Bas Leinders
Nationality	Belgian
Born	(1975-07-16)16 July 1975 (age 50) Bree, Belgium
Racing licence	FIA Platinum(until 2017) FIA Gold(2018–2021) FIA Silver(2022–)[1]

Bas Leinders (born 16 July 1975) is a retired professional racing driver fromBelgium. He was aFormula One test and reserve driver in2004 for theMinardi F1 team, taking part in the Friday practice sessions during Grand Prix weekends, making 17 appearances in all. He is also a formerBritish Formula Ford andGerman Formula Three champion, winning the titles in 1995 and 1998 respectively.

Born inBree, Leinders was one of the most successful Belgian racing drivers of the nineties and the beginning of the 21st century. He started his career inkarting, winning his very first race. At the age of 14 he was already a European Champion beatingJarno 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 theFormula Ford. He was not only crowned Benelux Champion but he also obtained the pole position at the prestigiousFormula Ford Festival at his first participation, later becomingEuropean andBritish Formula Ford Champion. Not being able to gather enough money to make the step toFormula Three, Leinders decided on the European Formula Opel Championship (forVan 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 behindNick Heidfeld. In his second year, he won the Championship and was invited by theMcLaren Junior team to partner Nick Heidfeld in the last race of theFormula 3000 season. Leinders obtained his best F3000 results in 2001, finishing second twice behindTomáš Enge andJustin Wilson respectively.

In 2002 and 2003 Leinders competed in theWorld 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 theJordan 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 theFIA GT Championship with Belgian Racing, driving a Belgian-builtGillet Vertigo. In 2011 he became the team principal of the rebrandedMarc VDS Racing, which was also his last year as full-time driver.

In 2014, he ran the entire season of theNASCAR 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 atBrands Hatch and one atLe Mans.

After Marc VDS's victory in the2015 24 Hours of Spa, Leinders announced he parted ways with the team.^[2]

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

Leinders has also worked as color analyst atFormula One broadcasts on Telenet'sPlay Sports.

• 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 aBMW M3 GTR
• 2002 24 h of Spa in aChrysler 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

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key)

* 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.

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
Sources:[3][8]

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

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

• 1975 births
• Living people
• Sportspeople from Bree, Belgium
• Belgian racing drivers
• Formula Ford drivers
• German Formula Three Championship drivers
• FIA GT Championship drivers
• Minardi Formula One drivers
• International Formula 3000 drivers
• FIA GT1 World Championship drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• FIA World Endurance Championship drivers
• GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers
• 24 Hours of Spa drivers
• European Le Mans Series drivers
• British GT Championship drivers
• NASCAR drivers
• West Competition drivers
• Van Amersfoort Racing drivers
• Racing Engineering drivers
• OAK Racing drivers
• Keerbergs Transport Racing drivers
• Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from February 2020