SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- TrueCar, Inc., creators of the intelligent automotive marketplace that benefits both buyers and sellers, has announced the addition of Katherine Legge to their 2012 TrueCar Racing Team – signing the former Atlantics, ChampCar and DTM star to a multi-year IZOD IndyCar Series sponsorship agreement with Dragon Racing and Lotus.

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The Surrey, UK-born Legge, 31, was a fast-rising open-wheel star in the U.S. early in her racing career.  During her rookie season in the prestigious Toyota Atlantic Championship, she finished an impressive 3rd in points, winning 3 races that year and becoming the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America.  She then competed in the ChampCar World Series in 2006 for PKV Racing and in 2007 for Dale Coyne Racing, and was later awarded a coveted test in a Formula 1 car.  In 2008, Legge returned to Europe to compete in the ultra-competitive DTM series as Audi's factory driver, where she showcased her race craft and routinely outqualified and outran both veteran and ex-Formula 1 competitors.

Legge joins her new team as part of the TrueCar Racing "Women Empowered" initiative – an extension of the company's efforts to help women enjoy the best possible car-buying experience.  With 80% of car buying decisions influenced by women – and 40% of all car purchases made by women – this impactful audience is a significant part of the automotive retail landscape.

"I am beyond proud to be joining the TrueCar Racing Team," said Legge. "From all of the talented TrueCar employees, to their partners and dealers, we are all on the same mission – to empower drivers like myself and my teammates to become champions in racing, while similarly empowering women across America to become confident car-buyers through TrueCar and their outstanding Certified Dealers."

Legge will be driving the #6 TrueCar IZOD IndyCar entry of Dragon Racing – owned and managed by Jay Penske, founder, chairman, and CEO of Penske Media Corp.  "I am extremely excited and proud to partner with Lotus Cars and TrueCar," said Penske.  "The combination of having the technical support of Lotus as a Factory Team, the financial backing of game-changing company like TrueCar as a primary sponsor, and the unquestionable driving skills of Sebastien and Katherine makes us a force to be reckoned with in 2012." 

"We're equally excited about our partnership with Dragon Racing and Lotus," adds Scott Painter, founder and CEO of TrueCar. "Like TrueCar, Jay Penske and Lotus are always on the cutting edge of technology, business, and motorsports.  Together, we are going to make a very bold statement both on and off the track in 2012 and beyond."

"Katherine Legge brings such amazing drive, determination, and excellence to the TrueCar Racing Team," said Charles Kim, TrueCar's head of motorsports.  "She has excelled at every level of racing in which she has competed, and is truly an inspiration to both men and women on and off the track.  We expect 2012 to be her biggest year yet as she returns to the U.S. open-wheel racing scene in her debut IndyCar season."

The inaugural TrueCar Racing Team also includes many of the top women racers in the U.S. competing in several professional and developmental racing series, including: 

• Shea Holbrook (Pirelli World Challenge)
• Ashley Freiberg (Star Mazda)
• Shannon McIntosh (USF2000)
• Emilee Tominovich (Pro SCCA MX-5 Cup)
• Verena Mei (Rally America)

About TrueCar  

TrueCar, Inc. is an automotive solutions provider focused on changing how cars are sold by providing a significantly better customer experience while helping qualified dealer partners to gain incremental market share and reduce costs.  TrueCar is a visual publisher of new car transaction data.  TrueCar price reports help both dealers and consumers to agree on the parameters of a fair deal by providing an accurate, comprehensive and simple understanding of what others actually paid recently for a similar car both locally and nationally.  TrueCar works with a national network of dealers that provide up-front, no-haggle, competitive pricing to assist some of the nation's largest and most well respected membership and service organizations to meet the auto buying needs of their members and customers.  Collectively these audiences represent over 1M in-market customers each month.  TrueCar is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA and has offices in San Francisco, CA and Austin, TX.  With 131 percent annual growth since 2006, TrueCar has helped dealers sell over 400,000 vehicles and is developing a suite of products and services centered on radical clarity as a result of comprehensively analyzing market data and information.

You can follow TrueCar on Twitter and become a fan of TrueCar on Facebook.          

About Dragon Racing

Dragon Racing is an IndyCar Series team owned by Jay Penske, the Chairman and CEO of Penske Media Corporation (PMC). Dragon Racing began under the original banner of Luczo Dragon Racing founded by both Penske and Steve Luczo, the Chairman and CEO of Seagate Technologies. The team debuted in 2007 at the Indianapolis 500 with driver Ryan Briscoe and finished fifth. In 2009, during the team's first complete season, it won Rookie of the Year honors with driver Raphael Matos. In 2012, Dragon Racing has forged an alliance with Lotus to become the Lotus Factory Team, along with lead strategic sponsors Microsoft, TrueCar, and McAfee.  Dragon Racing has two entries in the IZOD IndyCar Series for 2012: Katherine Legge, the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America, and four-time Champ Car Series champion Sebastien Bourdais.  Dragon Racing has operations in Indianapolis, Indiana and Los Angeles, California.  For more information on Dragon Racing or its drivers please contact press@dragonracing.com.

About Lotus

Group Lotus PLC, is based in Norfolk, UK, and has three operating divisions: Lotus Cars, Lotus Engineering and Lotus Racing. Lotus Cars builds world class, high performance sports cars including the award-winning Evora, the iconic Elise and the stunning Exige and the road / track orientated 2-Eleven. Lotus New Era, the future product line-up, was unveiled in Paris on 30th September 2010 featuring the new Esprit, Elan, Elite, Elise and Eterne. Lotus Engineering provides comprehensive and versatile consultancy services to many of the world's OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers and is an internationally recognised automotive engineering consultancy. Global facilities include those in the US, Malaysia, China and offices in Germany and Japan. Lotus is a global high-tech company, committed to driving forward technology for both Lotus Cars and its Engineering clients, spearheading research into such areas as hybrids, electric vehicles and renewable fuels. Lotus Racing (formerly Lotus Motorsport) operates the motorsports activities of Lotus and includes the strategy to return the Lotus name to a great number of series including endurance racing with GT2, GT4 and LMP2, single-seater racing with GP2, GP3 and IndyCar. Lotus also returned to F1 with Lotus Renault GP from the start of the 2011 F1 racing season onwards.

Disclaimer

This press release and the information contained herein is for noncommercial use on "as-is, as available" basis and may be used for informational purposes only.  TrueCar makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information contained in this press release and the results of the use of such information, including but not limited to implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.  The information contained in this press release may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors.  Neither TrueCar nor any of its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates or respective partners, officers, or directors, employees or agents shall be held liable for any damages, whether direct, incidental, indirect, special or consequential, including without limitation lost revenues or lost profits, arising from or in connection with your use or reliance on the information presented in this press release.

For more information about Group Lotus please contact:
PR Department, Group Lotus PLC, Potash Lane, Hethel, Norfolk, UK, NR14 8EZ
Tel: +44 (0)1953 608264 Email: pr@lotuscars.com

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link.
Scott Painter
https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=94535

SOURCE TrueCar.com