Giovanni Lavaggi

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

Despite Lavaggi being a nobleman by background, he could not count on personal financial resources; therefore he started racing only at the age of 26.

Early life Lavaggi was born in Augusta, Sicily on 18 February 1958, being of noble heritage. He studied mechanical engineering at Milan Polytechnic. He raced in the series again in 2003. After entering several races of the Le Mans Endurance Series in 2004 and 2005, Lavaggi founded his own team "Scuderia Lavaggi" ahead of the 2006 Le Mans Series season. With that, he also became a race car constructor, designing and building his own Le Mans Prototype, the Lavaggi LS1. He raced the car in the Le 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; US talk show host David Letterman helped bring the nickname to popular attention.

Family The Lavaggi noble family moved from Genoa 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 Razza, 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

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 PAU JER MUG PER NC 0 Roni Team HOC BRH SPA BUG NOG

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 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 POR 38th 0 Leader Cards Racing 23 CLE TOR MCH MDO NHA VAN ROA NAZ LAG

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 Pacific Grand Prix Ltd Pacific PR02 Ford V8 BRA ARG SMR ESP MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR EUR PAC JPN AUS NC 0 Minardi Team Minardi M195B Ford V8 AUS BRA ARG EUR SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR JPN NC 0

† Driver did not finish the race, but was still classified as they completely 90% of the race distance.

Complete Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)