Fiona Leggate

BTCC driver
Name = Fiona Leggate
Nationality = flagicon|ENG


Caption = Fiona Leggate, Croft BTCC meeting, 2005
Car number = 82
Team = Kartworld
Car = MG ZS
Championships = 0
Wins = 0
Podiums = 0
Poles = 0
Fastest laps = 0
First year = 2005
First win = -
Best position = 16th (2005)
Last season = 2007
Last position = 21st (3 points)

Fiona Leggate is a British auto racing driver, born on May 28 1980 in Lincolnshire.

Fiona had been interested in motorsport since her childhood, influenced by her father Malcolm Leggate who had a 19-year career in saloon car racing.

After competing in showjumping and dressage events (once breaking both arms at once in a fall) she switched her attention from horseriding to horsepower, entering and winning a competition to drive with ex-British Rally Champion Gwyndaf Evans.

This led to her spending 2003 and 2004 contesting various championships including Britcar and the MG XPower trophy, and in July 2004 she set a world record for the most races contested in one day. [cite web|url = http://www.msportuk.com/news/2004/q3/20040726_mg_record2.php|title = MG XPower Girl Sets World Record on 80th Anniversary Weekend|accessdate = September 10|accessyear = 2006]

She is currently in a relationship with Porsche Carrera Cup driver, Danny Watts.

BTCC

Fiona entered the BTCC in 2005, joining halfway through the season in a Vauxhall Astra Coupé acquired from the championship-winning works team 888, but converted to run on bio-ethanol fuel and run by the Leamington Spa based Tech-Speed team. She scored 12 points including a 5th place at Silverstone, gaining much publicity for the envionmentally-friendly fuel.

For 2006 Fiona once again raced in the BTCC in the same car running on bio-ethanol, with new sponsorship from Vauxhall dealer Thurlby Motors as well as continuing support from the Energy Efficient Motorsport (EEMS) scheme. Her best results were a trio of 10th places. She missed the races at round 6 due to a cracked engine cylinder. [cite web|title = Engine damage in qualifying means no starts in Sunday's races|accessdate = September 10|accessyear = 2006|url = http://www.btccpages.com/rounds/2006/16_17_18/flrep.php] After also missing round 8, she withdrew from the series [cite web|title = Leggate ends campaign early|accessdate = September 10|accessyear = 2006|url = http://www.crash.net/news_view~t~Leggate-ends-campaign-early-~cid~10~id~136942.htm] , her replacement being Paul O'Neill for the remaining two rounds of the series [ [http://btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=286 O'Neill is back!] ] .

She is racing in the BTCC again in 2007 with the Kartworld team using an Ex WSR MG ZS fueled once again with bio-ethanol. She is also racing in the EERC Production S1 championship with the same MG ZR that she used in 2006. On top of this there are plans to enter the Britcar 24 hour race once again. She has scored no points in the first nine meetings of 2007, and is 18th in the independent category, having amassed 18 points so far.

Other racing

In 2006 She competed in non-clashing Britcar Production S1 races in an MG ZR. She was partnered once by MG racer Paul White in March at Silverstone and then Rob Oldaker in June at Brands Hatch. Fiona and Rob were then Joined by MG Trophy racer Ben Jacques and Italian BMW racer Umberto Nacamuli for the Silverstone 24 hour race. Sadly the car retired with Engine failure with only just over an hour to go. She also competed in the Mini Challenge, driving at Thruxton and Spa, although she missed race two there due to failure of the engine electronics.

As well as this she also raced another MG ZR in two endurance races at the MGCC Silverstone meeting in June. She was partnered in Race 1 by Regular driver Rob Oldaker and by Mark Stacey for the second race. The car retired from the second race with Head Gasket failure.

In 2007 she has entered the PS1 Championship,where she won her class in the first four races, as well as having the class pole at the two meetings and fastest lap.

References

External links

* [http://www.fionaleggate.co.uk Official website]
* [http://www.btccinfo.co.uk/drivers/leggate.html Profile from btccinfo.co.uk]