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Geoff Lees
Born 1 1951 (1951-Template:Pad2digit-Template:Pad2digit) (age 73)
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Died {{{death_date}}}
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Formula One career
Nationality 25px UK British
Years 19781980, 1982

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.

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. He won the European Formula Two championship in 1981, but still 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 8 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.

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 March Racing Ltd March 782 BMW THR
HOC
NÜR
PAU
MUG
VAL
ROU
DON
Ret
15th 4
Jack Kallay Chevron B42 NOG
6
Hart PER
DNQ
MIS
4
Raven Racing HOC
Ret
1980 Ralt Racing Ltd Ralt RT2 Honda THR HOC NÜR VAL PAU SIL ZOL MUG ZAN PER MIS HOC
Ret
0
1981 Ralt Racing Ltd 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 Points
1978 Mario Deliotti Racing Ensign N175 Ford 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 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 V8 ARG BRA RSA
13
USW
DNQ
NC 0
Shadow DN12 BEL
DNQ
MON
DNQ
FRA
DNQ
GBR GER AUT
Unipart Racing Team Ensign N180 NED
Ret
ITA
DNQ
CAN
RAM Theodore Williams FW07B USA
DNQ
1982 Theodore Racing Team Theodore TY02 Ford 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 25px Great Britain Nimrod Racing Automobiles Ltd. 25px Great Britain Tiff Needell
25px Great Britain Bob Evans
Nimrod NRA/C2-Aston Martin C 55 DNF DNF
1985 25px Japan Dome Team 25px Sweden Eje Elgh
25px Japan Toshio Suzuki
Dome 85C-L-Toyota C1 141 DNF DNF
1986 25px Japan Tom's Co. Ltd. 25px Japan Satoru Nakajima
25px Japan Masanori Sekiya
Tom's (Dome) 86C-L-Toyota C1 105 DNF DNF
1987 25px Japan Toyota Team Tom's 25px Australia Alan Jones
25px Sweden Eje Elgh
Toyota 87C-L C1 19 DNF DNF
1988 25px Japan Toyota Team Tom's 25px Japan Masanori Sekiya
25px Japan Kaoru Hoshino
Toyota 88C C1 351 12th 12th
1989 25px Japan Toyota Team Tom's 25px Great Britain Johnny Dumfries
25px Great Britain John Watson
Toyota 89C-V C1 58 DNF DNF
1990 25px Japan Toyota Team Tom's 25px Japan Masanori Sekiya
25px Japan Hitoshi Ogawa
Toyota 90C-V C1 347 6th 6th
1992 25px Japan Toyota Team Tom's 25px Australia David Brabham
25px Japan Ukyo Katayama
Toyota TS010 C1 192 DNF DNF
1993 25px Japan Toyota Team Tom's 25px Netherlands Jan Lammers
25px Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio II
Toyota TS010 C1 353 8th 5th
1995 25px Great Britain Lister Cars Ltd. 25px Great Britain Dominic Chappell
25px Great Britain Rupert Keegan
Lister Storm GTS GT1 40 DNF DNF
1996 25px Great Britain Newcastle United Lister 25px Great Britain Tiff Needell
25px Great Britain Anthony Reid
Lister Storm GTS GT1 295 19th 11th
1997 25px Great Britain Newcastle United Lister 25px Great Britain Tiff Needell
25px South Africa George Fouché
Lister Storm GTL GT1 21 DNF DNF
1998 25px Japan Toyota Motorsport
25px Germany Toyota Team Europe
25px Belgium Thierry Boutsen
25px Germany Ralf Kelleners
Toyota GT-One GT1 330 DNF DNF
2000 25px Germany Thomas Bscher Promotion
25px Great Britain David Price Racing
25px Germany Dr. Thomas Bscher
25px France Jean-Marc Gounon
BMW V12 LM LMP900 180 DNF DNF

Sources[]

Preceded by:
Richard Morgan
Formula Ford Festival
Winner

1975
Succeeded by:
Derek Daly
Preceded by:
Riccardo Patrese
Macau GP 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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