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| Born | (1958-02-18)18 February 1958 (age 67) Augusta, Italy |
|---|---|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Italian |
| Active years | 1995–1996 |
| Teams | Pacific,Minardi |
| Entries | 10 (7 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Careerpoints | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1995 German Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1996 Japanese Grand Prix |
Giovanni Lavaggi (born 18 February 1958) is an Italian formerracing driver.
Despite Lavaggi being anobleman by background, he could not count on personal financial resources; therefore he started racing only at the age of 26.[1] Nevertheless, he managed to reach the top class of motorsport, racing inFormula One in 1995 and 1996. His first involvement in F1 was in 1992 when, being a mechanical engineer, he was official test driver for theMarch F1 team. In 1995, he drove forLotus-Pacific for four races in which he was forced to retire due to gearbox problems. In the second part of 1996 racing season, he joined theMinardi team for six races. His best result was a tenth place at theHungaroring, which was the second best result of the year for Minardi team.
Lavaggi lives inMonte Carlo.[1]
Lavaggi was born inAugusta, Sicily on 18 February 1958, being of noble heritage.[2][3] He studied mechanical engineering at Milan Polytechnic.[2]
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 the Italian Formula Panda championship where he was classified second, winning more races than any other driver. Not having enough sponsorship to afford a whole season inFormula Three, he did a few races in theItalian Formula Three Championship before turning toGroup Csports cars, in order to gain international experience. In this category, he soon became a driver for thePorsche Kremer Team, for whom he became the 1993Interserie champion, winning six of the season's total of 12 races and taking four further podium finishes. He also won the1995 Daytona 24 Hours, driving nine hours in a team of four drivers. He scored two more wins in theFIA Sportscar Championship, including the1000 km of Monza, where he drove five of the race's six hours and took five more podium places and two pole positions.
Lavaggi's first race in F1 was at the German Grand Prix for Pacific in 1995. Prior to this, he was a test driver for March during the 1992 season. He tested the Pacific PR02 twice before his first race for the British team - once at Silverstone and once at Snetterton. 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. The Pacific PR02 was an unreliable machine and he retired from all 4 races in 1995. His last experience in F1 was the 1996Bologna Motorshow. Racing in a Minardi against two Benettons (driven byJarno Trulli andGiancarlo Fisichella), two Ligiers (Olivier Panis andShinji Nakano) and the other Minardi (Tarso Marques), he finished second, losing the final against Fisichella by a nose.
After his F1 career, Lavaggi drove in several endurance racing championships. In 2001, he competed in theFIA Sportscar Championship, winning a race atMonza after benefiting from multiple reliability issues for cars ahead.[4] He raced in the series again in2003. After entering several races of theLe Mans Endurance Series in2004 and2005, Lavaggi founded his own team "Scuderia Lavaggi" ahead of the2006 Le Mans Series season.[5] With that, he also became a race car constructor, designing and building his ownLe Mans Prototype, theLavaggi LS1.[6] He raced the car in theLe Mans Series until 2009.
Lavaggi was nicknamed "Johnny Carwash" (an approximate translation of his name from Italian to English, John Washes) by people in the paddock;[7] US talk show hostDavid Letterman helped bring the nickname to popular attention.[citation needed]
The Lavaggi noble family moved fromGenoa toSicily (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 theItalian Air Force and he died because of the sabotage of his airplane, while bringing toAsmara theItalian minister of public worksLuigi Razza, who also was killed in the crash. In the cities ofCatania and Augusta, Via Giovanni Lavaggi (Giovanni Lavaggi Road) is named after him.[citation needed]
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 |  PorscheKremer Racing |  Kunimitsu TakahashiBruno Giacomelli | Porsche 962C | C1 | 303 | DNF | DNF |
| 1990 |  Team Davey |  Max Cohen-OlivarTim Lee-Davey | Porsche 962C | C1 | 306 | 19th | 19th |
| 1992 | PorscheKremer Racing | Manuel Reuter John Nielsen | Porsche 962CK6 | C3 | 334 | 7th | 2nd |
| 1993 | PorscheKremer Racing | Jürgen Lässig Wayne Taylor | Porsche 962CK6 | C2 | 328 | 12th | 7th |
| 2000 |  RepsolRacing Engineering | Tomás Saldaña Jesús Diez Villaroel | Porsche 911 GT3-R | GT | 78 | DNF | DNF |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics 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 | ||||||||
Source:[10] | |||||||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position, races initalics indicate fastest race lap)
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)
| Year | Team | No. | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Euromotorsports | 50 | Lola T9300 | Ilmor C | SRF | PHX | LBH | INDY | MIL | DET DNQ | POR | 38th | 0 | [11] | |||||||||
| Leader Cards Racing | 23 | CLE 30 | TOR | MCH | MDO | NHA | VAN | ROA 15 | NAZ | LAG DNQ | |||||||||||||
(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 | PacificPR02 | FordV8 | 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 | MinardiM195B | FordV8 | AUS | BRA | ARG | EUR | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER DNQ | HUN 10† | BEL DNQ | ITA Ret | POR 15 | JPN DNQ | NC | 0 | |
Source:[13] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
† Driver did not finish the race, but was still classified as they completely 90% of the race distance.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Class | Car | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Auto Palace | GT | Ferrari 360 Modena GTC | Ferrari 3.6L V8 | MNZ Ret | NÜR 6 | SIL Ret | SPA | 22nd | 4 | ||
| 2005 | James Watt Automotive | GT2 | Porsche 911 GT3-RS | Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 | SPA Ret | MNZ | SIL | NÜR | IST | NC | 0 | |
| 2006 | Lavaggi Sport | LMP1 | Lavaggi LS1 | Ford (PME) 6.0L V8 | IST | SPA | NÜR | DON | JAR Ret | NC | 0 | |
| 2007 | Scuderia Lavaggi | LMP1 | Lavaggi LS1 | Ford (PME) 6.0L V8 | MNZ Ret | VAL | NÜR Ret | SPA Ret | SIL | INT | NC | 0 |
| 2008 | Scuderia Lavaggi | LMP1 | Lavaggi LS1 | AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V8 | CAT Ret | MNZ | SPA Ret | NÜR NC | SIL | NC | 0 | |
| 2009 | Scuderia Lavaggi | LMP1 | Lavaggi LS1 | AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V8 | CAT | SPA NC | ALG | NÜR Ret | SIL | NC | 0 | |
