Geoff Lees (racing driver)

Geoffrey Thompson Lees (born 1 May 1951) is a British 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 (age 73)
Kingsbury, Warwickshire England
Formula One World Championship career
NationalityUnited Kingdom 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

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Lees was born near Kingsbury, Warwickshire. His first Grand Prix chance came with a non-works Ensign ran by Mario Deliotti, the owner of an Alfa Romeo dealership in Birmingham, at his home race in 1978. Lees 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

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Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

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

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Pts Class
1976 British Leyland Triumph Dolomite Sprint C BRH SIL OUL THR THR SIL BRH MAL
9†
SNE BRH
Ret
38th 3 10th
Source:[2]

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

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(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
Sources:[3]

Complete Formula One World Championship results

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(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
Sources:[3][4][5]

24 Hours of Le Mans results

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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:[4][6]

Complete JGTC results

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

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Pts
2002 Tsuchiya Engineering Toyota Supra GT500 TAI FUJ
13
SUG SEP FUJ MOT MIN SUZ NC 0

Sources

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  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.
  2. ^ de Jong, Frank. "British Saloon Car Championship". History of Touring Car Racing 1952-1993. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Geoff Lees". Motor Sport. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Geoff Lees Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  5. ^ Small, Steve (2000). "Lees, Geoff". Grand Prix Who's Who (Third ed.). Reading, Berkshire: Travel Publishing. p. 342. ISBN 978-1-902007-46-5. Retrieved 7 August 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ "Geoff Lees". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Formula Ford Festival
Winner

1975
Succeeded by
Preceded by Macau Grand Prix
Winner

1979-1980
Succeeded by
Preceded by European Formula Two
Champion

1981
Succeeded by
Preceded by Japanese Formula Two
Champion

1983
Succeeded by