Geoff Lees

1/5/1951

Record updated 01-May-07

After domination Formula Ford in the UK in 1975, Lees went on to win the 1981 European Formula 2 Championship. He had occasional Formula 1 outings but never found a regular drive with a top team.. He later built a successful career in Japan.

Geoffrey Lees was born in Atherstone, Warwickshire. Not know for his satorial elegance in his early years, he totally dominated British FF in 1975, winning the BRDC, the BARC and the BRSCC FF1600 Championships. He also somewhat controversially won the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch that year.

In 1976 he moved up to F3, however his season started late due to getting sponsorship money. He finished the year strongly, beating Bruno and Keegan occasionally.

After a promissing end to 1976 much was expected in F3 in 1977 but it turned out to be a dissapoint season for Lees.

1978 saw him win the Aurora series, though the competition was weak, and post some good results in F2 driving a Chevron later in the year. He had his first Grand Prix chance with a non-works Mario Deliotti entered Ensign-Ford at the British Grand Prix in 1978, but failed to qualify.

In 1979 he raced in CanAm and had a one off drive for Tyrrell at Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix. He qualified 16th and finished just outside the points in 7th.

A more regular ride with the struggling Shadow team followed in 1980 and later in the year he also drove for the works Ensign team. He also failed to qualify a RAM-entered Williams in the US Grand Prix. He looked very quick in the prototype F2 Ralt Honda taht year and went on to win the series in 1981.

However he still failed to find a seat with a top team and after one off drives with Theodore and Lotus in 1982 his F1 career came to a close.

He then moved to Japan where he enjoyed a long career in local Formula 2 events and represented various Japanese marques in sports car racing, becoming a highly paid and highly respected part of the Japanese racing scene. He has also driven at Le Mans.



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