Geoff Lees (racing driver)

Geoffrey Lees (born 1 May 1951) is a former racing driver from England. He participated in 12 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, making his first appearance on 16 July 1978. He scored no championship points.

Geoff Lees
Lees' Shadow DN11 at the 2018 British Grand Prix
Born (1951-05-01) 1 May 1951
Kingsbury, Warwickshire
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality British
Active years19781980, 1982
TeamsTyrrell, Ensign, Shadow, RAM, Theodore, Lotus
Entries12 (5 starts)
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums0
Career points0
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
First entry1978 British Grand Prix
Last entry1982 French Grand Prix

Career

Lees was born near Kingsbury, Warwickshire. His first Grand Prix chance came with a non-works Ensign at his home race in 1978, but he failed to qualify. The following year he had a one-off drive for Tyrrell, before a more regular ride with the struggling Shadow team in 1980. Later that year he also drove for the works Ensign team, and failed to qualify a RAM-entered Williams in the US. He participated in the Formula One non-championship race held on 7 February 1981 at Kyalami for Theodore where he went into the crash barriers on lap 11 due to a broken front suspension. In the hope of taking one step backward and then two steps forward, he joined Ralt-Honda for the European Formula Two championship. He won the championship, but his hopes of "re-entering Formula One with more dignity" were quashed when Honda decided to spend another year developing their F1 engine.[1] Lees, one year ahead of Honda failed to find a good seat at the highest level, and his F1 career petered out in 1982 with single drives for Theodore and Lotus.

In his Formula One career, Lees seemed stuck in uncompetitive cars, and when success proved elusive, he moved to Japan in the early 1980s. There he enjoyed a long career in the Japanese Formula Two, winning the 1983 title and collecting eight wins. He also represented various Japanese marques in sports car racing championships such as the Fuji Grand Champion Series, where he won three titles in 1986, 1988 and 1989, and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, where he got the C-class title in 1992. Lees became a highly paid and highly respected part of the Japanese racing scene. He has also driven at Le Mans numerous times, with his best finish being a sixth place overall in 1990.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos. Pts
1978 Polifac BMW Junior Team March 782 BMW THR HOC NÜR PAU MUG VAL ROU DON
Ret
14th 4
Raven Racing Chevron B42 Hart NOG
6
PER
DNQ
MIS
4
HOC
Ret
1980 Ralt Racing Ralt RH6/80 Honda THR HOC NÜR VAL PAU SIL ZOL MUG ZAN PER MIS HOC
Ret
NC 0
1981 Ralt Racing Ralt RH6/81 Honda SIL
7
HOC
5
THR
NC
NÜR
5
VAL
5
MUG
2
PAU
1
PER
Ret
SPA
1
DON
1
MIS
2
MAN
2
1st 51

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Pts
1978 Mario Deliotti Racing Ensign N175 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR
DNQ
GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN NC 0
1979 Candy Tyrrell Team Tyrrell 009 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER
7
AUT NED ITA CAN USA NC 0
1980 Shadow Cars Shadow DN11 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA
13
USW
DNQ
NC 0
Shadow DN12 BEL
DNQ
Theodore Shadow MON
DNQ
FRA
DNQ
GBR GER AUT
Unipart Racing Team Ensign N180 NED
Ret
ITA
DNQ
CAN
RAM Racing Williams FW07B USA
DNQ
1982 Theodore Racing Team Theodore TY02 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 RSA BRA USW SMR BEL MON DET CAN
Ret
NED GBR NC 0
John Player Team Lotus Lotus 91 FRA
12
GER AUT SUI ITA CPL

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1982 Nimrod Racing Automobiles Ltd. Tiff Needell
Bob Evans
Nimrod NRA/C2-Aston Martin C 55 DNF DNF
1985 Dome Team Eje Elgh
Toshio Suzuki
Dome 85C-L-Toyota C1 141 DNF DNF
1986 Tom's Co. Ltd. Satoru Nakajima
Masanori Sekiya
Tom's (Dome) 86C-L-Toyota C1 105 DNF DNF
1987 Toyota Team Tom's Alan Jones
Eje Elgh
Toyota 87C-L C1 19 DNF DNF
1988 Toyota Team Tom's Masanori Sekiya
Kaoru Hoshino
Toyota 88C C1 351 12th 12th
1989 Toyota Team Tom's Johnny Dumfries
John Watson
Toyota 89C-V C1 58 DNF DNF
1990 Toyota Team Tom's Masanori Sekiya
Hitoshi Ogawa
Toyota 90C-V C1 347 6th 6th
1992 Toyota Team Tom's David Brabham
Ukyo Katayama
Toyota TS010 C1 192 DNF DNF
1993 Toyota Team Tom's Jan Lammers
Juan Manuel Fangio II
Toyota TS010 C1 353 8th 5th
1995 Lister Cars Ltd. Dominic Chappell
Rupert Keegan
Lister Storm GTS GT1 40 DNF DNF
1996 Newcastle United Lister Tiff Needell
Anthony Reid
Lister Storm GTS GT1 295 19th 11th
1997 Newcastle United Lister Tiff Needell
George Fouché
Lister Storm GTL GT1 21 DNF DNF
1998 Toyota Motorsport
Toyota Team Europe
Thierry Boutsen
Ralf Kelleners
Toyota GT-One GT1 330 DNF DNF
2000 Thomas Bscher Promotion
David Price Racing
Dr. Thomas Bscher
Jean-Marc Gounon
BMW V12 LM LMP900 180 DNF DNF

Sources

  1. Åhman, Michael (30 December 1981). "Han vann och försvann" [He won and disappeared]. Teknikens Värld (in Swedish). Vol. 34 no. 1. Stockholm, Sweden: Specialtidningsförlaget AB. pp. 22–23.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Richard Morgan
Formula Ford Festival
Winner

1975
Succeeded by
Derek Daly
Preceded by
Riccardo Patrese
Macau Grand Prix
Winner

1979-1980
Succeeded by
Bob Earl
Preceded by
Brian Henton
European Formula Two
Champion

1981
Succeeded by
Corrado Fabi
Preceded by
Satoru Nakajima
Japanese Formula Two
Champion

1983
Succeeded by
Satoru Nakajima
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