Geoff Lees (racing driver)

Geoff Lees
Born	(1951-05-01) May 1, 1951 Kingsbury, Warwickshire, England
Occupation	Racing driver
Years active	1978–1980s (Formula One and Japanese racing)
Known for	Formula One driver, European Formula Two champion, Japanese Formula Two champion

Geoffrey Thompson Lees (born 1 May 1951) is a former British racing driver hailing from England. Over the course of his career, he took part in 12 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, making his debut on 16 July 1978, although he did not earn any championship points.

Career

Lees entered the world near Kingsbury, Warwickshire. His initial chance to compete in a Grand Prix came in 1978 at his home event, driving a non-works Ensign managed by Mario Deliotti; however, he did not manage to qualify. The following year, 1979, saw him make a single appearance for Tyrrell, which was succeeded by a more consistent role with the struggling Shadow outfit in 1980. Later that same season, he represented the factory Ensign team and attempted to qualify a RAM-entered Williams at the US Grand Prix but was unsuccessful. In the 1981 non-championship event held at Kyalami, driving for Theodore, his race ended prematurely due to suspension failure.

In an effort to revive his trajectory, Lees joined Ralt-Honda to contest the European Formula Two championship, where he secured the title. Nevertheless, Honda's postponement of their Formula One engine program curtailed his opportunities in F1. His Formula One tenure wrapped up in 1982 with isolated drives for Theodore and Lotus.

During the early 1980s, Lees relocated to Japan and forged a prosperous career within Japanese Formula Two, capturing the championship in 1983 and achieving eight victories overall. He also raced for Japanese manufacturers in sports car series such as the Fuji Grand Champion Series, where he won titles in 1986, 1988, and 1989, as well as in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, claiming the C-class crown in 1992. Lees earned both substantial remuneration and respect within Japanese motorsport circles. Additionally, he competed multiple times at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, with his best finish being sixth overall in 1990.

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(key) (Bold races denote pole positions; italicized races indicate fastest laps.)

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

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Pole positions are shown in bold; fastest laps are indicated by italics)

Template:F2Template:F2

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos.	Pts
Template:F2	Polifac BMW Junior Team	March 782	BMW	THR	HOC	NÜR	PAU	MUG	VLL	ROU	DON Ret					14th	4
	Raven Racing	Chevron B42	Hart									NOG 6	PER DNQ	MIS 4	Hockenheimring Ret
Ralt Racing	Ralt RH6/80	Honda Racing F1												style="background:#EFCFFF;" | Hockenheimring Ret	NC ! 0
Ralt Racing	Ralt RH6/81	Honda Racing F1	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | Silverstone Circuit 7	style="background:#DFFFDF;" | Hockenheimring 5	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | Thruxton Circuit NC	style="background:#DFFFDF;" | Eifelrennen 5	style="background:#DFFFDF;" | ACI Vallelunga Circuit 5	style="background:#DFDFDF;" | Mugello Circuit 2	style="background:#FFFFBF;" | Pau Grand Prix 1	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | Autodromo di Pergusa Ret	style="background:#FFFFBF;" | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps 1	style="background:#FFFFBF;" | Donington Park 1	style="background:#DFDFDF;" | Misano World Circuit 2	style="background:#DFDFDF;" | Mantorp Park 2	style="background:#FFFFBF;" | 1st	style="background:#FFFFBF;" | 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
Template:F1	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
Template:F1	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
Template:F1	Shadow Cars	Shadow DN11	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8			style="background:#CFCFFF;" | RSA 13 style="background:#FFCFCF;" | USW DNQ													-	Shadow DN12				style="background:#FFCFCF;" |BEL DNQ											-	Theodore Shadow				style="background:#FFCFCF;" |MON DNQ style="background:#FFCFCF;" |FRA DNQ			colspan=6 | -	Unipart Racing Team	Ensign N180 colspan=10 | style="background:#EFCFFF;" |NED Ret style="background:#FFCFCF;" |ITA DNQ CAN colspan=3 | -	RAM Racing	WilliamsF1 FW07B colspan=13 | style="background:#FFCFCF;" |USA DNQ colspan=2 | -

Full Formula One Non-championship Results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	Race 1
1980	Theodore Shadow	Shadow DN12	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ESP Retired
1981	Theodore Racing Team	Theodore TR2	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	RSA Retired

Japanese Formula Two/Formula 3000 Championship Results

(key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final Position	Points Earned
1981	Ralt Honda	SUZ	SUZ	SUZ	SUZ	SUZ 4th							12th	10
1982	Team LeMans	SUZ	FUJ	SUZ 9th	SUZ 4th	SUZ	SUZ						10th	12
1983	John Player Special Team Izukawa	SUZ 6th	FUJ 4th	SUZ 1st	SUZ 7th	SUZ 1st	'FUJ' '1st'	'SUZ' '5th'	'SUZ' '1st'				style="background:#FFFFBF;" | Champion	style="background:#FFFFBF;" | 93

Year	Entrant	Season Overview	Final Standing	Points Total
Advan Sports Speed Box Motor Sports	Early retirements gave way to steady points finishes as the season progressed	9th	29
Advan Sports Speed Box Motor Sports	A competitive season marked by podium placements and some retirements	6th	42
Mooncraft	Achieved multiple podiums including victories, contending strongly for the title	3rd	80
Team Nova	Delivered consistent high finishes with several podiums, maintaining solid championship rank	3rd	83
Team LeMans	Experienced mixed reliability; secured some wins but also suffered retirements, finishing mid-pack overall	5th	15
Team LeMans	Faced challenges with reliability and lower race placements, resulting in a drop in championship position	13th	5
Team Hayashi	Season marked by retirements and failure to classify, yielding no points scored	NC (Not Classified)	0
Team Hayashi	Accumulated limited points amid several retirements and non-qualifications, finishing low in standings	22nd	2

24 Hours of Le Mans results

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Full JGTC Results

(legend) (Races shown in bold denote pole position) (Races in italics represent fastest lap)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Vehicle	Category	Laps Completed	Overall Position	Class Position
	Nimrod Racing Automobiles Ltd.	Tiff Needell Bob Evans	Nimrod NRA/C2-Aston Martin	C	55	DNF	DNF
	Dome Team	Eje Elgh Toshio Suzuki	Dome 85C-L-Toyota	C1	141	DNF	DNF
	Tom's Co. Ltd.	Satoru Nakajima Masanori Sekiya	Tom's (Dome) 86C-L-Toyota	C1	105	DNF	DNF
	Toyota Team Tom's	Alan Jones Eje Elgh	Toyota 87C-L	C1	19	DNF	DNF
	Toyota Team Tom's	Masanori Sekiya Kaoru Hoshino	Toyota 88C	C1	351	12th	12th
	Toyota Team Tom's	Johnny Dumfries John Watson	Toyota 89C-V	C1	58	DNF	DNF
	Toyota Team Tom's	Masanori Sekiya Hitoshi Ogawa	Toyota 90C-V	C1	347	6th	6th
	Toyota Team Tom's	David Brabham Ukyo Katayama	Toyota TS010	C1	192	DNF	DNF
	Toyota Team Tom's	Jan Lammers Juan Manuel Fangio II	Toyota TS010	C1	353	8th	5th
	Lister Cars Ltd.	Dominic Chappell Rupert Keegan	Lister Storm GTS	GT1	40	DNF	DNF
	Newcastle United Lister	Tiff Needell Anthony Reid	Lister Storm GTS	GT1	295	19th	11th		-		Newcastle United[[Lister Cars Lister ]]	Tiff NeedellZAF[[George Fouché ]]	[[Lister Storm GTL ]]	GT1	21	DNF	DNF
	align= leftnowrap [[Toyota Motorsport GmbH Toyota Motorsport ]]DEU[[Toyota Team Europe ]]	align= leftnowrap Thierry BoutsenDEU[[Ralf Kelleners ]]	align= leftnowrap [[Toyota GT-One ]]	GT1	330	DNF	DNF
	align= leftnowrap [[Thomas Bscher promotion]]GBR[[David Price Racing ]]	align= leftnowrap Dr. Thomas Bscher Jean-Marc Gounon	align= leftnowrap [[BMW V12 LM ]]	LMP900	180	DNF	DNF

Year	Team	Vehicle	Category	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final Position	Points
2002	Tsuchiya Engineering	Toyota Supra	GT500	TAI	FUJ 13	SUG	SEP	FUJ	MOT	MIN	SUZ	NC	0

References

• Driver profile at www.grandprix.com