Katherine Legge Joins Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing As Driver Of One Of Team'S Two Jaguar I-Pace eTROPHY Series Entries

July 13, 2018 by Jaguar

Katherine Legge Joins Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing As Driver Of One Of Team'S Two Jaguar I-Pace eTROPHY Series EntriesTeam Livery Unveiled in New York Ahead of New York E-Prix

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (July 13, 2018) – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) announced today that experienced sports car and open-wheel racing driver Katherine Legge will drive one of the team's two Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY series electric racecars during the 2018/2019 ABB FIA Formula E season. An American-themed livery will be unveiled by RLL co-owner Bobby Rahal, Legge and team officials at the New York E-Prix 2017/2018 season-finale this weekend.

'I am very proud to be driving in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY Formula E series for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing,' said Katherine Legge. 'I have followed Formula E since its inception and have been very impressed with the growth in the electric car market and electric racing as a whole. I have also wanted to drive for Bobby for the past 10 years or more so this for me is the realization of a dream. Driving for a British brand like Jaguar on a global stage and 'racing to innovate' sounds like the best kind of challenge to me. I'm excited!'

RLL first announced participation in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY series, the world's first production-based electric vehicle race series, in November 2017. The team will announce the second driver prior to their first test session which is expected to take place in September in the UK.

'I have known Katherine for a number of years and have always been impressed with her capabilities and how she handles herself,' said Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with David Letterman and Michael Lanigan. 'She did a great job in Formula Atlantic, IndyCar and now in sports car racing and I think she will do very well for us in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY series. We have spoken about working together for a number of years and I'm pleased to finally be able to put a program together.'

The Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY is a support series to the ABB FIA Formula E Championship and the first to be based off of a street-legal production battery electric vehicle. Races will take place the same weekend, and on the same city street circuits, throughout the 2018-19 season. The series, which will exclusively feature up to 20 Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY race cars, offers teams the chance to showcase driving talent and electric performance, while competing on the world stage in zero-emissions motorsport.

Jaguar Racing Team Director James Barclay said, 'We're really proud to welcome Katherine to the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY series; she is a passionate and experienced driver, and of course as Jaguar is a British brand, we're really excited that the first driver to be announced to join the grid is British and someone of Katherine's pedigree. We have always said that having Bobby on board brings great credibility to the series and cements its place in the motorsport calendar – I have no doubt that with Katherine as part of the team, they'll do great things in the championship.'

'This program has been a year in the making and this weekend is a big milestone for us,' added Rahal. 'I'm very impressed with the communication we have had with Jaguar and how things are progressing in England. To a person, we are all excited to get going and go racing. We are also very proud to unveil the livery of our two-car team. Being an American-based team now racing around the world, we all felt it would be important to compete under our national colors and we think the I-PACE eTROPHY really looks great in red, white and blue. It will be obvious where we are from when people see our cars.'


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For the latest news and information from RLL, please visit www.rahal.com and from Jaguar Racing, please visit www.jaguarracing.com. For the latest news and information from Formula E, visit www.fiaformulae.com.

About Katherine Legge

Legge, a native of Guildford, United Kingdom, currently competes for Meyer Shank Racing in the GTD class in IMSA. Her resume includes experience in Formula 3, Formula Renault, a Formula One test, Champ Car, Indy car, A1GP, DTM, Formula E and currently sports car racing. Legge was the first woman to win pole in a Zetec race in 2000. One year later she won BRDC's 'Rising Star' award. In November 2005 she became the first woman to test a Formula One car since Sarah Fisher in 2002. Legge competed in the Toyota Atlantic Championship in 2005, winning the series opener in Long Beach in her first career start to become the first woman to win a developmental open wheel race in North America. She finishes the 2005 Atlantic season third in the championship with three wins and five podiums. She moved up to PKV Racing in Champ Car in 2006 and became the first woman to lead a lap in that series when she led Lap 12 at Milwaukee and went on to earn an Indy car career best finish there of sixth there but later her season was cut short by a massive crash at Road America. She competed for Dale Coyne Racing in 2007 and matched her best series finish of sixth at Long Beach and earned her best Indy car start of eighth, twice, before returning to Europe to compete in the DTM touring car series from 2008-2010 where she was an Audi factory driver. After a one-year hiatus from racing, she joined Dragon Racing's IndyCar Series team in 2012 but a short-lived Lotus program led to the team only being able to secure one Chevrolet engine for two drivers and Legge only competed on oval tracks. She moved to the Delta Wing sports car program from 2013-2015 and also competed in two Formula E races with Amlin Aguri in the 2014/2015 season and has been with Meyer Shank Racing since 2017 in a factory-backed Acura GTD program and has earned three wins and seven podium finishes over the two seasons to date. Legge is the second female race car driver to compete for RLL. Danica Patrick competed in the Atlantic Series with the team from 2003-2004 and in the IndyCar Series from 2005-2006.

About Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, based in Hilliard, Ohio and Brownsburg, Ind., is co-owned by three-time IndyCar Champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, former CBS Late Show host David Letterman and Mi-Jack co-owner Mike Lanigan. In 2018, the team will compete in their 27th year of open wheel competition and attempt to add to their 25 wins – including the 2004 Indy 500 from pole with Buddy Rice -- their 30 poles, 94 podium finishes and 1992 series championship. The team also competed in the American Le Mans Series from 2009-2013 as BMW Team RLL where they won both the Manufacturer and Team Championships in the GT category in 2010 and swept all three GT titles in 2011 - Manufacturer, Team and Driver. In 2012, the team finished second in the Team Championship and third in the Manufacturer Championship and in 2013, the team finished second in the Driver, Team and Manufacturer Championship. Since 2014, BMW Team RLL has competed in the GTLM class of the United SportsCar Championship with a two-car program and has brought their total to 17 wins, 23 poles and 68 podium finishes as well as a second place finish in the Manufacturer, Team and Driver championships in 2015 and 2017. The team will enter two cars in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY Series during the 2018/2019 season. It is the world's first production-based electric vehicle race series and is a support event to the FIA Formula E Championship.

About Jaguar Racing

Jaguar returned to racing in October 2016, becoming the first premium manufacturer to join the all-electric ABB FIA Formula E Championship street racing series. Jaguar's Formula E programme will create tangible R&D benefits for the electrification of future Jaguar and Land Rover road cars. Jaguar has now created the world's first production battery electric vehicle race series, the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY, which will be the official support series for the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, starting in Season Five. The series supports the launch of the Jaguar I-PACE, Jaguar's first battery electric vehicle, and reinforces Jaguar Land Rover's future electrification strategy, commitment to electric street racing and 'Race to Innovate' mission.

Photo credit: Jaguar
posted on conceptcarz.com

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