Inexperience counts against Legge at 'Ring.

Katherine Legge's lack of Nurburgring experience counted heavily against her as the latest round of the DTM took place in some typical Eifel conditions, but she showed some fighting spirit before her race ended earlier than expected.

Both qualifying and the race were affected by poor weather, and Legge found her learning curve steepened by having to negotiate the tricky circuit with limited vision through a dirty windscreen. TME Futurecom team-mate Christijan Albers struggled too, but Legge found herself trailing the Dutchman in 19th on the grid.

"Things were going very badly for us," she admitted, "My team-mate and I both had a hard time in the rain, but I made a few mistakes and vision through the windscreen was very poor."

Legge's hopes for better weather on Sunday were not granted, but showed her adventurous side by opting to start the race on slicks and was rewarded by climbing as high as eighth. However, just before her second pit-stop was due, the Hofmuhl Audi A4 DTM was involved in a close encounter with Mercedes' rival Maro Engel, an incident over which there was the usual variance of events.

"I got stuck behind Katherine for a while and, when I wanted to pass her, she pulled over to the right and pushed me towards the pit-lane entry," Engel reported, having staged his own fight through the field after an early spin, "Our cars touched, I spun and got stuck in the gravel."

Legge, meanwhile, focused on what could have been.

"It could have turned into a really good race, as I was driving very consistent lap times," she reflected, "Then there was the incident with Maro Engel, and that, of course, was really unfortunate."

Before the race weekend, Legge visited the German branch of the British radio station BFBS in Herford and, as a guest on the breakfast show, proved her knowledge of British traffic rules in a quiz. As a prize, she received a pair of soft-fabric dice for the cockpit of her race car.

The dice were not her only 'gift' in the run-up to the race as, on a visit to nearby Lemgo, Legge got a surprise reception from mayor Dr Reiner Austermann, who welcomed the Briton on a street named Leggestrasse, presenting her with an illustrated book about the Old Hanseatic City of Lemgo. The unusual name of the street, the politician explained, came from the Middle Age term 'legge', which was a place for laying linen, and originated as the famous Lemgo linen was inspected by 'legging masters'.