Giovanni Lavaggi

Giovanni Lavaggi

Born	18 February 1958 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
Career points	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 racing driver.

A nobleman by background,^[1] 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 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, the Lavaggi LS1, in the Le Mans Series.

He was nicknamed "Johnny Carwash" (a liberal translation of his name from Italian to English, John Washing^[2]) by people in the paddock; US talk show host David Letterman helped bring the nickname to popular attention.

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.^[3]

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

1. "Giovanni Lavaggi biography". Formula One Rejects. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
2. F1 News > Johnny Carwash makes a comeback
3. ALTRI PILOTI ITALIANI DELLA SECONDA GUERRA MONDIALE

External links

• Profile on F1 Rejects
• Driver Website
• Race Team Website
• Racing Reference profile
• Driver database profile