Giovanni Lavaggi

Giovanni Lavaggi (born 18 February 1958) is an Italian racing driver.

Giovanni Lavaggi
Born (1958-02-18) 18 February 1958
Augusta, Italy
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality Italian
Active years1995–1996
TeamsPacific, Minardi
Entries10 (7 starts)
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums0
Career points0
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
First entry1995 German Grand Prix
Last entry1996 Japanese Grand Prix

Despite Lavaggi being a nobleman by background, he couldn’t count on personal financial resources; therefore he started racing only at the age of 26. Nevertheless, he managed to reach the top class of motorsport, racing in Formula One in ‘95 and ‘96. First approach to F1 was in 1992 when, being a mechanical engineer, he was official test driver for March F1 team. In 1995, he drove for Lotus-Pacific only for 4 races in which he was forced to retire due to gearbox problems. In the second part of 1996 racing season, he joined Minardi Team for 6 races. His best result was a 10th place at Hungaroring, which was the second best result of the year for Minardi team. With the current point scoring system, that result could have earned him 1 point in the F1 world championship.

Racing career

Lavaggi's racing career started in 1984, inspired by Henry Morrogh who judged him the best student he ever had at his racing school. That year he was official driver of the constructor Ermolli in “Formula Panda” Italian championship where he classified second, winning more races than any other driver. Having not enough sponsors to afford a whole championship in Formula 3, he did just a few races in the F3 Italian championship before turning to “Groupe C” sports cars, in order to gain international experience. In this category, soon he became a driver of Porsche Kremer Team, obtaining great results: he was the 1993 Interserie Champion winning 6 races on a total of 12 and being other 4 times on the podium. He also won the 1995 iconic Daytona 24 Hours where he did most of the job, driving 9 hours in a team of 4 drivers. He scored as well two wins in the FIA Sportscar Championship, including the prestigious 1000Km of Monza, where he drove five hours on six; furthermore he was 5 more times on the podium and he took 2 pole positions. His first race in F1 was in 1995. He was a rookie, but, at the same time, being 35 years old, he was the oldest driver in the field; therefore, he had to fight against the scepticism of the F1 media. Nevertheless, even with no previous experience and no tests (his teams had not enough money to perform private tests) he was always close to the performance of his teammates. His last experience in F1 was the 1996 Bologna Motorshow. Racing with a Minardi against two Benettons (driven by Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella), two Ligiers (Olivier Panis and Shinji Nakano) and the other Minardi (Tarso Marques), he reached the second place, losing the final against Fisichella by a nose.

After F1 experience, Lavaggi founded his own team “Scuderia Lavaggi” and in 2006 he became a constructor designing and building his own Le Mans Prototype, the Lavaggi LS1. With his car, he raced in the Le Mans Series until 2009 and he scored a pole position at 2008 Vallelunga 6h. Lavaggi is the only example of a driver-constructor in the modern era of motorsport at high-level.

He was nicknamed "Johnny Carwash" (an approximate translation of his name from Italian to English, John Washes) by people in the paddock; US talk show host David Letterman helped bring the nickname to popular attention.

Family

Lavaggi noble family moved from Genova to Sicily (Palermo) in 1420 and then from Palermo to Augusta in 1711. A cousin of Giovanni’s grandfather, also called Giovanni Lavaggi, was a war hero. He was a pilot of the Italian air force and he died because of the sabotage of his airplane, while bringing to Asmara the Italian minister of public works Luigi Razzi, who also was killed in the crash. In the cities of Catania and Augusta, Via Giovanni Lavaggi (Giovanni Lavaggi Road) is named after him.

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1989 Porsche Kremer Racing Kunimitsu Takahashi
Bruno Giacomelli		 Porsche 962C C1 303 DNF DNF
1990 Team Davey Max Cohen-Olivar
Tim Lee-Davey		 Porsche 962C C1 306 19th 19th
1992 Porsche Kremer Racing Manuel Reuter
John Nielsen		 Porsche 962CK6 C3 334 7th 2nd
1993 Porsche Kremer Racing Jürgen Lässig
Wayne Taylor		 Porsche 962CK6 C2 328 12th 7th
2000 Repsol Racing Engineering Tomás Saldaña
Jesús Diez Villaroel		 Porsche 911 GT3-R GT 78 DNF DNF

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points
1991 Crypton Engineering VAL
DNQ		 PAU
DNQ		 JER
DNQ		 MUG
DNQ		 PER
Ret		 NC 0
Roni Team HOC
DNQ		 BRH
DNQ		 SPA
DNQ		 BUG
DNQ		 NOG
12

American Open-Wheel racing results

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

PPG Indycar Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rank Points
1994 Euromotorsports Lola T9300 Ilmor C SRF PHX LBH INDY MIL DET
DNQ		 POR 38th 0
Leader Cards Racing CLE
30		 TOR MCH MDO NHA VAN ROA
15		 NAZ LAG
DNQ

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 WDC Points
1995 Pacific Grand Prix Ltd Pacific PR02 Ford V8 BRA ARG SMR ESP MON CAN FRA GBR GER
Ret		 HUN
Ret		 BEL
Ret		 ITA
Ret		 POR EUR PAC JPN AUS NC 0
1996 Minardi Team Minardi M195B Ford V8 AUS BRA ARG EUR SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR GER
DNQ		 HUN
10		 BEL
DNQ		 ITA
Ret		 POR
15		 JPN
DNQ		 NC 0

References
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