Milwaukee milestone.

Champ Car's only oval of the season had all the ingredients to be a landmark weekend for me but, somehow, it wasn't what I had hoped for. Yes, I could see that we are improving and I will take that and the points, but I'm just going to move onto the next one.

That might sound very ungrateful after I took two more milestones in Milwaukee, with sixth place and my first laps in the lead, but the event had offered so much more.

With very little experience on ovals, I think we were very sensible, the team did a great job, and we built up to the race all weekend. We knew we had a good car, although we had to work through some initial problems. If you have an issue with the handling on an oval, you have to solve it and move on. It's great because driving a well set-up car makes such a difference on the ovals. It is almost easy to drive a good car, but really difficult if there is anything wrong. We took it practice by practice and built on what we learned there in May.

The one thing I didn't know was what it would be like running with traffic, having run alone during testing last month, and that was the first thing I had to learn during the Friday test day. It makes a big difference when there is one car in front of you but, when there are two or more, it makes double the difference, it takes all your air away and, seeing as, this year, the tyres aren't the same as they were last year, we were relying on aero a lot more. But we improved every session out, and I was determined that I wasn't going to do anything silly like stick it in the wall, because you don't learn anything sitting on the side. And, having seen some of the crashes the other guys have had, it isn't necessarily scary, but you do think 'I don't want to be doing that'.

Running in traffic did take me a while to get used to, and I followed Charles Zwolsman on purpose on the first day, even though I was a lot quicker, because I knew he would be quite sensible. It was really interesting to get behind a car because, even if you stick your car half out of the slipstream, it makes a big difference. The start of the race was a still a surprise, though, as I had six cars in front of me, and Oriol alongside, and the turbulent air that that makes is incredible. It was a big learning experience for me.

When Mario and Junqueira went off in front of me, that was a new experience as well. You have to leave your brain alone and let your body get you through the debris. The first time it happens on an oval, your mind is panicking but, by the time you've thought about what is going on, you are through it because it is all happening all at 180mph.

It definitely helped that the team had a very good car at Milwaukee last year. Jimmy stuck it on the pole and then, in the race, when it got hotter, it went a bit loose, so we used the test day to dial in a bit more understeer and a bit more downforce and gradually took it away and tweaked the car to how I wanted it as the weekend progressed.

Fortunately, we didn't really have too many issues that we needed to sort out, and any that we did have were immediately rectified. There is more onus on the driver too, as we have things like the weight jacker and front bar to play with in cockpit, so I can make a more direct contribution.

Qualifying was also a different experience, but I actually really enjoyed it. On the ovals, you go round four times, have your two timed laps and then they take your best one. I actually asked Tom, our technical director who calls my races, not to speak to me during the run. I asked him to tell me when it was going to go green for the timed laps and then not speak to me because, when you are on an oval by yourself, it's kind of like getting into a trance. It's very therapeutic, everything goes quiet and it's as if you are in a tunnel. You're in a zone and it is just a lot easier with a lot less distractions.

We had a good qualifying for the first time this year and, having suffered with that a lot, hopefully it has broken the bad spell. It still wasn't what we had hoped for because I had a really good car and wanted to come in and say that that was all I had, that that was me right on the limit, but I couldn't. I came in and said 'damn, I could have gone faster', which was a bit disappointing. But it was my first oval so, next time, I will have that experience to call on, and I will know better.

After our conversations on the flights between cities on the Turbo Tour, it was surprising to outqualify Paul Tracy at Milwaukee, although I think he had issues in qualifying. His weight jacker was set up the wrong way and, when he was going one way with it, it would do the opposite thing. That would explain his bad qualifying because, at the end of the day, he is one of the best drivers in the world on ovals.

However, while it was nice to line up ahead of Paul on raceday, having him right behind me at the start was a bit nerve-wracking - especially when he said 'get ready for me when I come round the outside'. Jimmy confirmed that that would happen - 'he is going to be doing that, he will be round the outside of you at turn one, and you will be thinking 'how can he stay on the race track on marbles like that'. Deciding that I didn't want to wreck on the first couple of laps, I thought I'd wait for PT to make some space and maybe I could follow him through. It was unfortunate, therefore, that they all crashed on the second corner, although I don't think that was due to anything Paul did wrong.

As always, strategy played a big part in the race - it was the same thing at Long Beach and, everywhere we have gone, the team has been fantastic at coming up with a strategy and I think that is really important. Unfortunately, we played the wrong strategy at Milwaukee but, at the end of the day, if you don't try these things, you don't gain anything from it. I'm all for trying alternative strategies because it is so difficult to pass in these cars.

That means that it is all about qualifying or all about strategy but, in Milwaukee, the wicker on the left front wing came off after about quarter of the race, so we don't know how it would have played out. I was really struggling from there on in. We were P5 at the time, but we were on a different strategy to most of the field, and I was hoping that the yellows would fall our way. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, but at least it got me another point for leading the race.

What it also showed to everybody was that we could race with the best of them. I was racing with Justin and I don't think AJ was catching me. It goes to show that these ovals are all about the car. If you have a good car, like I said, it is almost easy, easier than if you have a semi-bad car. When the wicker broke, it made such a difference. I was just hanging on to the thing after that. It goes from driving it and feeling in control to hanging on for dear life.

I was driving within the limits of the car because I wanted to finish the race and I knew that, if I did, we would get good points. I was on the radio every lap, but trying not too whinge too much, because the team didn't know what the problem was. They kept putting more and more front wing on, but the rear tyre pressures were going up and it was making a big difference. I was there telling them 'I'm just hanging onto this thing, I need new tyres, how much longer have we got to go, it's understeering really bad, it's understeering really, really, really, really bad' just to get the point across, but the team just kept encouraging me. The yellows were much needed because, every time I came through turn four, I was literally holding my breath on the exit and thinking 'I got through there again, thank goodness'.

Leading a race for the first time was good but, at the end of the day, that is my job and it is what we should be doing more of. We definitely had the car to do it. I let Sebastian go because he was a lap down and I thought I could let him go by and then pull a gap on Justin, which is what we did. Justin obviously caught me in traffic, and that's another thing with the ovals - no matter how good or bad you are in traffic, you can be caught out if you are coming into the corner and the guy in front is on the line.

Justin actually passed me in traffic and I passed him back in traffic, but we had a big gap back to AJ, so we were looking good. If the car had stayed like that, we would definitely have been on for a podium - which would have been phenomenal on my first oval race.

That is why I was disappointed after the race, despite having got a good result. We had the car for it, we had the strategy, we had the race, but it didn't play out in our favour.

Still, it did make up for Mexico, which was terrible. Houston was as well, so we had two bad races coming in to Milwaukee. Houston was through no fault of my own, and Mexico was one of those races where everything seemed to go wrong as well. It was just one of those weekends that was really difficult. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, and I made a mistake, which is always very frustrating for a driver. It is one of those we will forget.

Milwaukee restored the confidence somewhat, and also restored morale in the team, which is great. The PKV boys are awesome - we had the three quickest pit-stops last weekend, which was fantastic. It just goes to show what a great job they are doing.

Looking ahead, we have a good car for Portland, as we tested there earlier this year and we were around P8. I think, realistically, we are going to look to do the same thing this weekend. The top six will be fantastic, and top ten would be good, but we are really looking to be top rookie, finish on the lead lap, collect the points and keep learning, which is still the main objective. I think it is entirely possible that we can get a good finish again, but there is only one point between Will Power and myself in the rookie battle. He is a very experienced driver for a rookie, and very talented as well. He has used his head in all of the races, so I think he is the main rookie rival.

We now have Portland and Cleveland coming up back-to-back, so it's going to be a busy couple of weeks. Perhaps we'll catch up again after that.

Speak soon,

Katherine


Discover more about Katherine Legge at www.katherinelegge.com