FROM INDY 500 TO THE PPIHC KATHERINE LEGGE CONTINUES TO INSPIRE
Colorado Springs, CO – The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, brought to you by Gran Turismo, draws top competitors from across the USA and around the world. Residing in Georgia, but representing Great Britain, Katherine Legge will make her first appearance on America’s Mountain on June 23.
Of the 65 drivers slated to compete in the 102nd Running of the Race to the Clouds, Legge is one of six women entered. All are ready to challenge the 12.42 miles to the summit on Race Day.
Inspiring Girls and Women
Describing herself as ‘always a bit of an adrenaline junkie,’ Legge began racing go karts at nine years old. She recalls the women in auto racing who served as her inspiration and role models; names like Janet Guthrie and Sarah Fisher who inspired not only Legge, but a generation of young girls.
“That’s what I aspire to do now with e.l.f. cosmetics,” Legge explained. “I partnered with e.l.f. last year and I never imagined it would take off like it has. Women tell me that now they feel they’re being represented in motorsports. I’m honored to be part of it.”
A Passion for Racing
A race winner and championship contender in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy series in recent seasons, Katherine Legge holds one of the most diverse resumes in modern motorsports.
Her extensive career includes experience in Indy Car, ChampCar, IMSA, NASCAR, DTM, A1GP, Formula e, Formula 3, Formula Atlantic, Formula Renault and a Formula One test with Minardi. In April of this year, Legge was inducted into the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach “Walk of Fame”.
Moving to America from her native England in 2005, Legge won three Toyota Atlantic Championship races that year, becoming the first woman to win a major open wheel race in North America at the Long Beach season opener.
She moved up to the Champ Car Indycar series in 2006-07 and became the first woman to lead a race in that series before returning to Europe to compete in the DTM touring car series from 2008-2010 where she was an Audi factory driver.
Legge returned to North America and IndyCar Series competition in 2012, making her first two Indianapolis 500 starts in 2012-13. She then returned to the Indianapolis 500 in 2023-24, thrilling crowds with her spectacular qualifying runs in both events.
One of the lead development drivers for the Acura NSX GT3 program from 2017-2019, and again from 2023-24; Legge scored four race wins and another seven podium results from 35 races, finishing a close second in the IMSA GTD championship in 2018.
In 2018-19, as part of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy effort, she became the first woman to win in that series, at Mexico City.
Early in her career, Legge became the first woman to win pole in a Formula Zetec category, in her native England in 2000, and one year later won the British Racing Driver Club’s prestigious “Rising Star” award.
She moved to endurance prototype racing and the Delta Wing sports car program from 2013-2015 – becoming the first woman to lead an American Le Mans Series race at Road America in 2013, and the first woman to lead the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2016. She also competed in two Formula E races with Amlin Aguri in the 2014-15 season.
Currently racing in the NTT IndyCar Series, Legge competed in the Indianapolis 500 in May. Watch her pre-Indy 500 interview!
Arriving with Acura
Legge will compete for the first time on Pikes Peak in the Time Attack 1 division behind the wheel of the #93 Acura Integra. Legge describes the racecar as a custom FWD Integra DE5 Type S with incredible braking capacity and around 360hp. “It’s one of the most fun cars I’ve had the privilege of driving.
Sharing what it means to race in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Legge said, “I’ve wanted to do this since I first heard about it and I’m very lucky that this year HRC Acura have given me the opportunity to live that dream. I wouldn’t be here without Acura.” Legge continued. “As the second longest-standing race in America, it’s iconic across the globe. It is one of the coolest, most interesting races in the world, and I can’t explain the exhilaration and focus this event evokes. I am so grateful to be able to tick this off my bucket list.”
GET TO KNOW KATHERINE LEGGE
Fun Facts:
“I eat avocados most days, but chicken and waffles grosses me out.”
“I’m somewhat scared of the lake I live on.”
“My mum doesn’t know I own a motorcycle!”
Any Pikes Peak heroes? “Paul Dallenbach who is a legend and friend; Robin Shute, who has won it four of the past 5 years; any of the Unsers since the Unser name is synonymous with Pikes Peak; and Parnelli Jones, a true motorsports legend.”
What got you hooked on Pikes Peak? “People telling me about how addictive and awesome it is…then watching their videos!”
Any significance behind your race number? “It’s the #93 which is the year Honda Racing Corp US was founded!”
How are you preparing for Pikes Peak? “Lots of video, talking to veterans and driving up it as many times as possible in the road car! Altitude training too…”
Watch Katherine Legge discuss qualifying and racing at Indy, e.l.f. cosmetics, and women in racing
Photos by: Acura/Honda Racing Development, Josh Hildenbrand, INDYCAR Series
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