Career
Lees' 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 80s, where he enjoyed a long career in local Formula Two 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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