Legge keeps ambitions realistic

The Briton, who finished eighth on her debut in the Champ Car World Series at Long Beach last month, told autosport.com: "My ambitions remain the same, to be honest: finish top rookie in every race.

"In Long Beach I finished second of the six rookies, and I should really have been first. I'm still kicking myself for that mid-race spin, because I could have ended up ahead of Jan Heylen [the rookie who beat her] and ahead of Andrew Ranger too. That would have given me sixth place."

Despite the lapse, the PKV Racing driver impressed many onlookers by setting eighth fastest race lap, less than half a second slower than second-placed finisher Justin Wilson. But Legge too played this down.

"I've got to be honest," she said, "that first corner pile-up took out four of the fastest guys, so it really helped to move me up the field. But I set my fastest lap times at the end of the race which at least answered the people who questioned whether I'd have the stamina for a whole race in a Champ Car.

"It's a long season and as long as I am finishing races, collecting points for rookie of the year, and most importantly learning and moving forward, we have achieved our goals. By the end of the season I want to be where Oriol [Servia] is now, the direct comparison is always to your teammate, right?"

Legge is looking forward to the second round at Houston, believing that everyone will be on a more level playing field on a circuit that no-one has experienced before.

"On a circuit that's new to everyone, it's about how quickly you as a driver can gain knowledge, about how to pass on your track knowledge to your engineers, and about how you adapt the set-up changes to an ever-changing track.

"I'm pretty confident that PKV Racing should be one of the better teams at doing that. It will be great for me to drive at a new venue and especially under the lights. Driving at night is another element that is new to me and should make for an exciting race."

The new Houston track, 1.615 miles around Reliant Park, is expected to be one of the hardest circuits on which to pass, and that, says Legge, will make qualifying decently all the more vital.

"We qualified very badly in Long Beach. One of my aims for Houston is to qualify inside the top 10. I think that is very achievable. Every time we go out I get closer to Oriol's pace and closer to the top of the field.

"Qualifying is so important as it is hard to pass in these cars. We worked on qualifying strategy in the Portland test so now I have to put it into action in Houston."