Bas Leinders Explained

Bas Leinders
Nationality: Belgium
Birth Date:16 July 1975
Birth Place: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 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 Bree, Leinders was one of the most successful Belgian racing drivers of the nineties and the beginning of the 21st century. He started his career in karting, winning his very first race. At the age of 14 he was already a European Champion beating Jarno Trulli, Ralph Firman and others. In 1992 Leinders was an official works driver for the Italian Tony Kart outfit.

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 Nick Heidfeld. In his second year, he won the Championship and was invited by the McLaren Junior team to partner Nick Heidfeld in the last race of the Formula 3000 season. Leinders obtained his best F3000 results in 2001, finishing second twice behind Tomáš Enge and Justin Wilson respectively.In 2002 and 2003 Leinders competed in the World Series by Nissan, he finished third in the Championship on both occasions. His good performance in this series and especially winning the last race of the season gave him the opportunity to test with the Jordan F1 Team which resulted in a contract with the Minardi F1 Team as an official Friday Test and reserve driver in the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Leinders was pre-selected several times by journalists for the title "Belgian Sportsman of the Year". Leinders was crowned "Champion of Belgium" in 2001 by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium, the award presented by Crown-prince of Belgium, Prince Philippe. The Belgian also won the Golden Helmet in 2004 for his performances in Formula One with the Minardi F1 Team.

From 2005, Leinders was a regular racer in the FIA GT Championship with Belgian Racing, driving a Belgian-built Gillet Vertigo. In 2011 he became the team principal of the rebranded Marc VDS Racing, which was also his last year as full-time driver.

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

SeasonSeriesTeamRacesWinsPodiumsPole positionsPointsPosition
1994European Formula Fordalign=left rowspan=2MB Racing?????138th
Belgian Formula Ford Championship??????1st
1995British Formula Ford Championshipalign=left rowspan=3Swift Racing Cars?????1271st
European Formula Ford Championship?????551st
Formula Ford Festival10000N/ADNF
1996European Formula OpelVan Amersfoort Racing16710?82391st
1997German Formula Three Championshipalign=left rowspan=4Van Amersfoort Racing1804211007th
Masters of Formula 310000N/ADNF
Macau Grand Prix10000N/ADNF
Monaco Grand Prix10000N/A7th
1998German Formula Three Championshipalign=left rowspan=3Van Amersfoort Racing20710942001st
Masters of Formula 310000N/ADNF
Macau Grand Prix10001N/A8th
Belcaralign=left rowspan=1MW-Racing?????2127th
1999International F3000KTR70000123rd
2000International F3000align=left rowspan=1Kid Jensen Racing900000NC
Belgian Procaralign=left rowspan=1MG Racing70111679th
Belcar GTBalign=left rowspan=1Team Beliën??????1st
2001International F3000KTR120200177th
2002FIA GT Championshipalign=left rowspan=1Carsport Holland100000NC
World Series by Nissanalign=left rowspan=1KTR1828261843rd
2003World Series by NissanRacing Engineering1824211283rd
2004Formula OneMinardiTest driver
2005FIA GT Championshipalign=left rowspan=1Belgian Racing53332N/A–
2006FIA GT Championship - G2align=left rowspan=1Belgian Racing9?????1st
2007FIA GT Championship - G2align=left rowspan=1Belgian Racing8?????1st
2008FIA GT Championship - G2align=left rowspan=1Belgian Racing856501001st
2009FIA GT Championship - GT1align=left rowspan=1Marc VDS Racing Team80000914th

Career highlights

Complete German Formula Three results

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

YearEntrantEngineClass1234567891011121314151617181920DCPts
1997Van Amersfoort RacingOpelAHOC
1
HOC
2
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
SAC
1
SAC
2
NOR
1
NOR
2
WUN
1
WUN
2
ZWE
1
ZWE
2
SAL
1
SAL
2
LAH
1
LAH
2
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
7th100
1998Van Amersfoort RacingOpelAHOC
1
HOC
2
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
SAC
1
SAC
2
NOR
1
NOR
2
LAH
1
LAH
2
WUN
1
WUN
2
ZWE
1
ZWE
2
SAL
1
SAL
2
OSC
1
OSC
2
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
1st200

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

YearEntrant123456789101112DCPoints
1998West CompetitionOSCIMOCATSILMONPAUA1RHOCHUNSPAPERNÜR
NC0
1999Witmeur KTRIMO
MON
CAT
MAG
SIL
A1R
HOC
HUN
SPA
NÜR
23rd1
2000Kid Jensen RacingIMO
SIL
CAT
NÜR
MON
MAG
A1R
HOC
HUN
SPA
NC0
2001KTRINT
IMO
CAT
A1R
MON
NÜR
MAG
SIL
HOC
HUN
SPA
MNZ
7th17

Complete Formula One participations

(key)

YearEntrantChassisEngine123456789101112131415161718WDCPoints
2004Wilux Minardi CosworthMinardi PS04BCosworth V10AUS
MAL
BHR
SMR
ESP
MON
EUR
CAN
USA
FRA
GBR
GER
 – –
Minardi CosworthHUN
BEL
ITA
CHN
JPN
BRA
* Leinders was entered as third driver in Australian Grand Prix 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

YearTeamCar1234567891011121314151617181920PosPoints
2010Marc VDS Racing TeamFordABU
QR
6
ABU
CR
13
SIL
QR
19
SIL
CR
8
BRN
QR
16
BRN
CR
Ret
PRI
QR
20
PRI
CR
4
SPA
QR
9
SPA
CR
Ret
NÜR
QR
Ret
NÜR
CR
11
ALG
QR
Ret
ALG
CR
5
NAV
QR
3
NAV
CR
5
INT
QR
11
INT
CR
5
SAN
QR
3
SAN
CR
Ret
14th54
2011Marc VDS Racing TeamFordABU
QR
11
ABU
CR
DNS
ZOL
QR
Ret
ZOL
CR
10
ALG
QR
Ret
ALG
CR
10
SAC
QR
Ret
SAC
CR
8
SIL
QR
11
SIL
CR
6
NAV
QR
12
NAV
CR
10
PRI
QR
Ret
PRI
CR
12
ORD
QR
10
ORD
CR
10
BEI
QR
Ret
BEI
CR
Ret
SAN
QR
Ret
SAN
CR
9
22nd18

24 Hours of Le Mans results

YearTeamCo-DriversCarClassLaps
2010 Marc VDS Racing Team Eric De Doncker
Markus Palttala		Ford GT1GT126DNFDNF
2011 Kronos Racing
Marc VDS Racing Team		 Vanina Ickx
Maxime Martin		Lola-Aston Martin B09/60LMP13287th7th
2012 OAK Racing David Heinemeier Hansson
Maxime Martin		Morgan LMP2-NissanLMP234114th7th

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

Notes and References

  1. News: Leinders, Marc VDS Part Ways. Sportscar365.com. 31 July 2015. John. Dagys. 30 July 2015. John Dagys Media, LLC.

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