JJ Lehto

JJ Lehto Born (1966-01-31) 31 January 1966 Espoo, Finland Formula One World Championship career Nationality Finnish Active years 1989–1994 Teams Onyx, Scuderia Italia, Sauber, Benetton Entries 70 (62 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 1 Career points 10 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First entry 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix Last entry 1994 Australian Grand Prix 24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1990–1991, 1995–1997, 1999, 2002–2005 Teams Richard Lloyd Racing, Kremer Racing, Kokusai Kaihatsu, GTC Competition, BMW Motorsport, Team Cadillac, Champion Racing Best finish 1st (1995, 2005) Class wins 2 (1995, 2005)

Jyrki Juhani Järvilehto (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈjyrki ˈjærvilehto]; born 31 January 1966 in Espoo), better known as "JJ Lehto", is a racing driver from Finland. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, in 1995 and 2005. He is also a former Formula One driver.

He was a protégé of Finnish 1982 Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg, who first suggested that Jyrki Järvilehto should abbreviate his name to the more manageable JJ Lehto, much as Rosberg had done before him ("Keke" being derived from Keijo, his own given name).

Early career

Like many racing drivers Lehto began in karts at age 8, winning numerous events, before graduating to Formula Ford at the early age of 15. A switch to single seaters saw him dominate the Scandinavian Formula Ford. He then won the British and European Formula 2000 championship in 1987 and went on to win the coveted British Formula 3 title in 1988,^[1] driving for Pacific Racing. In 1989 Lehto drove in Formula 3000, again for Pacific Racing. The season was not successful and he failed to score any podium finishes. He did not participate in the last race which was held in Dijon-Prenois.

Formula One career

In 1989 Lehto tested for Ferrari before making his Formula One debut for the Onyx team as a late-season replacement for Bertrand Gachot.^[1] Though he failed to prequalify for his first race at Estoril he impressed with his speed in the tough sessions and made his first start in the following meeting. In the wet season finale at Adelaide he ran as high as 5th before retiring with waterlogged electrics. Over the summer Onyx were sold to Swiss racer turned businessman Peter Monteverdi. Lehto, marked by many as a star of the future, was paired with Gregor Foitek but financial difficulties hampered his season, leading to the team's withdrawal after the Hungarian Grand Prix (one of five events the Finn failed to qualify for – though he had been hindered by the team's poor preparation, including a driveshaft being fitted the wrong way around for several meetings, and favouritism towards Foitek, whose father was involved with the buyout).

For 1991 he was signed by the ambitious Scuderia Italia team, financed by Beppe Lucchini with a Dallara chassis, Judd V10 engines and Emanuele Pirro in the second car. Due to poor results in 1990 the cars had to prequalify but soon established themselves as decent midfield runners. In the wet San Marino Grand Prix Lehto impressed by lasting in a race of attrition to finish 3rd, scoring his first F1 points. He impressed elsewhere but did not score again through poor reliability and bad luck (only finishing on four other occasions). He stayed with the team in 1992, now paired with Pierluigi Martini and using Ferrari V12 engines but the new Dallara B192 chassis had severe handling problems. Lehto's best result was 7th at Spa, his worst a failure to qualify at the Hungaroring.

He landed the second seat (alongside Austrian Karl Wendlinger) at the new, much-anticipated Sauber team for 1993, running Ilmor engines. The season started very well as Lehto survived a late downpour at Kyalami to score 5th place on the team's debut, then finished 4th at Imola despite a late engine failure. However, after a collision with Wendlinger at Monaco his relationship with both his team-mate and Sauber became frosty and his season tailed off with no more points scored.

For 1994 he saw off competition from Michele Alboreto and Luca Badoer to land the second seat at Benetton alongside Michael Schumacher. However, he injured his neck testing the new B194 in pre-season with test driver Jos Verstappen taking his place for the first two rounds of the championship. Lehto returned to the cockpit for the ill-fated San Marino Grand Prix despite some question marks over his fitness. He qualified 5th but stalled on the grid, his car being struck from behind by Pedro Lamy's Lotus. This led to the safety car period which may have contributed to the death of three-times world champion Ayrton Senna. Despite running 3rd in Spain before an engine failure and scoring a point in Canada (after the disqualification of Christian Fittipaldi) it was clear his injuries had not healed fully and he was replaced once again by Verstappen for the French Grand Prix. He returned to the cockpit for the Italian and Portuguese rounds in place of the suspended Schumacher but did not impress and was released entirely soon afterwards when the team signed Johnny Herbert. This freed him up to drive in the last two rounds for Sauber – Wendlinger's own injuries had failed to heal and his previous replacement Andrea de Cesaris was unreachable.

Post-Formula One career

After his Formula One career stalled, and advised by his manager Keke Rosberg, Lehto joined the German Touring Car Championship, DTM, in 1995 and 1996. Even though rated highly, victories eluded him, but this loss was probably made up by his successes in GT and sports car racing.

An ex-Lehto McLaren F1 GTR

He was a late addition to the 1995 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a McLaren F1 GTR, but he won the race outright, at his third attempt, sharing the car with Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya. Lehto was an integral part of the win, gaining the lead for the team by driving a few stints during the rainy night. While others were driving cautiously, Lehto was seen to be sliding the car, lapping at times 30sec faster than everyone else.^[2] He had three more guest appearances in the same car the next year, winning another race, before he got picked up by BMW to join the factory squad in the inaugural FIA GT season, partnering Steve Soper. Even though success came initially easily, including a win in front of his home crowd at the Thunder In Helsinki event, the might of Mercedes-Benz caught up with the McLarens and left Lehto conceding the title to former DTM rival Bernd Schneider.

After an unsuccessful 1998 campaign as a Mercedes-Benz factory driver in the American-based single-seater CART series with Team Hogan, Lehto stayed Stateside but returned to the BMW camp, which entered their V12 LMR sportscar racer in the American Le Mans Series, ALMS. Even though he ended up winning four races, Lehto lost the title on the account of a formality (he was not awarded the points gained for winning the 12 Hours of Sebring because he did not have an American racing license at that time). 2000 proved less successful as the near-unbeatable Audi R8 entered the scene.

BMW and Lehto stayed in the ALMS series, but stepped down to the GT-class with the controversial M3 GTR. The team was virtually unbeatable but Lehto lost out in the championship to the driver he shared the car with, Jörg Müller, as the latter had more fastest laps and laps in the lead to his name.

He found the M3 already not fast enough to his liking, so it was not surprising when Lehto turned down BMW's offer to join them in the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) the following year, having to race a near standard 320i tin-top racer. 2002 started with unemployment, but he was picked up by Cadillac as an addition to their Northstar LMP sportscar programme at Le Mans and in the ALMS series. Although the car was not on the pace of the Audi R8s or Panoz LMPs, the car's fortunes did seem to turn for the better when it started to notch up regular podium finishes in the second half of the year. Cadillac's mother company General Motors pulled the plug on the project, leaving Lehto again without a job if it had not been for Champion Racing, who offered him a drive in their Audi R8.

JJ Lehto at 2005 Petit Le Mans.

Lehto won four times in 2003 (including the prestigious Petit Le Mans event at Road Atlanta), but it was not until the factory Audi squad left the ALMS series that he was finally able to reap full rewards in 2004 and score his first championship success since his 1988 title in the British Formula Three, picking up six victories on the way.

A disappointing second half of the 2005 season prevented him from scoring double championship success, but nonetheless he managed to end his last year in full-time racing on an impressive note when winning both the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans again.

In 2006 it was announced the Solaroli team would purchase two Porsche RS Spyders to be entered in the ALMS series. One car would be driven by Lehto, partnered by Johnny Herbert. However, even though getting confirmation about the deal going through in early 2007, nothing ever materialised.

Lehto did show up at the 2007 edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona to team up with Colin Braun and Max Papis in the Krohn Racing Pontiac-Riley. His first participation in the event was not a success though as the car suffered from a misfire, and after having spent a long time in the pits, finished 17th.

In 2008 he made an unexpected return to the race tracks when he showed up at the Malaysian Grand Prix to drive in the Speedcar support race, taking over the No. 90 car previously vacated by Narain Karthikeyan.

In 2001 Lehto joined Finnish television as an expert race commentator and has remained a mainstay at MTV3's Finnish Formula One race broadcasts (and also for the pay-channel MTV3 MAX) until 2010, alongside Oskari Saari.

Boating accident

The scene of the boating accident

On 17 June 2010, Lehto was involved in a boating accident in Ekenäs. The accident happened when the boat carrying Lehto and his friend, whose identity was not released, hit the base of a bridge in a canal. Lehto was injured and the other man was killed in the accident. Lehto had been drinking throughout the day and was heavily intoxicated at the time of the accident.^[3][4]

In January 2011, Ilta-Sanomat reported that the police investigations had concluded that no one besides Lehto could have been driving the boat at the time of the accident.^[5] Lehto faced charges of negligent homicide, reckless driving and driving under the influence.^[6][7] Regardless of the pending trial, Lehto made a return to sportscasting on the Finnish sports-channel UrhoTV, commentating on a DTM event.^[8] On 14 December 2011, the District Court found Lehto guilty of drunk sailing and negligent homicide, and sentenced him to two years and four months in prison.^[6] Lehto however appealed the decision, and on 30 November 2012, the Court of Appeal cleared him of all charges relating to the accident, finding the evidence regarding who had been driving the boat inconclusive.^[9][10]

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key)

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1990	Richard Lloyd Racing Italya Sport	Manuel Reuter James Weaver	Porsche 962C GTi	C1	181	DNF	DNF
1991	Porsche Kremer Racing	Manuel Reuter Harri Toivonen	Porsche 962CK6	C2	343	9th	9th
1995	Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing	Yannick Dalmas Masanori Sekiya	McLaren F1 GTR	GT1	298	1st	1st
1996	Gulf Racing GTC Racing	Ray Bellm James Weaver	McLaren F1 GTR	GT1	323	9th	7th
1997	Team BMW Motorsport BMW Team Schnitzer	Steve Soper Nelson Piquet	McLaren F1 GTR	GT1	236	DNF	DNF
1999	Team BMW Motorsport	Tom Kristensen Jörg Müller	BMW V12 LMR	LMP	304	DNF	DNF
2002	Team Cadillac	Éric Bernard Emmanuel Collard	Cadillac Northstar LMP02	LMP900	334	12th	10th
2003	Champion Racing	Emanuele Pirro Stefan Johansson	Audi R8	LMP900	372	3rd	1st
2004	ADT Champion Racing	Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	LMP900	368	3rd	3rd
2005	ADT Champion Racing	Tom Kristensen Marco Werner	Audi R8	LMP900	370	1st	1st

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters results

Complete International Touring Car Championship

American open-wheel racing results

(key)

CART

Complete American Le Mans Series results

References

1. 1 2 JJ Lehto career statistics, MTV3 (Finnish)
2. ↑ Meaden, Richard (June 2010). "McLaren F1 at the Le Mans 24 hours". Evo (magazine). Retrieved 2010-07-15. 
3. ↑ "Former F1 driver JJ Lehto involved in accident". thef1times.com. The F1 Times. 2010-06-19. Retrieved 2010-06-19. 
4. ↑ "Lehto suffers injuries in boat crash". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 2010-06-19. Retrieved 2010-06-19. 
5. ↑ http://www.mtv3.fi/viihde/uutiset/muut.shtml/1260353/is-poliisin-epailys-vahvistunut-jarvilehto-ohjasi-turmavenetta
6. 1 2 http://www.iltalehti.fi/uutiset/2011121414945611_uu.shtml
7. ↑ http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/artikkeli/Nelonen+Jyrki+J%C3%A4rvilehdolle+syytteet+t%C3%B6rke%C3%A4st%C3%A4+kuolemantuottamuksesta/1135268823017
8. ↑ http://www.hs.fi/urheilu/artikkeli/Jyrki+J%C3%A4rvilehto+palaa+tv-kommentaattoriksi/1135269261997
9. ↑ "Hovioikeus vapautti Järvilehdon". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Sanoma. 30 November 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012. 
10. ↑ Elizalde, Pablo (30 November 2012). "JJ Lehto released from all charges relating to 2010 boat crash". AutoSport.com. Haymarket Media Group. Retrieved 30 November 2012. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to JJ Lehto.

Onyx Grand Prix
Founder	Mike Earle
Drivers	Stefan Johansson JJ Lehto Bertrand Gachot Gregor Foitek
Formula One cars	ORE-1 ORE-1B

Dallara Automobili
Founder Gian Paolo Dallara Formula One cars BMS Scuderia Italia (1988–1992) 3087 F188 F189 F190 F191 F192 Hispania Racing F1 Team (2010) F110 Le Mans cars SP1 IndyCar Series cars DW12 List Dallara cars

Sauber F1 Team
Founder Peter Sauber President Pascal Picci Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn Personnel Eric Gandelin Timothy Guerin Axel Kruse Beat Zehnder Jörg Zander Former personnel Matt Morris James Key Willy Rampf Leo Ress Mark Smith Mario Theissen Max Welti 2016 Race drivers 9. Marcus Ericsson 12. Felipe Nasr 2016 Test and reserve drivers - Sportscars C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 SHS C6 C7 C8 C9 C11 C291 C292 Formula One cars C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 F1.06 F1.07 F1.08 F1.09 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35

Benetton Formula
Founder Luciano Benetton Personnel Flavio Briatore John Barnard Rocco Benetton Ross Brawn Mike Gascoyne Nigel Stepney Pat Symonds Steve Matchett David Richards Peter Collins Rory Byrne Nicholas Tombazis Pat Fry Nick Wirth James Allison World Champions Michael Schumacher Drivers' titles 1994 1995 Constructors' titles 1995 Formula One cars B186 B187 B188 B189 B189B B190 B190B B191 B191B B192 B193 B193B B194 B195 B196 B197 B198 B199 B200 B201 Benetton Group Toleman Renault