Gradient Racing’s Female Driving Team Is No Gimmick
Photo courtesy of IMSA
British racing driver Katherine Legge has had a broad and diverse career in motorsports.
Just this season alone, Legge has competed in the Indianapolis 500 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and run in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series at Elkhart Lake’s Road America for SS Greenlight Racing. That’s in addition to doing the full season in the GT-Daytona class with Gradient Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
While the IndyCar and NASCAR forays yielded disappointing results, it’s her role as a sports car driver that is proving to be the most satisfying.
Driving an Acura NSX GT3 EVO for Gradient Racing, Legge is teamed with rookie co-driver Sheena Monk, making them the only female driving crew racing full-time in the series. Throughout her career, Legge has been paired with many different co-drivers, both male and female. What stands out to Legge this season is the bond she and Monk have developed.
“I think it's been fun, right?
“Foremost, like we've got a real team camaraderie, which is very important. And it's important to everybody, because then it motivates everybody. It makes everybody happy and it's like, the opposite of a downward spiral. You know, you just keep climbing and you keep improving.
“I would say that I'm very grateful for the friendship that I've developed with Sheena as well. I'm like she is, we don't want to be a gimmick. And we want to be seen as a legitimate driver pairing, be it male, female, black, white, it doesn't matter.
“The fact that we're both female is great for sponsors, and it's great for eyeballs, for little girls seeing that they can be anything that they want to be. I think that adds another element to it. And I love that, honestly.
“We're not totally just focused on the all female thing. But I will say that it's been really nice that we kind of get each other. And in a way, she's my protege. Hopefully I've got few good years left in me, but then she can carry that baton and she can teach another young female driver, like all the extensive knowledge that I've passed to her and so I think that that's a really cool, personal thing.”
Photo courtesy of IMSA
At age 43, it’s Legge’s way of giving back to the sport she’s loved since she was a young girl.
“It’s not just about Katherine and my driving anymore. It's about you know, what can I do for the sport and give back. Sheena listens, she's really smart. So it's not like beating my head against a brick wall saying, Well, I know you can go in there at this speed and break at this point and do this and do that. Because you can see on the data. Like, she gets it, she's really smart.
“I've been with other pro drivers. I've been with other amatuer drivers. Sometimes it clicks. And sometimes it doesn't. It's like working with engineers. Sometimes the engineer speaks Katherine or your language and it just works. And with this team, and with Sheena, it really works and it clicks. It's got a lot to do with heart and passion and dedication and all the things right. If you can see somebody wants it just as much as you do, and they're willing to put in that work and put themselves on the line, then that gives you motivation to keep giving back to them. And then it's again, it's that upward spiral.
“It's been a pleasure. It's been a lot of fun. The team have done a fantastic job, but we have some of the best crew in the business. It’s been phenomenal. I can’t ask for a better situation, really.”
“It’s not just about Katherine and my driving anymore”
Whether it’s her open wheel experience, or that gained from years in sports cars, Monk says Legge’s resume speaks for itself.
“As somebody that's coming up and really trying to get to the level of a Katherine, her experience speaks for itself. That's the kind of person where you just want to lean into everything that they have to say, and you want to soak it up like a sponge and just absorb absolutely everything. I don't care if it's the slightest of nuances. We could be on a track walk. And if she points out a pebble, I'm noticing the pebble you know what I mean?
“I got to be at the 500 this year,” Monk continued, “and to see it from her eyes the whole time, you know the ups and the downs of that and unfortunately, the downs. I felt like not only did I get to know Katherine better as an individual, but I got a healthy respect of what it means to be competing in a moment like that. And to just understand the magnitude and the pressure and what it takes, to understand how she changed in that hour before getting in the car at the 500. It just gives me a new perspective on what it takes to be at the next level. It's like, yeah, you've got to be fit, you've got to eat right, you've got to be working on your craft, but a lot of what I have seen with Katherine is just the absolute mental fortitude, the strength, the toughness, and just that she can literally go break down walls with her mind.
“And that, to me, I feel like maybe that is one of my strengths, but just to understand to the degree and the effectiveness that that has for her. You know, it kind of makes me have a little bit of introspection and just, okay, there's always an opportunity to do more, to go further, to try harder. So seeing her with the open wheel experience, with the NASCAR experience - it just shows that somebody can have tremendous diversity. But it makes me go back to what is the reason that she's able to achieve that? And I believe that a lot of that comes from her mental fortitude.”
Photo courtesy of IMSA
Mental fortitude has been a strength of Legge’s going back to her early days in the sport. When she ran out of funds to continue racing in 2004, Legge went to the offices of Cosworth in the UK, refusing to leave until she met with Kevin Kalkhoven, the Cosworth boss at the time. Kalkhoven ultimately offered her a ride in the first three rounds of the Toyota Atlantic Championship with Polestar Motor Racing. She went on to win three races and finish third in the championship.
That fortitude has also been put to the test after several scary accidents in her career, including one at Road America in a 2006 ChampCar Series race when the rear wing of her car came off at the Kink. Her car hit the wall and split in two. She was lucky to walk away from the crash. Then in 2020, Legge suffered a broken leg and wrist in a European LeMans Series testing crash at Circuit Paul Ricard. Legge sees that same kind of mental fortitude in Monk.
“Yeah, I think I saw her drive her first laps in a proper racecar and then to see how she kind of got to grips with that and and how she came back. She had a big accident at Laguna Seca but she came back from that and, you know, having been there myself and having an accident like that takes some guts to put that to one side and realize that it is a risky sport, but you love it so much, you're gonna do what it takes.
“And so to see her come through that and fight the other side and be as good as she is, and just to see her progression this year, like, I always knew that she had the raw talent. I didn't know how long it would take her to get up to, you know, pro speed. And it's been amazing just to see her from Daytona from the moment she got in the car first. And now how much improvement she's made, I have never seen that before. I've worked with a lot of drivers. And so that's been really impressive.
“And it's been very rewarding,” Legge continued, “because I'd like to think that some of that was down to me. She'll say that I give her a hard time, which I probably do, but only because I know that she can do it. And I believe in her. Otherwise, I wouldn't care as much, right? So I see this potential and her and try and push her to be the best that she can be. And so that's been really cool.
“My dad watches every kind of race there is so he can tell you who's good, who's bad, who's ugly, who's indifferent. He knows everything about everybody, whether they've got potential. And so when I told him I was talking to Sheena about this year, he's a big Sheena fan, too. And so he's been crunching all the numbers and telling her in a percentage wise how much closer she's getting to the front and all that. And so it's just been, it's been really cool.
“I told her that I am equally looking forward to and also terrified of the day that comes when she's faster than I am. And I have to hang up my helmet.”
Photo courtesy of IMSA
Legge, a member of the Women in Motorsport Commission of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), notes that the atmosphere surrounding women in motorsports has changed since she started in racing.
“It's definitely improved, because I think that it's become less of a novelty. When I first started, I also started in England. And I think that back then it was very different atmosphere between Europe and America. And that's why I loved racing in America so. When I went back to Europe to do my DTM (German Touring Car Championship) years, it was still very different over there. It's changing now with the FIA women in motorsport Commission and the introduction of the Iron Dames. I've done some WEC (World Endurance Championship) races and ELMS (European Le Mans Series) races since and it's definitely changed.
It's definitely changed in the states to when I first came over,” Legge added, “there was Danica (Patrick), myself and and then later on Simona (de Silvestro) as well. And that was really it. So it was more of a novelty. But we did get more attention and more opportunity because of it as well. So I would say that there are a lot of negatives, but there are also a lot of positives and it kind of evens itself out.
“Now it's not anything unusual. And so I think that the teams, you know, they're not worried about, okay, well, do we know whether she can do it or not? Because we've proven it. And so it's less of a less of a concern to them, is less of a novelty to them. They're not being the first anymore to take that risk.
“I don't know whether it's just because I've been around so long, I feel like everybody kind of accepted me as a driver and I'm just part of the furniture by now. I don't think that the (Filipe) Albuquerques and the (Wayne, Jordan and Ricky) Taylors of the world think of me any differently than any other driver. I think I'm just a racecar driver. I think it's more on the periphery. You know, sponsors, fans and things like that where it is cool and different. Maybe it's a case by case basis as well. But I haven't seen Sheena treated any differently, either. I don't know whether that's because of association with me or whether that's just the way that it is now.”
Photo courtesy of IMSA
Monk, age 34, claims she’s not been treated any differently because she’s a woman.
“Yeah, in the few years that I’ve been around. I don't ever feel as though anybody treated me any kind of way just on a gender bases. That's one of the questions I get asked the most is if I feel like I'm treated differently, and frankly, I've never felt that. I can't speak to how anybody speaks of me behind closed doors, but to my face, I actually feel that I'm treated very fairly.
“But I think a lot of that is just like, how are you approaching things? Are you here for the right reasons? Are you respectful of other people, what's your on-track conduct? Like, if there's an incident, how are you treating that at each other's haulers. And I think, Katherine and I approach things in a very professional manner. And so I think you get back, whatever you're putting out. With other drivers, I like to think that, I treat them with respect, and I kind of get that in turn, and I don't look at that as a gender situation. I think it's just, when you're in a professional environment, and that's how you're behaving, then people will treat you accordingly.”
“Katherine has done just about everything, and one of the things I would like to be able to give back to her would be a trip to Le Mans. I guess, in a way, that would be how I could, maybe, repay her. Not just for myself, but I’m also looking bigger picture for her, as well.”
While Legge and Monk aren’t likely to win the GTD championship, there is one goal they’re still chasing before the season’s end. Currently second in the Bob Akin Bronze Cup standings, Monk would receive an automatic invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, should she win it as the top point-scoring Bronze rated driver.
Monk admits it’s a huge focus for her.
“Going into this year it was really top of mind. I always felt like we were going to be kind of in the running for it. The (Inception Racing) McLaren has been exceptionally fast at almost every race, so it’s been tough to contend with that at times. Also, the Bronze (rated) driver in that car (Brendan Uribe) is tremendously more experienced than I am in GT3 racing. So, we knew it was going to be a tall task, but, regardless of that, my sights are laser focused on that.
“Katherine has done just about everything, and one of the things I would like to be able to give back to her would be a trip to Le Mans. I guess, in a way, that would be how I could, maybe, repay her. Not just for myself, but I’m also looking bigger picture for her, as well.
“If it’s not attainable maybe this year, that would be a focus for another year.”
That would be a perfect end to their first season together for both Monk and Legge.