Background
Lees was born near Kingsbury, Warwickshire.
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Geoff Lees
Edit ProfileCareer
He participated in 12 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, making his first appearance on 16 July 1978. He scored no championship points. 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 Random Access Memory-entered Williams in the United States. 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 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. Lees became a highly paid and highly respected part of the Japanese racing scene.
He has also driven at Le Mans.
Complete European Formula Two Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position. Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key)
24 Hours of Le Mans results.
Achievements
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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. 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.
