Geoff Lees

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.

Career Lees was born near Kingsbury, Warwickshire. His first Grand Prix chance came with a non-works Ensign run 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. 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 British Saloon Car Championship results (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 BRH SIL OUL THR THR SIL BRH MAL9† SNE BRHRet 38th 3 10th

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 Pts Polifac BMW Junior Team March 782 BMW THR HOC NÜR PAU MUG VLL ROU DON 14th 4 Raven Racing Chevron B42 Hart NOG PER MIS HOC Ralt Racing Ralt RH6/80 Honda THR HOC NÜR VLL PAU SIL ZOL MUG ZAN PER MIS HOC NC 0 Ralt Racing Ralt RH6/81 Honda SIL HOC THR NÜR VLL MUG PAU PER SPA DON MIS MAN 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 Pts Mario Deliotti Racing Ensign N175 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN NC 0 Candy Tyrrell Team Tyrrell 009 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA NC 0 Shadow Cars Shadow DN11 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW NC 0 Shadow DN12 BEL Theodore Shadow MON FRA GBR GER AUT Unipart Racing Team Ensign N180 NED ITA CAN RAM Racing Williams FW07B USA Theodore Racing Team Theodore TY02 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 RSA BRA USW SMR BEL MON DET CAN NED GBR NC 0 John Player Team Lotus Lotus 91 FRA GER AUT SUI ITA CPL

Complete Formula One Non-championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 1980 Theodore Shadow Shadow DN12 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ESP 1981 Theodore Racing Team Theodore TR2 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 RSA

Japanese Formula Two/Formula 3000 Championship results (key) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points 1981 Ralt Honda SUZ SUZ SUZ SUZ SUZ 12nd 10 1982 Team LeMans SUZ FUJ SUZ SUZ SUZ SUZ 10th 12 1983 John Player Special Team Izukawa SUZ FUJ SUZ SUZ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUZ 1st 93 1984 Advan Sports Speed Box Motor Sports SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUZ 9th 29 1985 Advan Sports Speed Box Motor Sports SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUZ 6th 42 1986 Mooncraft SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUZ 3rd 80 1987 Team Nova SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ SUZ 3rd 83 1988 Team LeMans SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ SUZ 5th 15 1989 Team LeMans SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ SUZ 13th 5 1990 Team Hayashi SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ NC 0 1991 Team Hayashi SUZAUT FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ FUJ 22nd 2

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete JGTC results (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 TAIFUJ SUG SEP FUJ MOT MIN SUZ NC 0