick and Gabby Chaves joining them in endurance races. The best result was sixth place at Road America.

In 2016, Legge was sharing the #0 DeltaWing DWC13 mostly with Andy Meyrick and Sean Rayhall.  Fifth place was the best result for the team, achieving it in three races.

Andy Lally and Katherine Legge celebrate victory

Racing with Acura NSX GT3 since 2017

For the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Legge joined Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, to share the all-new #93 Acura NSX GT3 with Andy Lally.

After not so good results in four races, Legge and Lally scored their first win in the GTD class in the fifth round at Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. The second win followed in the next race at Watkins Glen and then a podium at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. They finished sixth in the final GTD class standings.

IMSA GTD class vice-champion in 2018

In 2018, Katherine stayed with the team but moved to the cockpit of the #86 Acura NSX GT3, sharing a car mostly with Alvaro Parente. They finished on the podium at Daytona, finishing second in GTD class, with AJ Allmendinger and Trent Hindman as their co-drivers.

Katherine has won again at Belle Isle, sharing a car with Mario Farnbacher, and then in the penultimate round at Laguna Seca together with Alvaro Parente. At the end of the season, she finished second in the GTD class standings, just four points behind champions.

Katherine Legge

Part of the all-female crew in 2019

In 2019, Katherine stayed with Meyer Shank Racing, which established a new partnership with Heinricher Racing to form the all-female crew in the #57 Acura NSX GT3. At Daytona 24 Hours, she was sharing a car with Christina Nielsen, Bia Figueiredo and Simona de Silvestro. Later during the season, Katherine was the only full-time driver, sharing a car with Christina or Bia.

Photos: katherinelegge.com,