JJ Lehto

Quick Facts

Full Name	JJ Lehto
Occupation	Formula One Driver
Date Of Birth	Jan 31, 1966(1966-01-31)
Age	58
Country	Finland
Birth City	Espoo
Horoscope	Capricorn

JJ Lehto Biography

JJ Lehto is one of the most popular and richest Formula One Driver who was born on January 31, 1966 in Espoo, Finland. Jyrki Juhani Jarvilehto (Finnish pronunciation”‘jyrki’jaervilehto born 31 January, 1966) more popularly called “JJ Lehto”, is a Finnish race driver from Finland. He was the winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice in 1995 and 2005. He was also an ex- Formula One driver.

He was offered in the second spot (alongside Austrian Karl Wendlinger) in the upcoming, highly-anticipated Sauber team in 1993, which was running Ilmor engines. The season was very successful in the beginning as Lehto endured a heavy downpour at Kyalami to secure 5th place in the team’s first appearance and then finish 4th in Imola despite a last-minute engine failure. After a collision with Wendlinger during Monaco the relationship between his teammates and Sauber was strained and his season was slowed without scoring more points.

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. 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 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.

For 1991 , he was enlisted by the highly ambitious Scuderia Italia team, financed by Beppe Lucchini , who had the Dallara car chassis and Judd V10 engines and Emanuele Pirro in the second car. Because of the poor performance in 1990, the cars were required to be prequalified, but they soon became good midfielders. In the rainy San Marino Grand Prix Lehto impressed with his endurance during an attrition race to finish third, earning the first of his F1 points. He was also impressive elsewhere, however he failed to score another point because of poor reliability and poor luck (only finishing fourth on four occasions). Lehto remained in the team from 1992, now with Pierluigi Martini . They used Ferrari V12 engines but the new Dallara B192 chassis had severe issues with handling. Lehto’s best performance was seventh at Spa and his most disappointing result was failing to qualify at the Hungaroring.

JJ Lehto Net Worth

JJ Lehto is one of the richest Formula One Driver from Finland. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, JJ Lehto 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

He was a friend of Finnish 1982 Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg who was the first to suggest to the team that Jyrki Jarvilehto should change his name to a easier to manage JJ Lehto similar to what Rosberg had suggested before him. (“Keke” is was derived from Keijo the name of his birth name).

In 1989, Lehto sat in 1989 for Ferrari prior to making the Formula One debut for the Onyx team in late-season as a alternative to Bertrand Gachot. Although he was not able to qualify to race in the first time at Estoril the Frenchman impressed with his speed during the difficult sessions and earned his debut at the next race. In the finale of the wet season in Adelaide He was at times as high as 5th before being forced to stop due to waterlogged electrical systems. The summer was when Onyx went to Swiss racer and investor Peter Monteverdi. Lehto was regarded for many fans as the rising star in the near future, joined together with Gregor Foitek but financial difficulties caused him to miss his race, which led to the team’s disbandment following the Hungarian Grand Prix (one of five races which the Finn did not qualify for) even though he was handicapped by the team’s inadequate preparation, which included the driveshaft being installed wrong way during various races, and a preference toward Foitek his father, who was involved in the purchase).

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. 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 injuries from an accident in practice before the 1994 Monaco GP had failed to heal and his previous replacement Andrea de Cesaris was unreachable.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

JJ Lehto height Not available right now. JJ weight Not Known & body measurements will update soon.

Who is JJ Lehto Dating?

According to our records, JJ Lehto married to Satu Järvilehto. As of December 1, 2023, JJ Lehto’s is not dating anyone.

Relationships Record : We have no records of past relationships for JJ Lehto. You may help us to build the dating records for JJ Lehto!

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.

Facts & Trivia

JJ Ranked on the list of most popular Formula One Driver. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in Finland. JJ Lehto celebrates birthday on January 31 of every year.

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.