Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

driver, competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. She is also featured in ''

Richard Hammond's Crash Course ''Richard Hammond's Crash Course'' is an original series made for BBC America, presented by ''Top Gear'' presenter Richard Hammond. The show's first season premiered on April 16, 2012. Each episode of Season 1 follows Hammond as he is given three ...

''.

Racing career

Early racing and Atlantics

Prior to joining the Toyota Atlantic series,

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

-born Legge raced in several developmental open-wheel series in Britain, including

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

and

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

. In 2000, she was the first woman to achieve a pole in a

Zetec Ford Motor Company used the Zetec name on a variety of inline 4-cylinder automobile engines. It was coined to replace "Zeta" on a range of 1.6 L to 2.0 L multi-valve engines introduced in 1991 because Ford was threatened with legal acti ...

race. In 2001, she beat

Kimi Räikkönen Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979), nicknamed "The Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021 for Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One Wo ...

'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 Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...

, refusing to leave until she had met Cosworth boss

Kevin Kalkhoven Kevin Oscar Newton Kalkhoven (1944 – 4 January 2022) was an Australian venture capitalist and auto racing magnate based in California. He served as CEO of JDS Uniphase and was an investor in Cosworth Group Holdings Limited, an automotive tech ...

. 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 The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

with Polestar Motor Racing: this was her first full-time drive. She won the series opener at

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

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 Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

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 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

car since

Sarah Fisher Sarah Marie Fisher (born October 4, 1980) is an American retired professional race car driver who competed in the IndyCar Series, Indy Racing League (IRL, now IndyCar Series) and the Indianapolis 500 intermittently from 1999 to 2010. She also ...

in 2002, when she tested on the second and third days (22 and 23 November) of the

Minardi Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal followin ...

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 A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

car, on 9–11 December 2005 with

A1 Team Great Britain A1 Team Great Britain is the British team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management A1 Team Great Britain was one of the first six-seat holders in the series announced, with chairman John Surtees hosting the event. The car ...

. 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 Anthony James "A. J." Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Kaulig Racing. Allmendinger's professi ...

. Other recipients include Räikkönen,

Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super GT ...

Cristiano da Matta Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born 19 September 1973) is a Brazilian former professional racing driver. He won the CART Championship in 2002, and drove in Formula One with the Toyota team from 2003 to 2004. Career biography Origins and early car ...

, Alex Barron,

Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo Fisichella (; born 14 January 1973), also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian professional racing driver, also captain of the official ''Nazionale Piloti'' association football team (composed of the racing drivers). He has d ...

, Greg Moore, and

Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (born November 11, 1967 in Paris, France) is a French-born Brazilian professional racing driver and team owner. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for Team Penske and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 5 ...

Champ Car

In the 2005–2006 off-season, Legge tested a

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ( ...

once for

Rocketsports Racing Rocketsports Racing was a motor racing team based in East Lansing, Michigan in the United States. Team history Rocketsports was founded in 1985 by racing driver Paul Gentilozzi to compete in the Trans-Am series. It competed in Trans-Am until 200 ...

and twice for

PKV Racing Padayatt Kesavapillai Vasudevan Nair (2 March 1926 – 12 July 2005), popularly known as PKV, was the 9th Chief Minister of Kerala and a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI). He was elected to the Lok Sabha four times, in 1957, ...

. In February 2006, it was announced that she would drive for PKV Racing in the

2006 Champ Car season The 2006 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season was the 28th overall and the third and penultimate season of the Champ Car World Series era of American open wheel racing. It began on April 9, 2006 in Long Beach, Cal ...

. In June, she became the first woman to lead a lap in series history, leading 12 laps at

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

. Legge suffered a violent accident at the

2006 Grand Prix of Road America The Champ Car Grand Prix of Road America, 2006 Grand Prix of Road America was the twelfth round of the 2006 Champ Car season, 2006 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, held on September 24, 2006 at 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 Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known as Payton-Coyn ...

in 2007, and her best result in the series was sixth place, twice.

DTM

In 2008, Legge moved to the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB-FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The ser ...

series, driving for

Colin Kolles Colin Kolles (born Călin Colesnic 13 December 1967 in Timișoara) is a Romanian-German former team principal and managing director of the Hispania Racing F1 Team, previously holding a similar position at the team known under the names Jordan, ...

Futurecom TME The Vanwall Racing Team is an Austrian-German auto racing team based in Greding, Germany. The team currently fields the No. 4 Vanwall Vandervell 680 in the FIA World Endurance Championship. It was founded in 2000 by Romulus Kolles and his son Co ...

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

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 Dragon Racing (formerly Luczo-Dragon Racing) is an American auto racing team that is involved in many areas of motorsport. Dragon Racing was founded in 2007 by Jay Penske and Stephen J. Luczo. The team competed in the IndyCar Series from 200 ...

in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

, alongside Frenchman

Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships ...

. Legge reached a two-year agreement with sponsor

TrueCar TrueCar, Inc. is an automotive pricing and information website for new and used car buyers. The service allows users to see what others paid for any new or used vehicle in their local area and receive upfront prices from a network of over 15,000 ...

as part of their Women Empowered campaign. However, since the Lotus engines were shown to be uncompetitive, the team made a change to

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

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 Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southern S ...

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 The DeltaWing is a racing car designed by American race car designer and engineer Ben Bowlby and debuted at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The entry was run under the Project 56 name, composed of Ben Bowlby (design), Dan Gurney's All American R ...

program in the

United SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

. Legge competed in the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

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 FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

'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 Meyer Shank Racing (formerly Michael Shank Racing) is an American auto racing organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and IMSA SportsCar Championship. History Atlantic Championship Michael Shank as an owner of Michael Shank Racing, he ...

in 2017 to drive an

Acura NSX NSX may refer to: Stock exchanges * Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) * National Stock Exchange (Jersey City, New Jersey), US (NSX) * National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX) Other uses * Neon Swing X-perience (NSX), a US musical group * Honda N ...

GT3 at the

IMSA SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

. In the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona Legge raced as part of an all-female team alongside Simona de Silvestro,

Christina Nielsen Christina Nielsen (born 10 January 1992 in Hørsholm, Denmark) is a Danish racing driver who is the first female driver to win a WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series title. She is the daughter of racing driver Lars-Erik Nielsen, who raced in ...

and

Ana Beatriz Ana "Bia" Beatriz Caselato Gomes de Figueiredo, or Bia Figueiredo (born March 18, 1985) is a Brazilian racing driver. She won her first Indy Lights race at Nashville Superspeedway on 12 July 2008, becoming the first woman to win a race in the In ...

, 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 Aguri, formerly Amlin Aguri and officially the Team Aguri Formula E Team, was an international motor racing team founded by former Formula One and 24 Hours of Le Mans driver Aguri Suzuki (Executive Chairman) and Mark Preston (Team Principal ...

team to compete in the inaugural season of the

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...

electric open-wheel series. She raced in the first two races before being dropped for

Salvador Durán Salvador Durán Sánchez (born 6 May 1985) is a Mexican race car driver who raced in the FIA Formula E Championship for the Amlin Aguri team. Durán has also previously competed in A1 Grand Prix, Formula Renault 3.5, and the NASCAR Toyota Serie ...

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 Sophia means "wisdom" in Greek. It may refer to: *Sophia (wisdom) *Sophia (Gnosticism) * Sophia (given name) Places * Niulakita or Sophia, an island of Tuvalu * Sophia, Georgetown, a ward of Georgetown, Guyana * Sophia, North Carolina, an uninco ...

and

Tatiana Calderón Tatiana Calderón Noguera (born 10 March 1993) is a Colombian racing driver who currently drives the No. 11 Dallara- Chevrolet car part-time for A. J. Foyt Enterprises in the 2022 IndyCar Series. Calderón previously drove for the Drago Cors ...

NASCAR

15 Katherine Legge 2018 Johnsonville 180

In August 2018, Legge joined

JD Motorsports JD Motorsports, is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. It is owned and operated by Johnny Davis. It currently fields two Chevrolet Camaro SS teams: The No. 4 for Bayley Currey and ...

for her

NASCAR Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

debut at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, driving the No. 15

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

. As part of a two-race schedule with the team, she also competed at

Road America Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Champ ...

. Legge later made her oval debut at

Richmond Raceway Richmond Raceway (RR) is a , ''D''-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Known as ...

Personal life

Legge is a member of the Women in Motorsport Commission of the FiA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile). She was briefly engaged to German racing driver

Peter Terting Peter Terting is a German auto racing driver, born on 19 February 1984 in Kempten. He won the Volkswagen Lupo Cup in 2002, earning him a Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, DTM drive for Abt Sportsline in 2003, although this proved to be too big a step u ...

Motorsports career results

Complete American open-wheel racing results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)

Atlantic Championship

: ** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes. : *** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Champ Car

: ** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes. : *** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

IndyCar Series

: ** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes. : *** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indianapolis 500

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(

)

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(

) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) *† — Retired, but was classified as she completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Complete Formula E results

(

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

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Points only counted towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup and not the overall GTD Championship.

24 Hours of Daytona results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(

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

NASCAR

(

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

Xfinity Series

Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Legge, Katherine 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Guildford English expatriates in the United States English racing drivers Formula Ford drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers IndyCar Series drivers Female IndyCar Series drivers Champ Car drivers NASCAR drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Formula E drivers English female racing drivers Team Aguri drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Meyer Shank Racing drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers A1 Team Great Britain drivers Abt Sportsline drivers Team Rosberg drivers Kolles Racing drivers Dragon Racing drivers Arrow McLaren SP drivers KV Racing Technology drivers Dale Coyne Racing drivers Motaworld Racing drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Audi Sport drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers