Katherine Legge
Katherine Legge(12 July, 1980, Guildford, Surrey, UK) is a British auto racing driver, currently racing in the Toyota Atlantic Championship. In 2005, she won the series opener at Long Beach, in her first career Toyota Atlantic start. Doing so, she became the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America. Legge went on to win her second and third races of the season at Edmonton and San Jose. She finished the season 3rd in the championship with three wins and five podiums, she received the Toyota Atlantic BBS Rising Star 2005 Award.
Prior to joining the Toyota Atlantic series, she raced in several developmental open-wheel series' in Britain as Formula 3, 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 BRDC "Rising Star" Accolade.She has received the 2005 RACER Magazine "Most Promising Road Racer of The Year".This title had been held since 2002 by A.J. Allmendinger. The following other driver's have won this title: Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button,Cristiano Da Matta, Alex Barron, Giancarlo Fisichella,Greg Moore, and Gil De Ferran.
Legge made history in November 2005 when she became the first woman to test a Formula One car since 1992 (Giovanna Amati), on the second and third days (22 and 23 November) of the Minardi team's final testing session, at the Autodromo Vallelunga near Rome. After she crashed after 2 laps on her first run on 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 min 21.176 sec. She will also become the first woman to test - in its short history - an A1 Grand Prix car, on December 9-11 2005. The test will be with A1 Team Great Britain, and Legge said "It's a fantastic chance to gain experience and represent my country."
In the off-season, Legge tested a Champcar once for the Rocketsports Racing and twice for PKV Racing. In Febuary 2006, it was annouced that she would drive for PKV Racing in the 2006 Champcar season.