Fiona Leggate

Fiona Leggate

Fiona Leggate, Croft BTCC meeting, 2005
Nationality British
Born (1980-05-28) 28 May 1980
BTCC record
Teams Vauxhall, MG
Drivers
championships		 0
Wins 0
Podium finishes 0
Poles 0
Fastest laps 0
Debut season 2005
First win –
Best championship position 16th (2005)
Final season (2007) position 31st (0 points)

Fiona Leggate (born 28 May 1980) is a British auto racing driver.

Early career

Leggate 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 her wrists at once when she was 10) 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.[1]

BTCC

Leggate 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 bioethanol 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 environmentally-friendly fuel.

Leggate driving the bio-ethanol-fuelled Vauxhall Astra at the Brands Hatch round of the 2006 British Touring Car Championship.
Leggate driving a Kartworld Racing-run MG ZS at the Oulton Park round of the 2007 British Touring Car Championship.

For 2006 Leggate 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.[2] After also missing round 8, she withdrew from the series,[3] her replacement being Paul O'Neill for the remaining two rounds of the series.[4]

In 2007, she again raced in the BTCC with the Kartworld team using an ex-WSR MG ZS fuelled once again with bio-ethanol. She also raced in the EERC Production S1 championship with the same MG ZR that she used in 2006.

Other racing

In 2006 Leggate 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. Leggate and Oldaker were then joined by MG Trophy racer Ben Jacques and Italian BMW racer Umberto Nacamuli for the Silverstone 24-hour race. 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 Leggate 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.

Personal life

She was previously married to Danny Watts, who came out as gay in 2017. They have one son.[5]

Racing record

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded just in first race) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races) (* signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Pts
2005 Tech-Speed Motorsport Vauxhall Astra Coupé DON
1
 DON
2
 DON
3
 THR
1
 THR
2
 THR
3
 BRH
1
 BRH
2
 BRH
3
 OUL
1
 OUL
2
 OUL
3
 CRO
1
11		 CRO
2
14		 CRO
3
10		 MON
1
13		 MON
2
13		 MON
3
9		 SNE
1
11		 SNE
2
13		 SNE
3
DNS		 KNO
1
14		 KNO
2
11		 KNO
3
9		 SIL
1
13		 SIL
2
5		 SIL
3
13		 BRH
1
13		 BRH
2
Ret		 BRH
3
10		 16th 12
2006 Thurlby Motors with Tech-Speed Vauxhall Astra Coupé BRH
1
Ret		 BRH
2
12		 BRH
3
10		 MON
1
14		 MON
2
Ret		 MON
3
DNS		 OUL
1
15		 OUL
2
14		 OUL
3
11		 THR
1
10		 THR
2
13		 THR
3
10		 CRO
1
Ret		 CRO
2
16		 CRO
3
14		 DON
1
DNS		 DON
2
DNS		 DON
3
DNS		 SNE
1
13		 SNE
2
12		 SNE
3
Ret		 KNO
1
 KNO
2
 KNO
3
 BRH
1
 BRH
2
 BRH
3
 SIL
1
 SIL
2
 SIL
3
 21st 3
2007 Kartworld Racing MG ZS BRH
1
Ret		 BRH
2
DNS		 BRH
3
14		 ROC
1
Ret		 ROC
2
DNS		 ROC
3
Ret		 THR
1
14		 THR
2
12		 THR
3
Ret		 CRO
1
15		 CRO
2
Ret		 CRO
3
13		 OUL
1
16		 OUL
2
15		 OUL
3
Ret		 DON
1
Ret		 DON
2
19		 DON
3
18		 SNE
1
17		 SNE
2
Ret		 SNE
3
DNS		 BRH
1
Ret		 BRH
2
DNS		 BRH
3
Ret		 KNO
1
Ret		 KNO
2
15		 KNO
3
14		 THR
1
19		 THR
2
DNS		 THR
3
18		 31st 0

References

  1. ↑ "MG XPower Girl Sets World Record on 80th Anniversary Weekend". Retrieved 10 September 2006.
  2. ↑ "Engine damage in qualifying means no starts in Sunday's races". Retrieved 10 September 2006.
  3. ↑ "Leggate ends campaign early". Retrieved 10 September 2006.
  4. ↑ O'Neill is back!
  5. ↑ http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/news/63161/pro-racing-driver-danny-watts-comes-gay/
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