Bas Leinders

Bas Leinders
Nationality	Belgian
Born	(1975-07-16) 16 July 1975 (age 48) Bree, Belgium

Bas Leinders (born 16 July 1975) is a retired professional racing driver from Belgium. He was a Formula One test and reserve driver in 2004 for the Minardi F1 team, taking part in the Friday practice sessions during Grand Prix weekends, making 17 appearances in all. He is also a former British Formula Ford and German Formula Three champion, winning the titles in 1995 and 1998 respectively.

Career

Born in

Leinders started his automobile career with the Formula Ford. He was not only crowned Benelux Champion but he also obtained the pole position at the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at his first participation, later becoming European and British Formula Ford Champion. Not being able to gather enough money to make the step to Formula Three, Leinders decided on the European Formula Opel Championship (for Van Amersfoort Racing). With a record of 8 wins he secured the Championship several races before the end.

With some more backing he graduated to the German Formula 3 series with VAR. The Belgian finished 2nd in his maiden F3 weekend just behind

In 2002 and 2003 Leinders competed in the

In 2014, he ran the entire season of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series with Marc VDS Racing's Toyota Camry in the Elite 1 category. He finished the season in 14th place in the standings with two Top 5 finishes, one at Brands Hatch and one at Le Mans.

After Marc VDS's victory in the 2015 24 Hours of Spa, Leinders announced he parted ways with the team.^[1]

In 2016, Leinders became sporting manager of the McLaren GT factory programme and team manager of Garage 59. In 2018 he joined Optimum Motorsport.

Leinders has also worked as color analyst at Formula One broadcasts on Telenet's Play Sports.

Racing record

Career summary

Career highlights

• 2014 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – Marc VDS Racing Team
• 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship – Marc VDS Racing Team
• 2009 FIA GT Championship – Ford GT
• 2008 FIA GT Championship – Gillet Vertigo 1st G2
• 2007 FIA GT Championship – Gillet Vertigo 1st G2
• 2006 FIA GT Championship – Gillet Vertigo 1st G2
• 2005 FIA GT Championship – Gillet Vertigo – 3 class wins
• 2004 Formula One World Championship test driver in Minardi-Cosworth F1 Team. Did not participate in races
• 2003 3rd place –
  Superfund World Series
   – 2 wins.
• 2003 Winner TA Class 24 hours of Zolder in a BMW M3 GTR
• 2002 24 h of Spa in a Chrysler Viper GTS-R
• 2002 3rd place –
  Telefónica World Series
   – 2 wins .
• 2002 4th in 24 hours of Zolder in a BMW Z3
• 2001 Formula 3000 Championship
   – KTR 2-second places.
• 2000 Formula 3000 Championship
   – Kid Jensen Racing.
• 1999 Formula 3000 Championship
   – Witmeur Team KTR .
• 1999 3rd 24 hours of Spa
• 1998 German Formula 3 Champion
• 1998 2nd 24 hours of Zolder
• 1997 7th German Formula 3 Championship
• 1996 European Formula Opel Champion
• 1995 British and European Formula Ford Champion
• 1994 Benelux Formula Ford Champion
• 1992 Vice-European and Belgian Kart Champion
• 1991 Belgian Kart Champion
• 1990 European Kart Champion

Complete German Formula Three results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One participations

(key)

* Leinders was entered as Third Driver for Australia '04 but was refused a superlicence until he completed the required mileage in an F1 car. He satisfied this requirement before the next race.

Complete GT1 World Championship results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2010	Marc VDS Racing Team	Eric De Doncker Markus Palttala	Ford GT1	GT1	26	DNF	DNF
2011	Kronos Racing Marc VDS Racing Team	Vanina Ickx Maxime Martin	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	LMP1	328	7th	7th
2012	OAK Racing	David Heinemeier Hansson Maxime Martin	Morgan LMP2-Nissan	LMP2	341	14th	7th

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Whelen Euro Series – Elite 1

References

External links

• Official website
• Bas Leinders career summary at DriverDB.com
• Bas Leinders driver statistics at Racing-Reference