IMS Preview: A Chance to Make History.

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in May, as Spring gave way to Summer, Katherine Legge rolled her Dallara DW12 IndyCar out of pit lane in an attempt to make the 33-car field for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500. Four laps later, not only had she made the race but she had also made history as the fastest woman to ever lap the daunting 2.5 mile super speedway. Her fastest single-lap record now stands at an astonishing 231.627 mph.

Three months later, as fall descends on Speedway, Indiana, Legge is back at IMS chasing more history. Next Sunday, she has the opportunity to become part of the first all-female team to win a race in the 54 years of IMSA’s highest level of competition, the WeatherTech SportsCar Series.

The Atlanta-domiciled professional racer and her co-driver, Sheena Monk, have come close to the podium a number of times this season in their #66 JG Wentworth Acura NSX GT3 Evo22. and despite an unfair share of cruel luck the pairing have never lost focus on their primary objective; a place in US road racing history. And what better place to do that than on the 2.439 mile, fourteen-turn IMS Grand Prix Road Course?

For Newtown, Pennsylvania’s Sheena Monk, 2023 has been a baptism of fire with new challenges and experiences to manage every time she gets behind the wheel of the 550 horsepower, 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6 NSX GT3 Evo22. The WeatherTech Series rookie has leaned heavily on the vast wealth of knowledge and experience on offer from her co-driver with more than two decades of professional racing throughout the World.

“There will be quite a learning curve for us this weekend since neither Kat or I have ever been on the Indy Road Course. I plan to approach it methodically and build my confidence each session. We hope our JG Wentworth Acura is able to display some of its strengths on this circuit.”

Indianapolis is a ‘home-away-from-home’ for Legge, who has made three appearances in the Greatest Spectacle in racing over the last 12 years along with a further 37 IndyCar starts. “I’m very much looking forward to getting back to Indy. I lived there for a number of years when I first came to the USA,” explained the British-born driver. “I've always wanted to drive on the road course and somehow I never have until now. This place just gives you Goosebumps and a good result here would mean so much to us as a team. I think we're knocking on the door so let's hope we can close out 2023 strong.”

Team Manager, Andris Laivins can lean on recent positive results at the Brickyard. “Although it's been almost a decade since we last raced our own car at Indy, we've been on the podium a couple of times there in GT3 machinery recently with another program, so this weekend won't feel too foreign.”

Laivins shares the rest of the team’s anticipation for the series return to one of the World’s most iconic sporting arenas. “I'm excited to see IMSA build a new event around one of the iconic American circuits, and this will be a great step to running an enduro there next year. Let's hope for a cool, dry week, and a fast Acura, and maybe we'll visit the podium again.”

Coverage of Sunday’s Tire Rack Battle on the Bricks is live on the NBC Network and Peacock in the United States from 1:00pm ET. For viewers without an international TV broadcaster the race can be seen live at IMSA.TV. IMSA Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio will also have non-stop coverage of the race. For full coverage please follow Gradient Racing on Twitter at @GradientRacing, on Instagram at @gradientracing and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GradientRacing/.