British racer Katherine Legge has become the first female driver, and the eleventh in total to be confirmed to race in the FIA Formula E Championship after signing for the newly rebranded Amlin Aguri Formula E team.

The 34-year-old former Champ Car racer becomes the first of the team's two drivers to be announced which has since changed its name from Super Aguri following a new sponsorship deal with insurance company Amlin.

Legge joins previously confirmed drivers Daniel Abt and Lucas di Grassi at Audi Sport Abt, Sam Bird and Jaime Alguersuari at Virgin Racing, Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok at Mahindra Racing, Nick Heidfeld and Stephane Sarrazin at Venturi, Franck Montagny at Andretti Autosport and Jarno Trulli at TrulliGP.

After rising through the junior single-seater ranks, in 2005 Legge competed in the Toyota Atlantic Championship winning the series opener at Long Beach and ending the season third overall. Later that year she made history by becoming the first woman to test a Formula 1 car since Sarah Fisher (2002) with Minardi. The following year she signed to drive in the 2006 Champ Car season and became the first woman to lead a lap in the series' history. After a second year she switched to the DTM series enjoying seasons with Futurecom TME and Abt Sportsline. In 2012, Legge moved to the States to make her IndyCar debut, remaining in the US for a second season although this time competing in the American Le Mans Series.

"For me this is a really exciting opportunity," said Legge. "The car is fantastic, it looks amazing and it will be very quick. Racing through the streets of the world's leading cities will be an incredible experience and I think it's a great chance to bring racing to the people. We will be driving in their cities on their streets."

"Amlin's corporate expertise and our racing experience makes for a potent combination," added Team Principal Mark Preston. "Formula E will be a very exciting and demanding championship and I think it brings an interesting new dimension to the sport. This is as much about strategy as it is about driving fast - its playing chess at 220 km/h."

"Amlin has always been focused on developing winning strategies using a combination of experience, expertise and data analysis," said Charles Philipps, CEO of Amlin, "and this skill is equally applicable to insurance and motor racing. We are serious about racing and serious about winning."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Red Baron, 28/06/2014 11:49

"One things for sure, FE cars are much prettier (and sleeker) than current F1 cars... but I can't say which sounds better hmm"

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2. Posted by gturner38, 28/06/2014 0:50

"It's about time she's been given a shot in a decent car. We are talking about a driver that won 3 races in her only season in Formula Atlantic, but since then has driven with a backmarker team in Champ Car, got stuck with the Lotus engine in Indycar before getting tossed aside by her sponsor, and has been struggling with the deltawing. This will at least should give her a chance to prove herself in comparable equipment against some good drivers."

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3. Posted by jo6pac, 27/06/2014 15:26

"This is good, it's to bad she never had good car early in her career."

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4. Posted by Hardliner, 27/06/2014 14:56

"...and Legge has achieved exactly what as a driver? These new electric engines in E-series must run warmer than petrol, I'm seeing an awful lot of hot air coming out of it all......."

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Formula E team signs woman driver

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