Giovanni Lavaggi

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Giovanni Lavaggi bigraphy, stories - Italian racing driver

Giovanni Lavaggi : biography

February 18, 1958 –

Giovanni Lavaggi (born February 18, 1958 in Augusta, Sicily) is a racing driver from Italy.

A nobleman by background, Lavaggi raised the money to buy ten Formula One Grand Prix drives, for Pacific and Minardi, debuting on July 30, 1995. In 1995 he was the only driver not to finish any of the F1 races that they started. He scored no championship points and was never close to the car’s performance limits, being described as "desperately slow" by Jonathan Palmer, although he did well in his forays in sportscar racing.

Racing record

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 DETDNQ POR 38th 0
Leader Cards Racing CLE30 TOR MCH MDO NHA VAN ROA15 NAZ LAGDNQ

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 GERRet HUNRet BELRet ITARet POR EUR PAC JPN AUS NC 0
1996 Minardi Team Minardi M195B Ford V8 AUS BRA ARG EUR SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR GERDNQ HUN10 BELDNQ ITARet POR15 JPNDNQ NC 0

Family

In the city of Catania, a major road has been dedicated to his uncle: Via Giovanni Lavaggi (Giovanni Lavaggi Road). He was a famous war pilot killed in 1941 on the same airplane with Italo Balbo.

Racing career

His Formula One career started in 1992, where he tested for the March team.

Lavaggi was 1993 Interserie champion and won the 1995 Daytona 24 Hours, as well as scoring two wins in the FIA Sportscar Championship. Prior to Formula One Lavaggi made two starts and failed to qualify for two additional races in CART for Euromotorsport and Leader Cards Racing.

Lavaggi races under the banner of his own Lavaggi Sport (formerly known as GLV Brums) sportscar racing team, which in 2007 started building and racing its own Le Mans Prototype in the Le Mans Series.

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