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Katherine Legge admits that she was again “in awe” at how quick an IndyCar is on a speedway after completing a pre-Indianapolis 500 test at Texas.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing stayed on at the 1.5mi Fort Worth oval after the weekend’s second race of the season to test its Indy 500-only entry.
Legge has two starts in IndyCar’s flagship race to her name, recording results of 22nd with Dragon Racing in 2012 and 26th with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (now the McLaren IndyCar Team) in 2013.
Speaking about her first run, the 42-year-old said, “My first thought when I left pit lane was, ‘Wow, I do not remember it being this fast!’
“I was in awe of how incredible it was and what a feeling it is.
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“It did not hold though as you get comfortable relatively quickly.
“But even on the last runs of the day, you still have a healthy respect for how fast Texas really is and you’re still in awe of the speed at which these cars can run but you feel a little more relaxed at knowing you have the capability of doing it.
“At the beginning its very much like being a deer in headlights but it soon comes back.”
For Legge, there was also a benefit in getting to work with the RLLR IndyCar team at a race track for the first time.
“The team invited me to the Texas race and, obviously, to test after the race, for a number of reasons,” said the Briton.
“Firstly, because IndyCar mandates a speedway evaluation test, or in this case a refresher, and I needed that. It was really good to do that without too many other cars on track. There was only the other team car on track.
“From a team standpoint, it was good to learn the structure of the team, how the team works on a race weekend, get to know my team-mates and integrate myself a little.
“Just from a learning purpose to see how things progress throughout a race, it gives you an oversight and a bigger level of comfort going into my own race at Indy and I think the test was great for so many different reasons.
“For me personally, it was really good to get back in the car and shake off the cobwebs, gain confidence and learn all the procedural things like pit stops, buttons get back in during a low pressure, low stress environment.
“And from a team standpoint, any time we are turning laps on track, we’re learning. Hopefully it bodes well for Indy.”
Legge will now be back on the simulator before the Indianapolis Open Test on April 20-21.
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