FEBRUARY 15, 2006

Legge states her aims

Katherine Legge has landed a drive in Champ Car, America's premier open-wheeled road racing series. The 25-year-old Englishwoman says she wants to compete for the Rookie of the Year award and collect as many points as possible against a strong field which will include the likes of Sebastien Bourdais, Paul Tracy, Justin Wilson, AJ Allmendinger and others.

"I know I'm going to make mistakes," she said. "I don't want to mess up anything for anybody else."

Legge will become the first woman to have a full-time drive in the series but follows in the footsteps of female pioneers Janet Guthrie (1979), Desire Wilson (1983-1984) and Lynn St James (1992-1995).

"I hope I can be successful and by doing so encourage more girls to get involved," Legge said.

The PKV team has yet to announce who will be driving its other car - or cars - as the team may expand to become a three-car operation. Jimmy Vasser has yet to decide if he wants to go on racing and among those who are in the running are Cristiano da Matta, Giorgio Pantano, Ryan Briscoe and Franck Montagny.

Team owner Kevin Kalkhoven says that Vasser (also a partner in the team) has until the end of the month to make a decision about his future.