JJ Lehto

Jyrki Juhani Järvilehto (; born 31 January 1966), commonly known as JJ Lehto, is a Finnish former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . In sportscar racing, Lehto won the American Le Mans Series in 2004 and is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in and , as well as a two-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1999 and 2005.

Born and raised in Espoo, Lehto began competitive kart racing aged eight before graduating to Formula Ford in 1981. A protégé of 1982 World Drivers' Champion Keke Rosberg, Lehto won several national and continental Formula Ford titles prior to dominating the 1988 British Formula Three Championship with Pacific. Lehto competed at 70 Formula One Grands Prix for Onyx, Italia, Sauber and Benetton, making his debut at the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix with the former. He achieved a podium finish with Italia at the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix.

Upon retiring from motor racing, Lehto became a commentator and pundit for MTV3. In June 2010, Lehto was injured in a boating incident in Ekenäs, during which an unnamed associate was killed. Lehto was found guilty of negligent homicide and driving under the influence, and sentenced to 28 months in prison. He appealed the conviction to the Turku Court of Appeal, who overturned the verdict in November 2012, due to inconclusive evidence that Lehto was driving the boat.

Early career Like many racing drivers, Lehto began in karts at the age of eight, winning numerous events, before graduating to Formula Ford at the early age of 15. A switch to single seaters saw him dominate the Scandinavian Formula Ford. He then won the British and European Formula 2000 championship in 1987 and went on to win the coveted British Formula 3 title in 1988, driving for Pacific Racing. In 1989, Lehto drove in Formula 3000, again for Pacific Racing. The season was not successful and he failed to score any podium finishes. He did not participate in the last race which was held in Dijon-Prenois. He was a protégé of Finnish 1982 Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg, who first suggested that Jyrki Järvilehto should abbreviate his name to the more manageable JJ Lehto.

Formula One career In 1989, Lehto tested for Ferrari before making his Formula One debut for the Onyx team as a late-season replacement for Bertrand Gachot. He had three more guest appearances in the same car the next year, winning another race, before he got picked up by BMW to join the factory squad in the inaugural FIA GT season, partnering Steve Soper. Even though success came initially easily, including a win in front of his home crowd at the Thunder In Helsinki event, the might of Mercedes-Benz caught up with the McLarens and left Lehto conceding the title to former DTM rival Bernd Schneider.

After an unsuccessful 1998 campaign as a Mercedes-Benz factory driver in the American-based single-seater CART series with Team Hogan, Lehto stayed Stateside but returned to the BMW camp, which entered their V12 LMR sportscar racer in the American Le Mans Series, ALMS. Even though he ended up winning four races, Lehto lost the title on the account of a formality (he was not awarded the points gained for winning the 12 Hours of Sebring because he did not have an American racing license at that time). 2000 proved less successful as the near-unbeatable Audi R8 entered the scene.

BMW and Lehto stayed in the ALMS series, but stepped down to the GT-class with the controversial M3 GTR. The team was virtually unbeatable but Lehto lost out in the championship to the driver he shared the car with, Jörg Müller, as the latter had more fastest laps and laps in the lead to his name.

Lehto found the M3 already not fast enough to his liking, so it was not surprising when Lehto turned down BMW's offer to join them in the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) the following year, having to race a near standard 320i tin-top racer. 2002 started with unemployment, but he was picked up by Cadillac as an addition to their Northstar LMP sportscar programme at Le Mans and in the ALMS series. Although the car was not on the pace of the Audi R8s or Panoz LMPs, the car's fortunes did seem to turn for the better when it started to notch up regular podium finishes in the second half of the year. Cadillac's mother company General Motors pulled the plug on the project, leaving Lehto again without a job if it had not been for Champion Racing, who offered him a drive in their Audi R8.

Lehto won four times in 2003 (including the prestigious Petit Le Mans event at Road Atlanta), but it was not until the factory Audi squad left the ALMS series that he was finally able to reap full rewards in 2004 and score his first championship success since his 1988 title in the British Formula Three, picking up six victories on the way.

A disappointing second half of the 2005 season prevented him from scoring double championship success, but nonetheless he managed to end his last year in full-time racing on an impressive note when winning both the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans again.

In 2006 it was announced the Solaroli team would purchase two Porsche RS Spyders to be entered in the ALMS series. One car would be driven by Lehto, partnered by Johnny Herbert. However, even though getting confirmation about the deal going through in early 2007, nothing ever materialised.

Lehto did show up at the 2007 edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona to team up with Colin Braun and Max Papis in the Krohn Racing Pontiac-Riley. His first participation in the event was not a success though as the car suffered from a misfire, and after having spent a long time in the pits, finished 17th.

In 2008, Lehto made an unexpected return to the race tracks when he showed up at the Malaysian Grand Prix to drive in the Speedcar support race, taking over the No. 90 car previously vacated by Narain Karthikeyan.

In 2001, Lehto joined Finnish television as an expert race commentator and remained a mainstay at MTV3's Finnish Formula One race broadcasts (and also for the pay-channel MTV3 MAX) until 2010, alongside Oskari Saari.

Boating incident

On 17 June 2010, Lehto was involved in a boating incident in Ekenäs. The incident happened when the boat carrying Lehto and his friend, whose identity was not released, hit the base of a bridge in a canal. Lehto was injured and the other man was killed in the incident. Lehto had been drinking throughout the day and was heavily intoxicated at the time of the incident.

In January 2011, Ilta-Sanomat reported that the police investigations had concluded that no one besides Lehto could have been driving the boat at the time of the incident. Lehto faced charges of negligent homicide, reckless driving and driving under the influence. Regardless of the pending trial, Lehto made a return to sportscasting on the Finnish sports-channel , commentating on a DTM event. On 14 December 2011, the District Court found Lehto guilty of drunk sailing and negligent homicide, and sentenced him to two years and four months in prison.

Racing record Career summary

Complete British Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Engine Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Pts Ref 1988 Pacific Racing Toyota A THR SIL THR BRH DON SIL BRH THR SIL DON SIL SNE OUL SIL BRH SPA THR SIL 1st 164

Complete Macau Grand Prix results

Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points 1989 Pacific Racing SIL VAL PAU JER PER BRH BIR SPA BUG DIJ 14th 6

Complete Formula One results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Pts Moneytron Onyx Formula One Onyx ORE-1 Ford V8 BRA SMR MON MEX USA CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR ESP JPN AUS NC 0 Monteverdi Onyx Formula One Onyx ORE-1 Ford V8 USA BRA NC 0 Onyx ORE-1B Ford V8 SMR MON CAN MEX FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR ESP JPN AUS Scuderia Italia SpA Dallara BMS-191 Judd V10 USA BRA SMR MON CAN MEX FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR ESP JPN AUS 12th 4 Scuderia Italia SpA Dallara BMS-192 Ferrari V12 RSA MEX BRA ESP SMR MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR JPN AUS NC 0 Team Sauber Formula 1 Sauber C12 Sauber V10 RSA BRA EUR SMR ESP MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR JPN AUS 13th 5 Mild Seven Benetton Ford Benetton B194 Ford V8 BRA PAC SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR EUR 24th 1 Sauber Mercedes Sauber C13 Mercedes V10 JPN AUS

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters results

Complete International Touring Car Championship

American open-wheel racing results (key)

CART

Complete American Le Mans Series results