All-female IMSA team to star Legge, de Silvestro, Beatriz

Legge, who is fighting for IMSA GT Daytona championship, and Heinricher, a U.S. Air Force veteran and founder of successful biotech company BooShoot, will be joined by former IndyCar racer Beatriz in the 2019 Michelin Endurance Cup Championship rounds - Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans - with de Silvestro confirmed for the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

In addition to its full season IMSA campaign, Heinricher/MSR/CAT are targeting the 87th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Said Heinricher: "My vision has long been to bring together a diverse team of four female drivers, some of the fastest globally, to join forces to compete together, and with the support of CAT, I get to see my long held vision become reality.

"I am excited to be joining Michael Shank and the entire winning MSR team in this amazing partnership and to have the honor to compete with Katherine, Ana, and Simona." 

"This is truly a groundbreaking effort for next year, not only for us as a team but for the series as well," Mike Shank, owner of MSR. "It's great to have Katherine (Legge) back with us, she has been doing great this season as we fight for the championship.

"I also want to thank Jackie (Heinricher) for developing the Caterpillar partnership and we are excited to have her on board. Simona (De Silvestro) and Bia Ana Beatriz] are also very strong talents, and hopefully with them all joined together we can make a statement next year."

"It feels great, I have always wanted to do something like this to show the appeal of racing to a wider audience," said Legge. "Jackie (Heinricher) has done an amazing job to create this opportunity and develop this partnership.

"I'm thrilled to be working with Simona (De Silvestro) and Bia (Figueiredo), and it is exciting to return to Meyer Shank Racing with the Acura NSX GT3. We've had great success and we are looking forward to building on that starting at Daytona."  

"It's pretty exciting and I think for sure the line up that we have is really strong," said De Silvestro. "All of us girls have a lot of credibility and I think it will be quite exciting so I'm really looking forward to Daytona. I think the team dynamic will be very strong.

"For myself, it will be a little bit of learning but I am looking forward to it. It's quite a special feeling to be a part of such a good team that has had a lot of success so I think this is going to be a great car to be in and to give us all a strong shot. I just can't wait to go racing in Daytona, which I have always dreamt about."

"I never thought this could happen in my career if you were to ask me a few years ago but it feels pretty exciting," said Beatriz. "I've known Katherine and Simona for a long time and they had great success where they have raced.

"The MSR team is always fighting for wins and championships in IMSA and I am sure they will do the best they can to get this girl power team in high positions. I can't wait to be in the car for such important races like Daytona where I've never raced before but I've always dreamt about."